Day 1

Today is day 1. And I must say it was rather anticlimactic. I took him to the Reserve Center, he said good-bye, hopped out, grabbed his stuff out of the trunk and walked off.

Perhaps I should explain what is going on. My husband is a soldier in the Army Reserves and is deploying for 400 days. Roughly a year ago he was put on alert. Since this is my first time experiencing a deployment I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he was leaving in 1 week, 1 month, or 1 year. My brain raced with thoughts wondering if he would make to our wedding? would he be around for the holidays? and let’s not mention the assortment of scenarios that have run through my head of the various states my husband might or might not come home in.

The past week has been tense. For the most part I can keep it together, but there is definitely added stress making it hard to concentrate and giving me a shorter fuse. For example - we needed salad at the store and after 10 minutes of bickering about what should go into the salad we came to our senses and realized we were arguing about salad. And when I go home in two days I know I find the other two bags of stuff I packed sitting on the table that I needed for this trip.

But it hasn’t all been spacing out and minor squabbles. There is real sadness there too. Our dog Bagley had picked up it and has been very mopey. Given an option he would want to sit on the couch or beg for attention. However, lately I find him curled up in his crate and he doesn’t want to come out.

My employer was kind enough to let me work remotely until my husband actually leave the state – so I get to spend a few more evening with my husband. Now there is only 399 days to go.