CAM'S HOME!!!!! He got back into Jacksonville on September 24th. We were told that they would arrive on base sometime late on Wednesday night and we were told to be on base ready to greet our Marines around 1:00 AM Thursday morning.
Forget about the fact that I had spent the entire day Wednesday, trying to move things in to Cam's apartment and waiting on the families to arrive with the furniture. Forget about the fact that as we were hauling things up the stairs (with 3 crazy kids who were up way past their bedtime), I somehow managed to find my way on top of a fire ant bed. I got close to 10 bites on each foot and even though I was super dramatic about it (if you know me at all, you know I'd rather run into an anaconda than a fire ant), I was determined not to let it spoil Cam's homecoming. Forget about the fact that it was 1 in the morning and Jac had still not gone to sleep and was crazy grumpy (I had to literally force him, kicking and screaming, into his carseat)! With all this weighing heavily on my emotions (and my cankles), we headed to the base.
They actually had a pretty cool set-up going on and if I was a night person at all, I might would have been a little more pumped about it. They had a space walk and carnival games set-up for the kids and were serving hot dogs, drinks, and snacks (did I mention it was 1 in the morning...ick!).
At around 2, they came in and gave us the 30 minute warning. We were told the Marines were on base and would be arriving at the Area 1 gym (where we were) in about a half hour. Jac slept through most of the night in his stroller, but woke up to whine every now and then.
At around 5 AM (maybe 6), the buses were finally pulling up to the gym (30 minutes???? Yeah, right!). The Marines began pouring out and reuiniting with their families. I had no clue which bus he was on, there were probably 5 or 6 full buses. I searched for a while before deciding to plant myself in one spot and let Cam find me...he did! When I heard him standing behind me, I whipped around and threw my arms around him. After a few seconds of hugging, I stopped to check his face and see that it really was him and I wasn't groping a stranger. (AWKWARD!) We were good though. :)
The next day, we went out to breakfast with our families and they headed back to Florence with Jac, so we could spend a couple of days alone together. It was awesome!
I have to say that this whole experience has been an emotional roller coaster. Maybe my biggest concern was worrying that Jac wouldn't remember Cam at all. I knew that it wouldn't be long before things would be back to normal with those two, but I was honestly worried how Cam would take it. I knew that throughout the entire deployment, in all their family readiness classes, the always make sure that the Marines with young children understand that more than likely, their kids won't know who they are. I always tried to make sure that we included Cam in everything we did (even if it wasn't physically). Jac has a picture hanging in his room of him with Cam and every night, he "kissed" daddy and told him good-night. SKYPE has been a total blessing. I honestly thing we'd be in a totally different place now if we hadn't had it and I'm certain that it made the whole "No Daddy Adjustment" so much smoother for Jac. It reallly was like having him here with us. Things have really fallen back in to place and so far, it's back to the "new normal."
Speaking of the "new normal," this long distance relationship thing is absolutely killing me. Being apart from my husband for son long has made this suck a lot worse. When we are together, it's hard to focus on anything else, including work. I'm really struggling right now because we can't be together all the time and it drives me crazy having to say good-bye all the time. Sometimes I worry that I made a mistake by coming back to Florence, and have almost conviced myself that I'd feel a lot better back in Jacksonville where even if I had the worse work day in the world, I could come home and spend a quiet evening at home with my cute little family. What's that cliche' quote??? "The grass is always greener....??" That's about right. I'm trying really hard to stay positive, but am finding myself way more frustrated at work that I have been before, and I'm just really tired! The good news is that in about 5 months, I'll have my stay-in-SC husband back home for good! I can't wait!
So anyhow, I've got early morning duty at work this week (I miss the OCS policy of teachers having no non-instructioal duties), and it's got me and Jac pretty ill. I have to be at work at 7AM and I'm still not ready for bed! I better call it quits for now. Thanks for tuning in and I hope I didn't leave you hanging for too long!
