Hello everyone!
So I have another update on life here, which I can finally tell you about! Some of you may remember that in my June Life Update, I mentioned that Ben was going to be deployed. I can now officially tell you that he has arrived safely at where he is meant to be! It took him and his co-workers a while to get there but they made it. He is very tired but well. I am just plain relieved.
Any of you who have friends or family members in the military will understand my relief I'm sure.
I'm going to continue this post with a bit of what happened pre-deployment. Especially as it's the first time I've ever experienced it and it was our first time experiencing it as a married couple. This is Ben's 3rd full length deployment so he knows the drill in that respect. But it was obviously going to be a bit different this time around being married to me in all.
Here are some of my thoughts I wrote down leading up to the deployment.
As much as I wanted to stop all the normal daily things I do, I had to carry on as normal as life goes on. I started to feel less and less like doing some cleaning or doing dinner or the dishes. Not because of laziness, but because my mind was almost completely focused on Ben leaving. I was constantly thinking of items he would need to take, last minute things we needed to take care of, how it was going to feel after he initially left and how I would feel months into it. I was also thinking about how it was all going to be like for him, the separation, his living quarters, the food, the working environment and the work.
There are a lot of last minute things to do no matter how much I thought ahead. Loads of washing, fixing things in the house and last minute items to pack. As yes, there will inevitably be things that you forget or that crop up only a few days before. An example being the kitchen light going out (this actually got taken care of today thankfully).
I cried. A lot.
But.
I was determined not to let all my feelings get in the way of our last full day together. I wasn't going to let them rob me of what I wanted to be a memorable and fun day. I was going to enjoy it, and I succeeded in that.
The day before Ben left
I don't have any photos of what we did as we didn't go out in the end. We had planned to do go bowling again like we did on my birthday. But unfortunately Ben's knee started hurting so thought it best not to do anything that might aggravate it. Instead we had a fun day in watching some of the Original Star Trek films.
Anyway... Ben enjoyed that dinner and there was even enough left for a hearty breakfast the morning he left.
It was tough saying goodbye to each other for the coming months. But the thought of the reunion is very delightful and will be one of the many things that will help us get through.
Below is a picture of us that we took the morning of his departure. Ben was keeping it together somewhat better than me. I definitely struggled to hold a smile!
Thank you to all of those who have offered support to both of us so far. I myself know of so many people that I can call on if I need help with anything. I'm thankful to have good friends, family, church family and those who work at the base for support.
I hope you'll continue (or start) to follow Ben and I on this blog as we go into this next season of our marriage.
Take care wherever you are,
Kathryn.