Day 91 - "Kisses"

Well, life has been busy in our neck of the woods, I pray that "all y'all" have been doing good. Em and I went over to Jackson, MS for the weekend - we got to see Al's son Trey for the weekend - he just turned five this past week - and he is the spitting image of his father. It was wonderful to see him - and in a lot of ways, it was like spending time with Al. Their mannerisms are so similar - and Trey just has a "way" about him that echoes his father. We also went to the FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting for Al's unit. I will have more pictures for you tomorrow than you probably ever wanted to see in your whole life!

We hit a big milestone yesterday - we are officially three months - or 90 days done. So, we have nine more months left - in some ways, Al and I are used to everything now - we have reached the "stabilization" phase of deployment - where although we're not happy that he's gone - both of us are moving on with life one day at a time - and things are pretty good for the most part. Some days though - something will happen, and out of nowhere, all those empty, lonely - "is he ever coming home" feelings will rush to the surface. You can't plan for those feelings to happen - and you can't stop them once they're there - there's no magic pill to take to prevent them either. Thankfully, they are few and far between.

Al is doing really well at his location. He has been given a lot more "non-nurse" responsibility - since the nursing side of life where he's at is pretty boring. He did warn me that he may not be able to email me as much - and I told him "GRRRR" to his new responsibilites - lol! He really enjoys the company of the guys that are with him - and I know that helps with the long days. He is happy that he is going to be busier now though, because he says that it will make the long days shorter.

Before I close, I have to tell you a little story about Al's son. When Al and I first started dating, I would sometimes drive over to Jackson, and Al, Trey, Emelia and I would hang out together. Sometimes Trey would be silly and would come up and give me a kiss on the cheek. Al would be silly right back and say in a funny voice, "Oh no! Don't steal Ms. Melinda's kisses, they're ALL mine!" And Trey would giggle, and say, "Oh no, Daddy, I got the very last one" --- and those two boys would go back and forth like that - and then it would usually end in a tickle fight between them.

Well, I was getting everything shoved into the car this afternoon (including Emelia) for the four hour drive home - and Trey was riding his scooter in the driveway. He rode up to me and said, "Thank you for all the nice presents" (for his birthday) - and I said "No problem" --- then it came time to say goodbye. I gave him a giant bear hug - and I went "Mwah, Mwah, Mwah, Mwah" - in a silly voice --- then Trey looked up at me with his big clear eyes, and said, "Ms. Awinda, will you tell my daddy something?" - so, I said, "Sure Trey-man, what should I tell your daddy for you?" -- and he said in the sweetest voice that you can imagine, "You tell my daddy that I just got every single one of your kisses".

How in the world I kept it together before I drove out of the driveway, I'm not sure. But, I got about two blocks from Al's mom's house and lost - Em was in the rearview mirror looking at me like I had lost my mind. When they say "out of the mouths of babes" they mean it.

Have a very blessed start of the week!