Predictable

Before I really get into this posting, I have to say that I have it easy in the world of military wives, I am an active duty Air Force wife, my husband is only gone for 5 months at a time, so I know I am so blessed and my Army and Marine counterparts will read this with envy. To them, I owe them tons of gratitude and thanks to them beyond words for their love of family and country. So that being said, we have done enough of these deployments to for me to notice a pattern and true to form, here we go again. Here is how it goes...

*Aaron and Amanda get in a big fight about 2 weeks before he goes - check

*Night before he leaves, spend the night in each other's arms taking a trip down memory lane, we have known each other for 16 years now - check

*Have a rough last day together, really rough first night apart, and feel like 120 days (plus travel so it's about 150 days) is forever - check

*Wake up the next day and feel a little better knowing the days are now counting until you get to see each other - check

* End of first week, a feeling of triumph that the hardest week is now in the past - check

*First month, for me at least, usually flies by and time seems to go fast - check

*Enjoy routine - check

*Half way already? - check

*Depression hits usually soon after halfway, it seems like it's gone so fast, but usually lots of challenges have come and gone and is discouraging that only half the time has passed -check

*Anger that he has to go to war, jealousy when you hear people complain that their family can't watch their kids this weekend as well as last weekend and so on - check

*Sarah getting sick of mommy and mommy having to deal with a whiny 3(or 2 or 1) year old- yep, we're currently at this point

*My brain forgetting he snores and has his own way of doing things that sometimes frustrates me to no end is replaced by the part of the brain that thinks he can do no wrong-currently at this point

*Flipping the calendar page for the last time before he comes home-anxiously awaiting

*Shopping for the welcome home outfits for all of us-anxiously awaiting, duh

*Counting all the last time events (last time I get my hair cut, go to the commissary, run to Wal-Mart, etc) -anxiously awaiting

*Frantically cleaning the house one last time, can't do it too soon with the kids because it won't stay clean, but want it to be clean for the happy homecoming - not so anxiously awaiting

*Making welcome home signs- anxiously awaiting

*Hearing that his replacements have arrived-mixed feelings, good for me, but knowing there are so many families that are staring at the top of this list and have all these things to go through still makes me so sad

*Hearing from him as he calls from various points around the globe as he returns home-love that part

*Watching him walk off the plane and into my awaiting arms, tears rolling down my face with a child in my arms - ahh takes my breath away!!