OEF 2009

It finally came. In less than 24 hours this year long deployment ends. And with it, a huge weight lifts from my shoulders. I didn’t know what mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion truly felt like until this deployment. Even as I pushed through it, and didn’t think I was feeling the stress, it was there. It showed itself in tension and migraine headaches, IBS flare ups, waking up with anxiety attacks, hell I even bawled at a couple stupid commercials.

Aside from all that, I’m really proud of us. All of us. Him for being the one strong enough to take the risks, and trust me  to handle things here. Me for getting through it, even when I didn’t think I could, both girls for making it pretty easy to be a Mom most of the time. And that’s saying something, since they’re both teenagers, and rather emotional to start with AND dealing with him being gone. This time they were well aware of the risks and reality of what he does. I’ve never shielded them from that, as hard as it was to be honest about it, they need to know. We had our moments but mostly we did ok.

Things went wrong…

• The truck died. Twice.
• The water line backed up
• the dog ran off due to my scatterbrain
• Kidney stones
• Simultaneous Migraines for me and my oldest
• I missed a shooting at the px by 10 minutes
• the closet broke. twice.
• We found out we were moving unexpectedly.
• My computer died

Things went right…

• I met Gretchen Wilson
• I got the truck fixed. Twice.
• I turned a house  into a home
• I got a new computer
• I got my photography setup back
• I learned to control my kidney stones
• I learned I’m a damned good wife and mom

It’s finally over. We can get back to being a normal family. Well, OUR version of normal. It’s still vastly different than most peoples’ idea of normal. We have some plans for the summer. Litle things. Trip to the zoo, the beach, possibly a second vehicle.

But right now, I plan to do my dusting and vacuuming before bed, get some sleep, and then get up and shower and make myself look good to go bring that man home. And I must say thank you, to my commenters, my twitter friends, and everyone else for the support in the last year.

All weekend it was a madhouse here. I started getting the house ready for the return of hubby. This was sped up by the fact that the airflow vent to the main water line that controls the kitchen and laundry room drains got blocked and dumped water on the floor.

I was rockin the joint, cleaning behind the washer, scrubbing out the fridge, washing walls, scrubbing floors, all the while being cautiously excited that he would be home “any day now”. I had my laundry washed, dried, and put away, rotated my mattress, made everything look great. I was ready.

Then…delayed. Now granted, this is to be just a few days. It’s nothing like the last delay that kept him deployed an extra four months. But still it’s enough to invoke /Jessrage at the Air Force. They have some sort of Snafu going, I don’t know if they lost the keys to the plane or what but as of yesterday my husband was STILL in the waiting area.

The nervous energy is killing me. yesterday? I steam cleaned the living room. THREE TIMES!! I then proceeded to get the dining room into dining shape instead of scrapbooking chaos. THEN I went to the PX and got towels, and potholders, and placemats. My kitchen now has a coffee theme, my dining room table looks like people actually eat there, and both bathrooms have two full sets of matching towels. That’s right. I finally made some homey touches. Five months before we move.

All because the waiting is driving me crazy. And ya know what? I’ll probably tear through my bedroom today. Because I cannot STOP!!!