Home Again

Aww, my poor little defunct blog! Will I ever come back on a scheduled basis? I don't know. But, what I do know is I'm not going to pop in here and apologize for being gone because, let's face it, I'm sure your world has kept spinning without my goofy little corner of the internet being updated constantly and I'm sure you're fine. 

Deployment is now officially over. In two days Russ will have been home for three weeks and time has absolutely flown since he's been home! There's been the homecoming, the family day cruise, the ship's decommissioning ceremony, and the holiday party (yes, we already had our holiday party last week...). Combine that with having to juggle one car, the truck activities, and doctor (for both of us) and vet appointments and we've been very busy since he's been home! 

So his ship was scheduled to come home on October 27th but due to a really bad storm in the Pacific, it was pushed back twice. I know I should have expected something like that to happen because when it comes to the military, you never know what's going on. But, those two times that his homecoming was pushed back felt so grueling. I can't imagine what the sailors felt hearing that homecoming was being prolonged. 

They officially came home October 30th at around 8 a.m. It was a cold, cloudy and windy morning (though, I think it's always windy standing out on the pier). There were families, friends out on the pier, braving the cold to finally claim their sailors. Camera crews were stationed on the pier as well, anxious to get the misty-eyed embraces on camera for the evening news. 

After a while he was finally able to disembark and head home with us! 

He nearly crushed me here, I think I felt my ribs crack! 

I am so grateful for many things: that Russ has returned to me safely, that Mom and my brother were here to keep me company and help me, and that we're staying in Washington even though his ship is decommissioning and we could have been sent anywhere- San Diego, Virginia, Japan. It really is lucky that we are staying.

I really didn't realize how really miserable I was while he was gone. Mom and my brother were a great comfort to me but I still felt a hole inside that they couldn't fill. Until these last few weeks I didn't even realize how much was missing. I was just used to feeling the emptiness, I guess. There's a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, that's for sure.