Coming Home

The return home ceremony for my husband and the team was without the pomp and circumstance that we had anticipated. They were 'thought' to come in on Today (3/11), over the last weekend it moved to Thurs., 3/10. On Monday and Tues. morning it was moved to Wed., 3/9. The return ceremony was still going to in the works and our Soldiers would come home to a welcome fitting their sacrifice and service.

Things changed dramatically at 10:30am on Tuesday when my husband called with the news that they had finished processing and would be hitting the road by 1:00pm THAT DAY and would be home around 7:00PM...THAT NIGHT! A mad scramble began and the official full-scale ceremony was postponed to a later date. Friends and family were still invited to be there to receive our guys in a more intimate setting.
After the sheer shock of knowing  they were coming home so soon wore off, I was able to start getting excited as the time drew near.

It was a wonderful reunion - just so surreal. To know that he's home and he doesn't have to go back in 2 weeks - or again - it just seemed like a dream. Even throughout the night I found myself looking at him to make sure it was really real! He was restless throughout the night, getting up once or twice to just walk through the house and a dozen times to go pee. When we finally got up on Wed. morning (early) we got up and dressed and out of the house. He said he just needed to go - he'd been going 200mph for 14 months and it felt like he'd just hit a brick wall and stopped cold. We drove into town and I told him that I know it's strange for him to be back in his environment...for me it's like I lost a whole year of my life. With the stress of dealing with the loss of my parents and deployment I just functioned through 2010 ~ not necessarily lived it. I don't even know how things around town have changed to even help him adjust...but we'd learn together as the days go by.

Rich and I have always been an open book and have been able to talk openly (no secrets or reservations), so we've been able to talk about how he feels now that he is home and how I can help (even by not helping) him get into a groove again. We both know that it will take some time but so far we are doing great and both adjusting to some old ways of our life and making new ways.

On my routine and with little vacation accrued, I am back to work. Rich is at home doing whatever Rich wants...and that's a good thing!

Peace, Love & Happy Friday!