the D word!

My dear friends,

I’ve wondered how to blog this news, how to say this one thing that’s going on in our lives and I’m never sure how to start…. To the rest of the world this won’t seem like big news because it’s the norm in America today, it’s what so many families are doing nowadays- its hip to be deployed. But to our family this is BIG.

YES, you heard me- Mr. B. is being deployed. Don’t worry we’re sufficiently freaking out around here. He told me quite a few months ago, we felt “lucky” to know so far ahead of time but the time is almost here and I’m worried.

There were and are still about 300,000 things to get in “order” for the deployment, we are struggling daily to get them taken care of. We are also struggling daily to not freak out and feel like every single moment might be the last moment.

He’ll miss Kid1’s graduation, entering the Navy, boot camp graduation, and his last days as a child in our home. He’ll miss Kid2’s first day as a senior and her last summer to be home and be a kid. He’ll miss Kid3’s re-introduction to NMMI as a sophomore, and his 14 year old careless summer. He’ll miss Kid4’s last day of first grade and her first day of second, a million funny things she will say and her heart-warming hugs.

And we will miss him. We will miss everything about him. My house will feel empty and a little crazy without him. Mr. B. keeps us all grounded, keeps our head out of the clouds and cleans the house!

My heart aches for him knowing he won’t get back these moments, yet I’m proud that he can serve our country. I’m proud that he is one of the people to stand up and fight for what we believe in. We’re lucky to call him ours.

We spent Saturday in Florida at meetings about family readiness and how we can be most prepared for the up coming deployment. This day was a day that made it all hit home. He’s going and that’s that. Sunday the girls and I are having a day to do girl things… who knows what we may do. We’ve tried to turn this weekend into a little weekend vacation for them so they will feel special and so this isn’t so hard.

Back to the grind Monday.

I love you friends,

Ashley