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| The first glimpse of our bouncing baby! |
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| We make a rather beautiful Family <3 |
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| My amazing husband, I am so proud of you! |
They were telling us on and off that our husbands would be receiving day passes during their last few weeks in the states. Not too many of us got too excited over this because they kept changing their minds. About a week ago we got a confirm so a group of wives were going to drive down to Texas and see their husbands. I wanted to go and see Justin, but did I really want to say goodbye again (My mother keeps telling me it's not really goodbye, just a "see ya later", I need to keep that in mind more)? It didn't matter, we really didn't have to money for me to help
pay for gas, get a hotel room, and eat while I was down their. We decided it was better in the long run anyways. Well our families would have none of that. Both sides chipping in money to get me down to Texas and back. I cleared it with my boss and on Friday, June 8, 2012 at roughly 10:00 am I headed to Drummond to catch a ride with one of the other wives mother-in-law who was going to take me to Billings with her. After many hours in the car, with some of the nicest people I have ever met, we made it to Billings. A few hours later Rene (One of the four other wives who I rode with) met us. We ate dinner and then headed on to Miles City (about a two hour drive). The drive took longer than it was suppose to as we battled gusty winds and out ran a hail storm. Friday and Saturday were spent hanging around and Rene's chit chatting and getting to know one another. Sunday just couldn't get here fast enough. Saturday night I don't think I hardly slept at all, I was so excited. Finally morning came. I made sure I had everything packed and in it's place and I sat watching the clock, waiting for noon to roll around. At about eleven the first of the other wives showed up, Tayvee. She was loud and funny and oh so very nice. Rene's son Levi started loading our bags into the luggage holder attached to the top of Rene's G-Ride. Soon after Rae joined our group, we got her all loaded up and headed out. We stopped at the last wife's house, Lorretta's. We got her in the vehicle and headed to Wal-Mart, picked up last minute items and hit the road. We fumble with the GPS (it wanted to take us so far out of our way to go on a road it apparently thought was better than the road we were on). We ended up ignoring the GPS until we were quite a ways into Wyoming. The trip was long, 20-ish hours (including gas and pee breaks) but we pushed all the way through and arrived at our hotel in El Paso early Monday morning. We checked in, unloaded our bags and took naps. I even shut my phone off so Justin's texts wouldn't wake me up. I woke up that afternoon and took a much needed shower caught up with the girls and headed to Fort Bliss, We wondered around the PX for a few hours, ate, and waited on the guys to tell us what was going on. Long story short we got to see them for a few hours after we were strung along with multiple "come see us", "you can't come see us", "I want to see you", and "maybe it's best if you go back to the hotel, we will see you tomorrow". I got very excited when I first saw Justin. Unfortunately on base the boys can't be as touchy feel-y and lovey dovey as us girls wanted but it was excellent to see him. We sat together, held hands, and talked about what's been going on lately. It was a good few hours. Then us girls headed back to the hotel. I had a hard time sleeping that night and at 6:30 the next morning I was wide awake. So I decided to shower, eat breakfast, and get all prettied up to see my husband. The previous night I had given him the extra hotel room key so he could let himself in and when I heard the mechanism unlock I about jumped out of my skin with excitement. I didn't even let him all the way through the door before I was hugging him. We spent the day inside, doing couple stuff. It was heaven, I was so happy. That night the coolest thing happened. We were cuddling and watching TV when I got real still. Justin went to say something and I shushed him. He got rather concerned, the whole "is everything alright?" I grabbed his hand, placed it on my ever growing stomach and whispered "The baby is awake". After about a minute of movement I could feel his face lit up, he looked at me, smiled and said "I can feel it". It was the best experience ever. He got to feel our little one move around quite a bit which I was very thankful for. The next two days went by way too fast and not too much happened. We just spent every minute we could together. He bought me jewelry though, ( I got those the first night we saw them) I have the most amazing husband in the world. He takes the best care of me! Well the morning of the 15th rolls on in and we are lying in bed, cuddling and I know he's leaving in a few short minutes. I sniffle a bit and he asks if my nose is running (it had been for the entire trip) and I couldn't speak so I just shook my head. Before he could say anything else the tears came rushing (makes me want to cry just typing about it now). I know this is it, the last time I get to see him, hold him, feel him for 10 months or more. He holds me for a while as I bawl like a baby trying to reassure me that everything is going to be ok and that I am strong enough to get through this. But it was a short comfort session, he had to get ready to leave. I never wanted to let him go, ever! We ate breakfast in silence as I tried not to lose it again. After breakfast I watched him walk out the hotel front doors and that's the last time I saw him. I barely made it back to the room without dying. I laid on the bed and cried, not for too long but I cried loud and hard for about five minutes. I just needed to get it out. I pulled myself together and got the room all packed up, loaded my stuff into the car and checked out. All I wanted to do was go home then. I just wanted to be back with family. We left and made the long trek home. We got back to Miles City the morning of the 16th. I stayed at Rene's one last night and headed to Drummond by bus at 9:20 a.m. on the 17th. My mother met me in Drummond and drove me home to P-burg. I arrived home a little before 9 p.m. it was nice to be home. I definitely enjoyed my time with Justin but I hate to let him go. I never know when I'll be able to speak to him. I don't know where he is or if he is even doing ok. I just want these ten months to go by fast and I want my husband home again and I'm never letting him leave again! I am strong enough to do this, I have to be, especially one the baby comes. I hope all goes well for all the men and women over there. I pray everyone stays safe and comes home to all their friends and family waiting for them. And when Justin comes home I know he has many people who will be ecstatic for his arrival, including a son or daughter. I love my soldier and I'm very proud of him. And every day is going to be a struggle but I will get through and I will be strong for him and when he returns we will pick up where we left off and we will begin our lives together. My prayer and thoughts go out to all the soldiers and their families to be strong, stay safe, and know that it will all get better as the time passes.
