Tuesday, August 10, 2010

My Man is Back!

What an experience. Friday August 6th all of the wives in Nolen's unit were sitting by their computers checking their email every 20 min, well at least i was. Their flight was scheduled to land Saturday August 7th....when exactly?!?! At 4:50 am!! HOLY COW! Us wives were suggested to arrive on post at 3AM!! my home is NOT close so in order to be there at the suggested time and look semi decent for our reunion i had to set my alarm clock for 1:30 am. Not to mention who could sleep the night before?? It felt like just as i had laid my head down my alarm went off. I got a total of 2 hrs of sleep that Friday night.

Once we arrived at the gym on post at 3am we sat...and sat...and sat......We were told to be there at that time because they would have a movie going, a home made one from the soldiers while over in Iraq. However, the system wasnt yet up and running, so we sat. We sat for almost 2 hrs, and then at the time they were supposed to land we were told the plane was still an hr away. BUT military rule says that an hr before or an hr after, they are still on time. So, all we could do was sit some more. We were tired and frustrated, sleepy and annoyed. After a while they got the computer system working so they put on the movie they promised us hrs before.

Around 6am the movie cut out and the camera was transferred to a live feed of the Mc Chord Air Force Base, where our heroes would be landing. We all cheered as we watched on screen the plane landing, as the soldiers got off one at a time and we saw them all. The camera followed them to the waiting room where they turned in their weapons and waited to file onto the buses that would bring them to Fort Lewis. This process took about another hr. Now we were getting excitedly impatient. But again we waited some more.

7:15 ish, we were told to cheer and yell, of course we did. It was like a high school football game, all of us wives were so nervous, fixing our hair, and asking one another how we looked (remember we had been up since 1:30 am). Once we were loud enough a curtain raised and our soldiers we behind in formation. It was sooo awesome. We all tried to find our husbands but they all looked the same. Even though they were supposed to be serious you could see some crack a smile. They had about 10 min of yelling commands and marching and singing the army song before they were dismissed and allowed to greet us.

Seeing Nolen again for the first time in 6 months made me realize that this very looooooooooooong year was worth it. Being without him didnt make me love him any less but seeing him again reminded me of just how much i do love him.

He loves our new home and since he has been back we have been making it "ours" :) He has been able to get back into the swing of normal life pretty quickly, but is constantly on the go....he HAS to be doing something. Its driving me nuts hahaha but i know that it is normal, that i just need to be patient, he will eventually slow down. I know this is normal because another wife says her husband is doing the same thing.

We were able to spend our 1 year anniversary together, which was sunday. The real deal of married life has not been as weird as i thought it would be. Although we still need to work on "us" since it has been just "me" for the past year, but i have no doubt that will come in time.

Since i have been here i have met some pretty neat people. Another wife that i was friends with through facebook during the deployment has been so fun to be around in person. I think this is going to be a great move for me. . . although its NOT like my army wives show! lol

We quickly have to get back into the swing of reality. Nolen had to be back to work today, although its not his full 8 hr days and he doesnt have to do PT for the first 2 weeks. I guess they are more focusing on their emotional and mental health. Their days are full of classes that teach them how to deal with PTSD if they should have it.

It is so exciting to finally have my own home with the man i love. This past year has been a learning experience that not all have the opportunity the have. Even though it has been more than difficult like i said, seeing him proved to be worth it!

Thank you for all those who have soooo sincerely support me and who have put up with my highs and lows this past year! You are all amazing!

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad he got home safe! Have fun being married. You deserve it!

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