Home At Last

Well, he finally made it home! Yay! 

I know it was only a short deployment but wow, those last few weeks of waiting felt like an eternity. I don't know how many times they changed his arrival date, and though they tell you to expect changes, I couldn't help but get my hopes up. And time and time again, I was let down. 

You see, I had been told there was a big chance he would be home on the 1st of this month. A couple days later things changed moving him to the end of the month. And then a few days later, back to the first week in July. And so it went. Every couple of days a different homecoming date. And you think I would have learned but of course I didn't. Come on! I was expecting my soldier! It was a roller coaster of emotions and a roller coaster of dieting, exercising, cleaning and decorating. One day I would be watching my diet, eating healthy, running with the puppies...the next I would be eating a delicious hamburger, fries, and soda, and lounging around the house being that I had plenty of time until his return. I know, I know..I should have just been diligent the whole time....(Hmmm..starting to be reminded of a parable and how I should be acting as I await for the Lord's second coming....)

But finally I got the call, my husband had flown out of Afghanistan and was somewhere else in the Middle East and days later, somewhere in Europe. And then I got a call he was boarding the plane on his way home! That night I would be seeing my soldier husband! Yet, a  few hours later, notice came that the plane bathroom had broken while flying over the Atlantic and he was flying back in the opposite direction of me. What are the odds?

So we tried again the following day. I was told  (by him) to expect him at around 8 that night but no one ever called me. (They are supposed to call at least 24 hrs before to let you know they are coming) At around 7, I finally broke down and became one of "those wives" that annoys the heck of the command while their husband is deployed asking questions that they are already know the answer to, "We cannot give you that information just yet mam. We will let you know when we know."  But I was too anxious and I called and got the typical response. But now I know why they do because crazy wife pushed  and pushed. (I was not going to sit on the couch in my new dress like ready to see the man of my dreams only to find out he was not going to show.) And after some prodding, they told me that no...the flight that I was describing was not coming in that night, probably not even that week :( That was the last straw. I hung up, curled up in a ball, and went to bed on the floor. But of course...., 2 hours later that changed once again when I was told to go get my husband at 2300! He was on American soil and the crazy journey was finally over.

Or so I thought. If that wasn't enough, I also had problems meeting him up in the gym. Signature Abby move, I forgot my phone at home and had only my sign to lead him to where I was. 10 minutes later when it seemed everyone had found each other and I was the only one still holding up a sign, I walked out of the gym defeated once again. I had dreamed the whole thing up, I thought. I had finally snapped with all the craziness. And there he was. At least, I thought that was him. They all look so much the same with those uniforms and that guy looking back at me was so much tanner than I had remembered him. And he didn't really seem to know who I was. I mean he was staring back at me but had a confused look on his face. We slowly walked towards each other, trying to nonchalantly figure out if it indeed was who we thought we were. And at about 6 ft away from each other, we finally realized we were indeed married to one other! Not exactly the run and jump reunion I had planned, but we were together again! At last we were together again :)