Day 360 - Almost here!

Well, just 'a few more days' until Al is home for good. Thank GOD! I will be so thankful for him to be home - and for us to just act like an old married couple! I miss him so much and getting to see him again (finally) will be absolutely wonderful.

The Army can still change everything - but I'm praying that we will stay on track. He almost did his entire 365 of "Boots on Ground" time - almost everyone else in his group is home now too. Waiting these last couple of extra weeks has been hard, especially after seeing everyone else's reunion pictures and hearing their stories - but, he hasn't been alone in being one of the last few to get to leave. I have some good friends that I made through a Yahoo National Guard wives group and a couple of those ladies are just now getting their hubbies home - and one good friend, Tammy, is getting her hubby home at the same time as Al.

This whole experience has taught me so much about selfishness - and not thinking about what I need all the time - but I felt myself doing the 'poor me' routine again this morning while I waited to hear whether it would be this week for sure or next week before he would be home. Then, I got the proverbial phone call and everything was "a-okay" again, and I felt bad for allowing myself to get so upset about something that neither Al or I could control.

If you read any of the posts in this blog, I hope you can see how much I love my husband. This year apart has been paradoxical in the sense that in a lot of ways it has brought us much closer together than we ever would have thought possible. I know that a lot of people appear to have a good relationship on the outside, but when you really get into the meat and potatoes of their relationship, that things aren't so rosy - but I believe that Al really is the person that I was meant to spend the rest of my life with, and I can't wait until we can get started on that life together.

I want to thank all of Al's friends that he made in the Sand this past year - you supported Al and kept him laughing this past year - and we will both be forever grateful for your friendship. It will be nice to see all of you again - and for it not to have anything to do with a deployment. You know who you are - and Al never meets a stranger, so I don't want to inadvertantly leave off any names, but thank you so much for what you've done for us.

Thank you also to all of my friends and family that have helped to keep me sane during this time. I have a special group of military wives that I have grown especially close to - and that have become so important to me (a huge SHOUT OUT to Jane here). I want to also thank my friend Stacy, who was the one good friend that I got to know from our FRG and who has had my back more than once. My best friends Matt, Melissa and Renee have come through for me in the past year more than I can count - mainly by keeping it real and reminding me that they have known me forever and that one year of my life is not going to kill me or permanently alter the core of who I am.

To our blog friends, I never knew that we would meet this amazing community of Milblog writers and readers that would become such an important part of our lives - and I want to thank you so much for coming to our site and for all of your feedback and support - thank you also for what you do every day - and for reminding me time and time again that Al and I weren't/aren't alone in this deployment or in our sacrifice.

To the people that adopted Al (and Trey, Emelia and me too) and sent care packages and just plain 'love' through the mail - words cannot express our thankfulness for letting us become a part of your families - we look forward to getting to know you even better over the next couple of months when we won't have to worry about a deployment hanging over our heads.

Thank you to our church families that have stood by us during this time of separation - your prayerful support has meant everything. And, finally, thank you to our families for all of your love and support - especially all the wonderful things that you did for us when Al and I got married this past summer, your belief in us means everything.

Al and I are about to embark on brand new territory - and I know that it won't all be fun and games or easy - but I believe that Al was a wonderful investment of my time and energy - and I am looking very forward to seeing multiple dividends on my initial sacrifices - lol. I hope he feels the same.

There are A LOT of 155 BCT families that are dealing with redeployment and homecoming and reunion - so I wanted to post this website - it's got some wonderful information in it ---

Homecoming & Reunion!

"Hooah!" - We are almost DONE!