Day 8

I know it’s been a few days since I’ve posted, I wanted some perspective on Aarons leaving.

Wednesday night went to the local theater and watched Handcock - if for no other reason than to eat up a couple hours and avoid talking more about his
leaving or just sitting in silence thinking of how to say good-bye the next morning. I slept awful that night. I don’t think I got much more than a 2 hours sleep. I kept waking up and rolling over to make sure he was still there. I would snuggle up next to him only to feel that sinking feeling in my stomach that it was going to be a while before I was going to be able to snuggle again. A wet stormy dreary morning came too soon and we checked
out and headed to breakfast. We order too fast, the food came too fast, and we finished too fast. We still had 40 minutes before he needed to be at the Reserve Center - neither one of us was looking forward to just sitting there looking at each across the table and trying to figure out how to say good-bye. Thankfully two other guys from Aaron’s unit showed up at the restaurant and sat with us. The mood lightened as they ate breakfast and we all
chatted about movies.

Then it was time to leave. On the way to Center Aaron made a comment about the weather - was it an omen of how the deployment was to go? Perhaps it was just the physical manifestation of everyone’s mood? I said it was just rain. I pulled into the parking lot and popped the trunk. I got out and helped him grabbed his 3 bags. He set them down and gave me a hug. I hugged back. A few quick kisses and some I love yous. He picked his stuff up again. A few more kisses and a few more love yous. I can’t even remember if I said goodbye – I was too focused on not crying in front of him. I turned and walked back to the car and he turned and walked to the center. Then I drove away. It wasn’t until I was 20 miles down the road, where I had gotten stuck at a stop light, that the tears rolled down my face. There weren’t many of them and they didn’t last long. The light turned green I wiped my eyes and continued north.

He texted that night that they made it safe to New Jersey. He found the card I tucked into his backpack - he said it almost made him cry. That made me almost cry. I’ve returned to work, trying to get into a routine. Trying not think about everything that could happen and only hope that everyone will be OK and the time will pass quickly.

392 days to go.