Saying Goodbye

I meant to create this post earlier in the week, but have been busy as we wrap up our IA training here in Fort Jackson. Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit with my wife and precious 4mo old daughter. She made the long drive down from Norfolk, VA to stay one night in a hotel with me, AND IT WAS AWESOME!!! Lot's of guys say that it's easier to just "rip the band-aid off," say your goodbye's and don't look back. I understand where they are coming from. This is my fifth deployment, second as a husband and first as a father, but every time I leave my loved ones, and especially my sweet wife, my heart breaks again. Nevertheless, if I ever get the chance to spend even a moment with the love of my life, I will take it every time. So that's what this past weekend was. We had sort of said our goodbye's in VA before I left for training, but we had heard that we would have some liberty time during the last week, so we took full advantage of it, no regrets.

As I'm writing this, I'm holding back a few tears thinking about those last moments I spent hugging my wife late Sunday night as she dropped me off back at my training barracks. If you've been there before, you may be holding back a few tears too as you remember those intensely emotional moments. If you're married and in the military, just stand by, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

During my first two weeks of training, I was looking forward to seeing my wife just around the corner, now as I sit here typing in my barracks, that truth is settling in that I'm about to leave this country and not see my wife for close to a year. So forgive me if this is a "sappy" post, but I'm definitely feeling that separation.

This deployment brings a new and unique set of emotional "baggage" as I now have a daughter who I love to pieces. She is such a treasure to my wife and I, and it hurts so bad to think that I am missing so much of this first year of her life. I thank God for my amazing wife who has been doing such a good job of posting daily video's and pics of them for me to see (highly recommend this for deployed service members).

If there is one thing I have learned in my relatively brief military experience as a husband and father, its that this is a team effort for the whole family. Without me working, my wife could not stay home with our baby, and without my wife staying home with our baby, I could never have the peace of mind to work. She helps me in more ways than I can say, and through the years, she has become my greatest source of comfort, love, and support. It's sounds cleche, I know, but she is my best friend! Sure, I believe that God is my Comforter, He is my friend, and He is my Shepherd, but I believe He works primarily through the mate he has given me in this life. Julie, if you read this, I LOVE YOU;)

Being separated from my family this year will be tough, for both myself and them. However, God will be there to fill in those voids left by our significant others, and I am confident that at the end of this deployment our love for each other, and our love for God, will have grown in ways that we can only imagine.