Chris and I started dating in September of 2007. A couple of months later in November he signed a contract and re-joined the Minnesota National Guard. He was very sweet and asked me and his best friend Mike what we thought about this decision. We were both very supportive, and I remember saying "We just met, you have to do what you have to do and we'll figure 'us' out."
I never regretted saying that and I support him 100%. For the last couple of years we've known that he'd be deploying. It wasn't until late last year that we got a better sense of the timing: Spring 2012.
Ready or not, the train that I've been calling deployment is barreling down the tracks at us. Chris said he only had about a week's notice before his first deployment at the beginning of the Iraq War. So, I'm trying to feel lucky and grateful to have had so much time to prepare. I've used that time to try and be thoughtful about what I need to feel "prepared":
* Finding or creating a support network of wives and significant others from his unit.
* Time to craft a message for my friends, co-workers and families: this is how you can support me.
* A "manual" about everything there is to know about running our house. Everything from changing furnace filters, contact info for mortgage and household account numbers all in one (secure) place.
When it comes to any new project or vacation I typically feel the need to plan. I'm the planner with the lists and the itineraries. Chris throws things in a bag 10 minutes before we're supposed to leave.
Chris has started to pull together the details for our manual and is plowing through my list of "honey-do" projects; tonight I realized that it must be "10 minutes" before departure and I hear that whistle blowing loud and clear.
No comments:
Post a Comment