Lots of Talking

I have talked to my husband more times in the last 17 hours than I have in the last 17 months!
And I mean TALKING, not Instant Messaging, not email... actual voices, talking to each other.

He's in Wisconsin now, at Fort McCoy. It sounds like he will be home on the 26th or 27th.

I cannot describe how relieved I am that he is back safe in the U.S. Now when I make plans I can say "JP and the kids and I" instead of just "me and the kids". I just love the sound of it; including him again. A very big and very important part of our family has been missing for far too long and I can't tell you how good it feels to be this close to being whole again.

I can't wait for the day I will see him sitting in his recliner drinking a beer and yelling at the umpire for a shitty call against his Twins. I talked to him about he and I going down to the Cities to catch a few games in August before I go back to school, he seemed pretty happy about that.

Such anticipation and joy I have never felt. Even with his last deployment, to Bosnia, it was not like this.

That deployment was so different, it was only 10 months, and it was a peacekeeping mission. There in Bosnia, the war was over, and they were spending their time helping to rebuild towns, and helping families.

This deployment, now a week from being over with, has been going on since September of 2005. Think about that, what were you doing then? How has your life changed since then? Seems like forever ago, right? That was the last time my husband lived in his own home. I can't imagine how awful it was for him over there, and to be honest, he had a relatively safe job, in comparison. He was not out driving around in convoys, which is how a lot of soldiers end up getting injured or worse. But just being in that country, your life is in jeopardy. There is no safe place, no safe job in Iraq. I am not a religious person. I don't even know if I believe in a god. But someone or something was watching over him, and knew that I could not handle it if he were taken from this family. He and I were meant to be together, even if we had to spend a couple of years apart, in the end,

we belong together.
And soon, we will be again.