"'Bye Dad, I'll Miss You..."

Daddy went back to war today.

We're all coping right now without my man in the house. I quickly became accustomed to large hands helping out, holding babies, cradling my face. I laughed at the familiar snoring sound next to me at night. It was over all too fast. Two weeks were not enough, and I'm bummed.

Alex had a hard day. Preschool proved an excellent distraction, but his little crestfallen face was too much for me. All the kids have been tired today-- too much emotion. We went to Target to buy Alex a special toy from his Dad, and then they all got new cuddly PJ's for the night. All my kids were asleep by 7:30, and so I started to clean (my coping mechanism). If you want to see a sterile house, come on by!

I am grateful for my husband. What he does is not easy, and holds many risks. I am proud to be a military wife, and I am proud to do my part to protect our God-given rights as Americans.

On the way home from the airport, I plugged Alex into a DVD, filled his lap with treats, and let him junk out. While he was watching the "Bee Movie," I was struck by a line from the flick-- "What's the point in life if you don't take risks?"

Risks-- being a part of the military has risks. Loving the great outdoors and being outside holds risks. Traveling the world, making ourselves vulnerable to help others-- all risky. But what is the point to life if we don't take risks? Can we value the miracle of life by merely existing? Are we truly taking advantage of opportunities before us? I never want to be caught "existing." I want to DO, to BE, to SERVE. To live life to it's fullest. That's what my man is doing, and I will take an active role in humanity.

I'm not feeling like going to bed (sorry, husband! I promised to be in bed by midnight). It's too big and too empty. What's ironic is that all my kids are totally out. They are soundly sleeping. I cannot. It'll get better.

Deployments suck. There is no sugar-coating that truth. There is nothing WWII-esque or romantic about waiting for your soldier to come home from war. I'm ready to have him home now. What's hard about deployments is that life is upside-down and on hold. Family vacations have to wait. Major decisions, what have you, it's all on hold. But what he is doing out in the Middle East is paramount to the security and safekeeping of our nation. So we wait for his safe return.

I'll post more pics of R&R later. I'm going to bed.