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!

GREETINGS FROM WA

well i made it...it was a long couple of days getting here but i had good company :) My dad and I left CA on thursday the 29th adn drove all the way to Weed CA before we stopped for the night. We had an interesting encounter about 30 min before we found a comfortable place to stay. We were driving through wood areas, the scary kind if you watch alot of scary movies you know what im talking about. The scenery was very pretty but my imagination got the best of me and my anxiety was too strong for me to enjoy the ride. We only had about 1/8 of a tank left so we had to stop to get gas, all that was in sight was a scary old looking gas stationed, we got off the road not knowing where the next gas station would be. Once we were off the main road it was worse tahn it had looked. It was more than just old fashioned, it was knotts berry farm style. They only took cash and so my dad ran in while i waited with the car. I saw a young guy get out of his car with his dog and go into the store like place. once the gas was pumped and we were heading out a different guy came out and was looking through the young guys car. I mentioned to my dad that that was not his car and how freaked out i was. My dad said, "yeah the cashier said, 'watch out for that other guy' " i asked my dad who was the "other guy" and he said he didnt know...we got outta there so fast hahaha so i told him we would drive until i felt safe, once we came up on Weed it looked good enough. 5am on friday we were up and on the road again. No more stange encounters lol.

I have loved having my dad with me, its been great but now hes gone back to CA and im so lonely, all there is left to do is wait now, ugh.

My place is better than i thought it would be so im excited about that. My stuff still isnt here which is a bummer because unpacking could help keep me busy. I have an interent apt set up for wednesday but until then i have to head to the army post to get online, and the post isnt that close, its about 20 min drive on the streets and then another 5 min of freeway. Im sure there has to be a shorter way but i just dont know it yet.

i have my bed set and love it so far. Nolen just ordered a TV so that should be here in about 8 days...i think.

I dread being at home with nothing to do so walking around the PX is my favortie thing right now. For those who have never been to one i would describe it as a military walmart, and right out side the entrance they have a few shops and a food court. Its fun.

Im holding off on finding a job until Nolen comes home and we can settle in, get our lives together organized. Althought i am keeping my eyes out for places.

I cant wait for him to be home. I cant even try to explain the emotions that i am going through right now hahaha. it still feels like we have months to go, not days. Its weird being in WA and on post without him, the last time i was here it was with him, so everywhere reminds me of last sept. They have "welcome home" signs for teh companies that are coming back from deployment and last sept i remember nolen saying, "in just a year a sign will be hung for my company" fast forward a year and here we are.

I went to my new ward on sunday, its def not my home ward in CA but i guess it will do for the next 2 years. Since we arent going anywhere id better jump in and start introducing myself to make friends. Same thing with the army wives.

Well as of right now i have nothing going on today, or tuesday, or wednesday, or thursday and so on hahaha but i am excited to be here, it means we are almost done with this hell of a year, i can say that we have at least learned and grown in a different way than most newly weds <3