Homecoming Day

Tomorrow marks 3 weeks since my husband came home from deployment. It's been a whirlwind of constant busyness, so I am just now getting to write about it. But here's a little bit about that day.

After 8 months of countdowns, that last week was surreal for me. I couldn't believe he was finally actually coming home. But I stayed busy. Moving. Unpacking. Grocery shopping. And clothes shopping for Scott.

The day before he came home, I decided I needed to make some signs. I decorated my chalkboard that I change about once a month. 

And, of course I needed a sign to hold for when he got there. I weighed a lot of options, and ended up going with words from our favorite song. I knew no one else would really get it, but HE would. And that's all that mattered.

I didn't know how much sleep I would be getting the night before he came home, but I think I managed to get a decent amount, and the first thing I thought when I opened my eyes that morning, "this is it! Today's the day!" 

He wasn't due to get to leave until 6-8pm that night though. So I was trying to find ways to kill time. I did some cleaning. And as usual for me, I hadn't picked out what I was going to wear, so I ended up going to the mall to try to find something. After trying on quite a few dresses, I finally just gave up. I ended up back home, trying on some dresses that I already had. 

And then...I got a pleasant surprise. Scott texted me and said that they were finished earlier than expected, so I should head to base at 3. (It happened to be about 2:15-2:30 at the time.) I very quickly just had to pick a dress, finish fixing my hair, and run out of the house. I had planned on getting more stuff done, but ran out of time, and him coming home earlier than expected was more than okay with me. 

So I raced to base. Meanwhile, Scott was texting me some...and by the time I finally made it to the area on base where they would be getting dismissed, I asked him if he was going to be ready to go when I got there. He said, pretty soon. And I think that's when it actually finally hit me that he was actually there and coming home with me. He then texted me as I was trying to find a place to park, that he was ready to go. 

They really hadn't made this homecoming a huge event. They like to romanticize these things in the movies and on TV, but they had stood in their formation and were released for the weeked. I walked up, scanning the crowd for him, but all I could see was a sea of camo. I texted him, asking where he was...and then ended up having to call him. 

I asked him where he was, and right about that time, I saw him turn around. I told him I saw him and then he saw me as well. We both hung up our phones. 

I left my sign in the car. I had considered getting a friend to come with me, so I could have pictures of the moment. But as fast as it all went, I was glad I had neither. 

His face absolutely lit up as he walked towards me. With the biggest smile on his face I can remember, the moment was nothing and everything that I had hoped for. We walked towards each other till I finally ran the last few steps into his arms. And as cliche as it may sound, everything was okay again. Those 8 months hadn't meant anything. 

I told him I wanted pictures, so he asked one of the guys to take a couple for us.

It's hard to explain, but I think we were both a little nervous as we drove home. Maybe anxious-excited would be the best way to describe it. But to me, it was like nothing had ever changed. Almost like he had never been gone. If anything, it was better than ever. 

We talked and talked. We held hands the whole drive home. And then he got to see our new house for the first time. (I'll share some pictures in my next post.)

And...he got to see our bear of a dog again.

(I decided halfway through to flip my phone, my bad.)

We've been busy with life and are in our "readjustment" phase. But, we made it! I couldn't be happier that he's home.