Military life... it is truly something else. Brian's ship pulled in this morning and since I work for MWR marketing I was able to sneak away from work for a bit to see them pull in. I have never been out there to watch them pull in and it really wasn't anything special, but a little bird told me that they would be "manning the rails in their whites". That little birdie was wrong :( Since they have been gone for more than 57 days MWR had a little welcoming picnic thingy set up with food and drinks for the families while we waited (which is what I needed to get pictures of). And of course there were little American flags for the kids.
I cannot really explain or describe what deployments are like. They are always up and down. I generally get in a good rhythm and life goes on without him. In an odd way we just have separate lives while he is gone and then when he returns we fumble through reconnecting them. For instance, this week I am going vegetarian just for the heck of it. I know I don't eat very healthy a lot of the time so it is just a one week, I am going to eat really healthy kick, not like I plan to BE a vegetarian. So when Brian came off the ship to say hi, he mentioned something about trying my weird veggie diet (which I totally would not call it a "diet") and I jokingly said this was a permanent thing and he gave me the "your crazy/who are you and what did you do with my wife" look. That's my favorite thing about him coming back. The little things that change along the way and by the time he comes home it's like getting to know each other all over again. It can be annoying, but it can also be fun too.
My favorite thing is seeing the loving families. The ones who show up super excited. I know over the years the military can wear on you and going through a 6 month deployment for the 20th time is not the same as it was the first or second time. But I think it is just as important as ever to never loose that excitement for them to come home. It is a difficult balance, but we cannot allow our lives to separate so much that we loose that excitement. I don't know the family below, but I definitely dread the day I have children and have to deal with a deploying husband.
Military life... it is truly something else. Brian's ship pulled in this morning and since I work for MWR marketing I was able to sneak away from work for a bit to see them pull in. I have never been out there to watch them pull in and it really wasn't anything special, but a little bird told me that they would be "manning the rails in their whites". That little birdie was wrong :( Since they have been gone for more than 57 days MWR had a little welcoming picnic thingy set up with food and drinks for the families while we waited (which is what I needed to get pictures of). And of course there were little American flags for the kids.
I cannot really explain or describe what deployments are like. They are always up and down. I generally get in a good rhythm and life goes on without him. In an odd way we just have separate lives while he is gone and then when he returns we fumble through reconnecting them. For instance, this week I am going vegetarian just for the heck of it. I know I don't eat very healthy a lot of the time so it is just a one week, I am going to eat really healthy kick, not like I plan to BE a vegetarian. So when Brian came off the ship to say hi, he mentioned something about trying my weird veggie diet (which I totally would not call it a "diet") and I jokingly said this was a permanent thing and he gave me the "your crazy/who are you and what did you do with my wife" look. That's my favorite thing about him coming back. The little things that change along the way and by the time he comes home it's like getting to know each other all over again. It can be annoying, but it can also be fun too.
My favorite thing is seeing the loving families. The ones who show up super excited. I know over the years the military can wear on you and going through a 6 month deployment for the 20th time is not the same as it was the first or second time. But I think it is just as important as ever to never loose that excitement for them to come home. It is a difficult balance, but we cannot allow our lives to separate so much that we loose that excitement. I don't know the family below, but I definitely dread the day I have children and have to deal with a deploying husband.
That little baby boy looks soooo sad! It just breaks my heart and totally captures the way I feel about deployment. I HATED it whenever matt had to leave for any military thing that lasted more than a 2 weeks. I did not do well at all with it, even before I had kids. I remember crying so hard over at my sister's house one night that my eyes literally swelled shut. haha. I looked like a little Japanese woman! Course, that deployment was 2 months after we were married. I got tougher but I would never recommend it after you have kids if you can avoid it at all. Way too hard on them. Jake still suffers a bit from separation anxiety years later. He's too much like me :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad Brian's home with you.
Well, Jack was really sad cause he was up a couple hours earlier than normal. He was extremely happy as soon as he saw his daddy though. Deployments do suck, but they are a good learning/growing experience, and I know I have a different kind of appreciation and love for Brian that so many wives will never know because of it.
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