D-Day

His last day? Pretty much everything I expected. I was ok with the chaos of family, packing, and last minute errands because my time leading up to that day was amazing.

8:30am We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Cracker Barrel with the family. We laughed a lot then ran a few errands at Wal-Mart. I bought him his Christmas present, a portable DVD player. Thanks MTM-to-be :)

10:30 we arrived home and he finished packing with his mom. I said no thanks because I did my fair share of packing beforehand.

12pm we all helped cover the pool. The day before the cover caught wind, blew me over and I landed in the hole in our deck. I have the bruise still to prove my fall was hard.

1pm I started lunch, his favorite, a sassy corn-bread chilli and made his favorite dessert, butter pecan cupcakes. I let the girls lick the bowl and they loved every minute.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of finally preparations and lots of phone calls. The family made jokes about how he was off to his first day of school with one huge backpack.

Before dinner we took our Christmas photo by the new stockings his mom bought for all 4 of us. After all the picture taking, we shared with them our news and lots of hugs were exchanged.

8pm After a nice steak dinner and lots of laughs around our dining room table, he changed into his uniform. I stayed strong pretty much day, until we toasted champaign for his last night and of course when he said good-bye to the dogs. At that moment, tears started to fall. I cannot even imagine saying good-bye to our children in the future.

9:30pm We pulled up to the hangar and you could just feel the somber mood in the air. It was a cold December night where you could see everyone's breath. A lot of men and women in uniform shouting things to one another and we unloaded his belongings into the back of a truck.

10:30pm The rest of the night, we kept light. Sitting around in a circle with his family was hard, because no one knew what to say. As soon as I saw CLR, I jumped up and went to go talk to her and for some reason, I finally felt somewhat relaxed. No words needed to be exchanged about our feelings, we knew exactly what the other one felt.

My friend Jeni and I pretended to fix their rifles and a lot of laughs and pictures continued. His co-pilot on his 6th or something deployment kept the mood very light. I love his stories.

11:20pm Then the announcement came. Ten minutes to say good-bye. His family said their good-byes first and we had a few minutes alone. He was sweet and ensuring I would kick butt in the next year. I told him not only did I know I could handle this, but he could handle it as well. He held my hand and led me as far as he could. He left me with Jeni as he headed to formation. We hugged and she turned to me and said "Aren't you so proud of them".

And I actually smiled. With the millions of emotions I felt, I cannot believed I left that one out! She was absolutely right. I was so damn proud and again at ease for the time being.

We watched them load the buses. After he shook all the important people's hands. I said his name. He turned at the last possible minute and said "Love you baby". His mom thanked me as she caught his look on tape.

12am We drove away and headed home. His sister, my best friend, actually slept with me the first night. We talked until 2am and I finally fell fast asleep.

I survived. And now I am going to thrive...