30 days....the countdown begins

Rich leaves in 30 days! He just got his 'official' orders telling us that his leave date has been pulled up almost a week!! My brain screams "No! No!" This is REALLY happening and I'm not ready! For some reason, to see it in actual writing makes the whole thing suck more! I'm afraid that the war will change him - that he'll come back different; not Rich anymore. I love the man he is ~ I want him to come back the same man he is now; I know that the reality is that he will be different in some way. I hate this war!

Yesterday we spent the half of our day on base taking care of stuff in preparation. We went to get me ID card updated and to get "B-20" (our youngest son - he's 20) an ID card. Well... we can't do that until 14 days out from deployment. We then went to Tri-Care and took care of enrollment paperwork, took care of medical records registration at the base clinic, got Brandon a base decal for his truck and a passport, applied for my gun permit. All before noon!!

Then Rich &I drove an hour away to my hometown put flowers out at the cemetery. Mom & Dad got 6 beautiful roses (artificial ~ one each for Mom Dad and one for each of us kids) and my son "JNH" got a beautiful arrangement of daisies with a mixture of tiny blue flowers. Mom & Dad's 'home' is now on the 4th floor (mosoleum - level 4). There is not a ladder there - hmmmmm, how to put flowers in the vase?

Picture this - I am putting my 150'ish pounds on Rich's shoulders (he's about 185). I swear I could feel his legs shaking in strain as he is trying to walk his body up the wall to a standing postion. Poor guy! I think he blacked-out for a brief moment as his blood vessels in his brain popped from the pressure! It was quite hysterical really! We laughed so hard at the sight of us working as a team in this comical way. Once he was able to put me down he told me I had 400 days to lose the extra weight! He's so awesomely honest! Anyway, we have laughed alot over that moment!

I REALLY want to go into details about all of yesterday's events but Rich is waiting for me. We are heading to Nashville for the night. Just the two of us!! Call ONLY is someone is bleeding and the ambulance is on the way!!

Love, peace and a great big HUG!