"Then it’s hi! hi! hey! The Army’s on its way!"

I know, I know....I'm a bad bad blogger.  I consider myself properly chastised by impatient readers. My excuse is that the past few months have been beyond hectic, with last-ditch attempts to get our house somewhat under control, and trying to prepare for my husband's deployment - the first deployment during our marriage.  I'm afraid blogging fell by the wayside for a while.

Now, however, the good Major is on his last leg of training before heading east....extremely east. When the average "civilian" thinks of a soldier's deployment, what most commonly comes to mind is the image of the brave soldier stepping on the bus, waving goodbye to loved ones before heading off into the sunset.  In actuality, a deployment starts waaaaaay before the troops actually board the bus or plane, with months and months of prep, training, work, and worry - especially when said husband is the Operations Officer, which I've discovered the hard way is the most labor-intensive duty in the whole deployment she-bang.

While outwardly brushing off those offers of sincerest wife-of-a-husband-deployed sympathies, I've found myself popping awake in the wee hours of the morning playing the "what if" game, ranging from the probable to the absolutely ridiculous, trying to run through every possible scenario I may have to handle.

 "What if a pipe bursts?"


"What if the fridge breaks?"


"What if the roof falls in?"


"What if I suddenly develop unexplained and total amnesia?"


"What if I'm attacked by rabid garden gnomes?"

I'm a little surprised at myself, having been a capable, independent, single woman for so long before getting hitched. Having been married for a few years, while I still think of myself as independent, I'm surprised to see how much couples come to rely on each other, and that you really do become a true team.  Now my teammate has been called up to the majors for a while, and I'm finding my way back to self-reliance.  It's kind of weird and a little disorienting.

It really makes me appreciate the sacrifices made by soldiers and their families in our country's past. Nowadays we have the benefits of email, world-capable cell phones, and video chat, which will allow us to communicate often and in real-time from half a world away. This of course takes the absence of a loved-one from extreme hardship to temporary and bearable.

In any case, I know that during this deployment, even if the gnomes do attack, the sun will still rise and set, and the world will still turn.  I have loads of projects to keep me busy aside from work, and I plan on tanking up on books and movies.  Once I start having in-depth conversations with the pets, some of you may expect a phone call.