I'm So Excited And I Just Can't Hide It!

Alright, I can't contain myself any longer. You must know! Brian is set to come home in less than two weeks! He has estimated his arrival on the 12th of March. I am so excited I've resorted to going barefoot since every time I try to put socks on, they fly off.

For those of you fortunate enough not to know what being married to the Army is like, here's a somewhat brief tutorial on deployment. Three months before they deploy you begin getting a little sad, anticipating the loneliness and struggle to come. A month later your husband leaves for 30 days of training in a different state. You have one month remaining to glue yourself to his side, snuggle and cry -staring deep into his eyes until they cross and saying "I love you" until you turn purple. Well, he turns purple from you strangling him for leaving.

Then they fly away and you start your new routine. After about two to three months of doing "okay" (besides the first few days of hell right after he leaves) you have a major meltdown. You recover with the help of relatives, friends, super sappy emails to your spouse and a small truckload of chocolate, and your new life continues.

Your husband comes home for mid-tour leave. Life is wonderful after the first week of getting adjusted, and your time together is just long enough to slip comfortably into a routine, then... he's sent back. Repeat the first cycle of coping, subsequent meltdown and recovery.

Now it's that most exciting time when you have 2-3 months left before he's home for good (or at least nearly a year.) You begin to worry how the family is going to work in the new structure you had to create while he was away. "Wait a minute," you say, "this is MY house. How does life work with two adults who are supposed to be the boss?" and, "Now I HAVE to cook dinner. Life's not fair." Any Army wife will tell you that up to the last month of deployment we FREAK OUT. The above thoughts sound petty, but think of it like getting new management at your office. You've organized the place in a fashion that makes sense to you, you've streamlined -or at least coped- and you're used to your system. Enter new co-manager, exit your past year's theme song, "(I Did It) My Way." And the remote control becomes akin to the red Swingline stapler in "Office Space." Two heads are better than one, but it's also tough having two chiefs in a small camp. But you know that's what marriage is, so we make it work :)

So you've been slightly psychotic the past two months and now it's just a few short weeks until you're united. Those previous anxieties fly out the window to make room for more excitement than a 6 year old waiting for Santa. Now you're nesting like MAD. Finish those projects, make the house perfect -you want to have everything just right when he walks in that door, seeing you've been taking good care of The Kingdom while he's been away.

All of this is the wife's perspective. The husband's is an entirely different matter. Quite frankly, he just wants to sleep in a real bed with his wife, play with his kids, have a little personal time -and not eat crappy food. The house could have an inch of dust all over, he wouldn't care. The luxuries of a hot shower, home cooking, 8 hours of sleep and being surrounded by love instead of 100 stinky men are enough to make any soldier happy. And my sweetheart is no exception.

We're counting down the days. 352 down, 12 to go. Excuse me, I'm about to pee my pants from glee. Finally, we are at the end of this journey and we can't wait for all the fun family time we've been dreaming about over the past year. Thank you most deeply and sincerely for your support, love and prayers! We couldn't have done it without you!