Welcome to the most recent update in the life of Ben and I.
In July I told you all of my relief that he had reached his deployment destination safely. I can tell you that he and his coworkers are still safe where they are. They are becoming somewhat exhausted already with the long hours, but keep themselves going with the type of camaraderie that I think only those in the military experience.
I'll give you one example. Ben has told me about a tradition that involves shaving the heads of those of whom it is their first deployment. It happened to him on his first one, and two of his co-workers on this deployment had it done to them a few weeks back. It's all in good fun!
Ben has also carried on his own tradition of growing a mustache on deployment (within regulations of course), and a couple of his friends have even started it too! I very kindly asked him for a photo so you could all see.
So there you have it! A very exclusive photo for you all, and it definitely made my day (thanks love!).
Now I've talked a bit about Ben, I'll catch you up on what I've been doing.
If you read my Marriage, Deployment and Care Package post, you'll know that I'm now back in the UK visiting my friends and family for a bit. But before that I was just carrying on with normal daily life in Georgia.
The weeks after Ben leaving and leading up to my flight to London Heathrow mainly consisted of keeping up with my blog, daily routine life, seeing some friends and resting when the tonsillitis brought me down harder than usual.
The husband of one of my friends is on the same deployment as Ben, so a few weeks prior to leaving the states my friend and I started making and eating dinner together every Friday. We were both in agreement that eating dinner by yourself can be quite lonely, particularly when you're so used to conversation at meal times.
During the last week in Georgia I completed as many cleaning tasks as I could, which wasn't as many as I wanted because of my low energy levels. I also made sure the guest bedroom was prepared for Mum and Dad, as they are flying back with me to the states in October.
The actual journey back was long and laborious as usual, but of course very worth it! I flew from Valdosta regional airport to Atlanta, where I caught my 7.5 hour flight to Heathrow. I was unable to sleep on the journey so I've been trying to catch up ever since I've been back!
I've seen a few friends in my time here so far. It's just wonderful to be around my English friends and family again and I'm definitely going to make the most of it. Below is a picture of my good friend Lucy and I having a catch up at a local cafe in Taunton town centre.
In the coming days and weeks I look forward to my friends 'Sten Do' (a combined hen and stag do) and their wedding in a couple of weeks time. I'm so glad that I am able to be here to share in that special day with them along with their other friends and family!
Ben and I sure do miss each other a lot. But by talking as much as we can, we are still able to connect, make memories and laugh together, which will help carry us through this season in our marriage.
That brings this update to a close. I'll be in touch with more about what I'm going to be up to whilst I'm here, with pictures included!
Take care one and all.
Kathryn.