So, we got our call Sunday night, but didn't get our second call when we should have, so now we don't have any idea when he will be home.
We're trying to plan a celebration for when he comes home. We're trying to plan for family to visit. Some are coming in from out of town, some from out of state.
Planning anything with the military is pretty hit or miss. We can't plan a vacation. Trying to coordinate physical custody of his children is interesting. We can make plans to have the boys for a holiday weekend only to find that he has field exercises or a school that is mandatory he attend. We wanted to take a special trip for our anniversary, but his unit won't give him leave. We're limited to the long weekend.
But flexibility takes on a whole new meaning when you're waiting for your soldier to come home from Iraq or Afghanistan. The civilian world plans months in advance. Sometimes events are planned years in advance. When we got married, I was waiting for Chad to come home from Iraq. He was supposed to be home in October, but his tour was 15 months instead of twelve, so when they shortened it, the changes left everything undecided. Instead of December, we were hoping October, but they might extend his tour so, planning a wedding became much more complicated. I tried to pick a date that would be after he got home, but also after his three weeks of mandatory reintegration training too. Talk about frustrating. What if he had to work on our wedding day? What if his leave was different?
Everything worked out just fine, but it was strange to a lot of my civilian friends that we couldn't plan a wedding date. Just as it is strange to people now that we don't know when he will be home for sure and once we know, we can't tell people. A lot of people who don't live in this lifestyle just don't understand having to basically live in limbo all the time.
There are no firm plans. We booked a hotel room, planned a weekend, around my half-marathon in 2010. Then he got assigned funeral duty and spent months being at the literal beck and call of the military at least once a week, sometimes twice, performing military honors for retired veterans.
It is hard. I think the waiting would be easier with a specific day and time to mentally prepare for, but that isn't what we get. We make tentative plans and hope for the best. We hurry up and wait A LOT! We cancel plans, make the best of things, miss holidays often. My birthday is Wednesday. I'm turning (gasp) 40. It is a big birthday and I would like to have my husband home to celebrate it, but there is nothing I can do but be flexible and hope for the best. I'm throwing in a few wishes and prayers while I'm at it.
We're trying to plan a celebration for when he comes home. We're trying to plan for family to visit. Some are coming in from out of town, some from out of state.
Planning anything with the military is pretty hit or miss. We can't plan a vacation. Trying to coordinate physical custody of his children is interesting. We can make plans to have the boys for a holiday weekend only to find that he has field exercises or a school that is mandatory he attend. We wanted to take a special trip for our anniversary, but his unit won't give him leave. We're limited to the long weekend.
But flexibility takes on a whole new meaning when you're waiting for your soldier to come home from Iraq or Afghanistan. The civilian world plans months in advance. Sometimes events are planned years in advance. When we got married, I was waiting for Chad to come home from Iraq. He was supposed to be home in October, but his tour was 15 months instead of twelve, so when they shortened it, the changes left everything undecided. Instead of December, we were hoping October, but they might extend his tour so, planning a wedding became much more complicated. I tried to pick a date that would be after he got home, but also after his three weeks of mandatory reintegration training too. Talk about frustrating. What if he had to work on our wedding day? What if his leave was different?
Everything worked out just fine, but it was strange to a lot of my civilian friends that we couldn't plan a wedding date. Just as it is strange to people now that we don't know when he will be home for sure and once we know, we can't tell people. A lot of people who don't live in this lifestyle just don't understand having to basically live in limbo all the time.
There are no firm plans. We booked a hotel room, planned a weekend, around my half-marathon in 2010. Then he got assigned funeral duty and spent months being at the literal beck and call of the military at least once a week, sometimes twice, performing military honors for retired veterans.
It is hard. I think the waiting would be easier with a specific day and time to mentally prepare for, but that isn't what we get. We make tentative plans and hope for the best. We hurry up and wait A LOT! We cancel plans, make the best of things, miss holidays often. My birthday is Wednesday. I'm turning (gasp) 40. It is a big birthday and I would like to have my husband home to celebrate it, but there is nothing I can do but be flexible and hope for the best. I'm throwing in a few wishes and prayers while I'm at it.
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