My husband, Eric, and I have been married 7 years in February. We've known each other since Oct 2001. He has been an Army Reservist since 1991. Other than a one year mobilization when the Iraq War started, his call-ups have always been short tours. As a Finance Officer working for a training unit, we never imagined he would be deployed overseas.
He was cross-leveled to another unit and he left a little over a month ago. Once he arrived in Iraq, they moved him from location to location trying to find a spot for him. All of the finance units that were already there were overstaffed! How frustrating for us, when we are clearly understaffed here! It seems he has now found a "permanent" location and he will be staying there for a while.
Back home, Abigail (2), Elijah (5), and I have made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas without him. We miss him dearly. We spent Thanksgiving with his family in Nebraska and we are looking forward to seeing them again next week for our family Christmas.
Christmas proper was quiet for us. My mother came to watch us open presents in the morning and we spent the day playing with our toys and recovering from all the craziness of the last couple of weeks. We were able to Skype with Daddy all morning while the kids opened their presents.
Skype is our best friend. The kids talk to him almost every night and we are very fortunate for that. I am grateful that we are still able to feel connected to him in this way.
I have so many friends that have been supportive and helpful. I'm very lucky for that. People have volunteered to watch the kids for me and they have brought us meals. Someone even came over and shoveled piles of snow for me the other day. What an awesome Christmas present!
Since Eric was cross-leveled, his unit is in another state. There is no one from his unit that I can empathize with. There are some friends from his old unit that have reached out, but they are still pretty far away and they can't relate to this deployment. Its nice to have someone to talk to that knows what its like to have your life turned topsy-turvy.
Eric let me know a few days ago that he will be going out on a mission soon. I have no idea what that means other than we will be unable to talk to him every day and he will be less safe than he is now. I pray constantly for his safety.
I will hopefully have more time for this blog now that the holidays are over and I'll try to update a few times a week. If nothing else, it will serve as a record of our days apart.
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