Four weeks ago, I was telling my parents about how excited I was that Jamie and I were about to hit the “single number of weeks until we see each other” countdown. I had NO idea that I was really about to begin the single DAY countdown!
Jamie had a golfball-sized lump on the back of his neck, and the Afghanistan oncologist really didn’t like the way it looked. He also had no way to biopsy whatever he removed, so he let Jamie know he’d be going to Landstuhl US Hospital in Germany in the next few days. Within minutes of his conversation with the doc, Jamie was texting me with the minimal info he had as we were trying to wrap our brains around all of this! Jamie has a couple amazing men that he works under who encouraged him to have me fly out there, and I also had a lot of support from my Army wife friends to go, go, go! Shout-out Steph England in specific – you are wonderful!
One major hurdle/heartache was giving up most of my October contract with Rachel’s Challenge. Not only did I have a commitment to my job, but I also really LOVE my job and was pretty much devastated about giving up my three-week tour in Roanoke. Obviously I knew it was worth it to be with my first priority, but it was still tough. The CEO of the company is a phenomenal man, and he supported me going to Germany 100%. So many people from the company were praying for us and in support of me going, so that took a huge weight off of me. I love you guys! I am excited and thankful to get back on the road on Monday.
I had nine days between finding out about Germany to actually getting on a flight. Getting a flight was difficult because I had no idea when to come home. We knew Jamie would be getting to Germany between Wednesday and Friday, so I booked my flight to get in on Thursday morning. We actually landed within FIVE MINUTES of each other but at airports 1.5 hours away from each other. Booking a flight home was really hard since we had no idea when he would be leaving there. Booking two one-ways wasn’t an option because a one-way ticket was only a couple hundred dollars cheaper than a round-trip ticket. I ended up calling Delta (the absolute best airline hands down!), and I ended up talking to the sweetest lady in the world. She actually prayed with me over the phone because she was a military mom herself and could sense that I was anxious about all of the unknown with Jamie’s medical issues and my own travel. Picked a random day to come home with the understanding that I could change the date and only have to pay the difference in the tickets, with the changed fee waived. The random date I picked ended up being the ABSOLUTE best time and date to fly home. I left yesterday morning, and Jamie left less than 24 hours later (he’s on a flight to Afghan as I type this – joy!).
OKAY this is going to end up being a novel and I don’t want it to be. I haven’t even gotten to the trip yet! Here goes the next 12 days in a nutshell.
I had no idea when I landed that it would take four hours before I saw Jamie. Those four hours were hell, to be honest. Just THINKING about the stress and frustration I felt makes me mad, so I’m not even going to worry about typing it out. Little naive American girl with three big pieces of luggage, alone in a foreign country, just trying to find my husband. NIGHT. MARE.
I was sitting in the ER waiting room, looking a hot mess and jet-lagged, all of my luggage around my feet, when I finally saw Jamie walk through that door. I was WAY overtired and pretty much bawled my eyes out and hugged him for a solid minute. I wouldn’t even let him kiss me because I was hugging him so tight! Not exactly the reunion I had in mind, but it felt wonderful to just touch him and be in his arms after so long apart.
That first day was not fanastic because it was filled with surgery confusion, figuring out that he wouldn’t be able to stay with me at my hotel (I was mad as a hornet!), getting set up with a rental car, etc.
But Friday (the second day) through yesterday were 12 days of BLISS. This trip ended up being outrageously expensive, but being together unexpectedly for that long made it worth every. single. penny! AND Jamie’s scary little tumor WAS just a big-‘ol CYST, so he’s going to have a very pretty scar on the back of his neck, but we are glad it was nothing after all.
Here are some pics from our 14 days in Germany!
Loved how the cheapest rental was a BMW. We didn’t expect to get a rental car, but pretty much had to since I’d be having to drive Jamie back and forth between my apartment at the air base and the hospital 20 minutes away. Ended up loving it and it all worked out well!
Schnitzel Gorganzola… oh my word.
Our favorite day was spending a Saturday on the Rhine Valley. Mid-50 temps, blue skies, lots to do and see… such a good day.
Have you ever been so happy that you literally feel like your heart will beat out of your chest? This is how I felt. That immense happiness ALMOST made the deployment worth it. Almost. 😉
Not a coffee-drinker, but loved some hot chocolate for those freezing days. 🙂
It was SO nice to have our own full apartment for a couple weeks. Felt more “married” than we ever have before because it was just us for the first time ever!
So nice to relax together!
Made four day-trips out to the Rhine Valley, Saarbrucken, Trier, and Heidelberg. We loved exploring different cities.
Some food was fabulous, and some was pretty much disguisting.
We might have eaten our weight in sour candy.
I LOVE this man!
It was fun for us to skype with Jen & Josh. Lots of Army news to catch up on… their upcoming move to Texas and our thoughts on the what-ifs of being stationed in Germany one day.
This trip was unique – it wasn’t really “vacation” because we had to sleep in seperate places, go to doctor’s appointments and through the actual procedure itself, and weren’t really in a “touristy” area, but we were able to spend time together in a country that was new to us, cook a lot of our own meals, and work out almost daily.
How incredible this opportunity was to travel out here really hit me my third day in Germany. I was driving back to my apartment after dropping Jamie off at his hospital barracks, and on the radio I hear “It’s 9 o’clock in Central Europe” in this strong voice, and everything just hit me like a ton of bricks. How awesome is all of this right now? I’m in EUROPE?! WHAT?! I’ve always dreamed of visiting Europe? And I’m driving around in my rental car? And spending time unexpectedly with Jamie? Holy smokes.
All-in-all, it was an amazing trip with an amazing man.
I’m pretty sure this will be a story for the kids. Thanks for reading!
