And so it begins….
It never fails, whenever my husband leaves for an extended period of time the cosmos immediately erupt into utter chaos.
We will begin our saga shortly before his departure…
Waking up that Sunday morning was as ordinary as all the rest, except for the fact that it was my birthday. Usually, this ends up being a week long celebration but due to the current climate of a looming deployment, it was sub par to say the least. My husband was expected to report to base as he had been doing for the past four days. With that in mind, my plans were to be nothing more than one with my couch but as you will soon come to realize through this journey; life happens when you’re busy making other plans.
I was asked to attend the deployment send off party (party- store that keyword away for later). The kiddos and I got up and started to get ready so we could show up across town looking presentable by 9am. By 8:50am I was walking down the hallway to tell my pre-teen, or as I like to affectionately call him, my tweener to end his solo singing career and get out of the shower. That’s when I heard it… the theme music to Zorro ringing on my phone. I rushed down the hallway knowing it was my husband and prepared to give him a landslide of apologies for running late. To my not surprise, we weren’t the only ones running behind. Instead of the event starting a 9am it was pushed back to 9:30am. Breathing a sigh of relief, I went back to mom-splaining to my children why they couldn’t move at a glacial pace this morning. FINALLY pulling out of the garage with my magical cup of coffee nestled safely in my cup holder, I turned on my speed racer music and buckled up to prepare for my race against the Google Maps estimated time of arrival.
Pleased we made it safely; I sheepishly pulled into the base parking area and desperately prayed my husband would walk out to meet us. All I could picture was walking through the door, kids in tow and everyone turning to glare at us for our late interruption. Luckily for me, I was over reacting, per usual. As we walked up, other people were also just arriving which made me feel a little better. Following the flow of foot traffic to the side of the building, we were greeted by husband who informed us the event time was pushed back again; this time to 10am…. aaand again not surprised. To have the full visual of this send off “party”, let me go into detail about the setup as we waited for an additional half hour (time now 10:15am). To the left side of the main building is a drive leading back to additional brown, block buildings. Gray rocks line both sides of this drive like useless left over deposits from a quarry. To the right of the drive, in the unseemly rocks, smooshed between a block building and the chain link fence that jailed the ominous armored vehicles was the six deploying platoons we were there to celebrate. The podium was positioned in front of the U-shaped group of soldiers, surrounded by metal chairs for the leaders of the pack. Where were the family and friends? We were on the opposite side of this drive, huddled together on the sidewalk in an attempt to stand under the sliver of shade the main building provided for the time being.
After 45 minutes of saying the Pledge of Allegiance, singing the Army hymn and listening to the platoon history lecture; the final speech concluded with an announcement of the family readiness seminar being held inside the cafeteria (and here I thought I dodged that bullet). I hot a glare at my husband as he walked up with an apologetic expression. I didn’t need to utter a word but me being me, I absolutely uttered many words. Trying to compromise without making too much of a fuss, I asked if the boys and I could wait in the car until they brought out the food for this outstanding party. PLOT TWIST! There was no food!! This was a carefully laid trap to ensnare supportive yet non-participating family members into a yellow ribbon support group.
*Sidebar: I want to take a moment to express the fact that I am not knocking any type of support group. If you need extra help or you enjoy being that extra help; I’m all for it.
Before stepping into the PTA meeting on steroids, we had a 15 minute intermission to have a meet and greet with the rest of the people my husband would be deploying with. All of them seemed so young and my heart broke for these kids knowing what they may experience overseas. I prayed as I met each and everyone of them that they all came back safely, both physically and mentally. The last person I met before going to wait in line at the gallows seemed older and more confident in himself; not cocky but sincere in who he was. Through the light hearted small talk and pleasantries he asked if I had signed up to volunteer with the family readiness support group. Giving my husband the side-eye because I was already made aware of my voluntold situation, I passively affirmed my indentured servitude only to find out this man’s wife was running the entire program face palm. Thanks for the heads up, hun!
Inside, the cafeteria was packed to capacity with military and their families. After the chairs ran out, people stood along the walls to strain for the information barely audible over the muffled background chattering and bored children. I wish I could tell you what was covered during this time but I couldn’t hear anything. After that painful experience ended they announced everyone was free to be with their families. This however, only meant they were free to walk their families to their cars and say good-bye for the day. From then until my husband got home later that evening, I did exactly what I had initially woke up to do. I became one with my couch.
This is not the end; in fact we are just getting started. Stay tuned for more adventures with the Yellow Ribbon Rebel.