Homecoming!

After a long 196 days, my husband is FINALLY home!  

Let me start from the beginning of this amazing day....

So I hadn't been sleeping much the last week or so. My excitement and brain have had trouble shutting down. On the day of, I woke up at 5am ready to go! Luckily Elise had school that day, because with her coming down with RSV and not allowed to attend school, I wasn't able to get a lot of my to do list done. So I scrambled on the last day and had to make priorities. Obviously this included getting my nails done! I wanted so badly to shout everywhere I went that today was the day I got my husband back! My excitement/nervousness totally rivaled that which I experienced on our wedding day. Except I couldn't shout my excitement from the rooftops. OPSEC and all that! 

Anyway, Elise was supposed to be done at school that day at 2pm. We were told to be at the squadron by 2pm. Boys were scheduled to arrive at 3! I figured I would pick her up a bit early and head over there with plenty of time to spare. But once I got home from my nails and was about to eat lunch, I got a text saying "the boys are early! Come at 1!" It was 12:45. I've never gotten ready so quickly in my life. I was so glad I chose to take an early shower before I dropped Elise off. I picked her up early (waking her from a nap), and we rushed onto the base. Making it there by 1:15. Only to find out, it was a mistake and they were still scheduled to be there around 3! Ugh! So Elise is tired and I'm starving! 

We waited, chatting with all our friends. Everyone looked so beautiful. Girls in their tutus, boys in their flight suits, and all my sweet friends dressed to the 9s just for their spouses. The excitement was palpable. Anxiety setting in, lots of pacing and parents trying to keep children patient and behaved. Luckily for us, Josh was on the first plane home. So we finally get the call to head to the flight line...

I've never seen my husband land in a C130 before and seeing his plane hit the ground was like someone lifting twenty five pounds off my shoulders. My stomach was doing flip flops. Tiny insecurities started to fade away. Nothing in the world was more important than the moment I was in right now. 

Waiting for his plane to taxi in and stop felt like an extra six months. Finally the engines shut down and we rushed to the plane. Waiting for the door to open, I held back my sobs as best I could! Josh was maybe the third or fourth person off the plane. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was there right in front of me. 

We kissed for the first time in 6.5 months and had a big group hug, just us three. It was nothing short of pure heaven. I couldn't stop crying. My husband was home! 

This morning, I was looking back on this experience. My husband and I have been separated a lot. For various amounts of time. I feel like each time we are separated, little things about us change. In turn, our relationship continues to change and grow. I'm so proud that each time we've come back together, we've managed to not only make room for one another, but make each other a priority after each change. 

We've learned a lot about ourselves individually and together these last six months. It's been an eye opening experience and while I'm glad we came out ok, we are so glad it's over. It's been a roller coaster of emotions and we are very excited to get our "new normal"!