So… I’m doing okay! Ask Amy Skridulis. We just hung up the phone after giggling for a solid 30 minutes. I’m sure she expected to call me and hear tears, but believe it or not, I haven’t shed a single one since we left Jamie almost 48 hours ago. I have my theories why, but I’ll get to that later. Maybe. It’s highly possible that I have no more tears left after a very emotional send-off. Boy oh BOY am I glad his send-off is behind us. The anticipation was absolutely, positively the worst thing ever.
I didn’t hear from Jamie all day yesterday, which was VERY unsettling. I can’t explain what it feels like to not even know what continent your husband is on. Very bizarre. He finally called me about 12:30 this morning, but our dog was sleeping on the phone and in true “peaches” fashion, I couldn’t find it and missed the call by a SECOND. At first I thought I was going to burst into tears that I missed his first call to tell me where he was and how he’s doing, but instead I felt like the wind was knocked out of me and just stared in disbelief at the phone, like staring at it would make it ring again. Sure enough, four minutes later he called with Skype credit, and in our very broken connection he told me to get on Skype quickly. I raced, and I mean RACED, downstairs and we talked through Skype chat. It was so nice to hear his very tired voice, where he was, how his flights were, and when he headed to Afghanistan.
I finally heard his voice for about 15 minutes this morning, though I almost missed THAT call too while I stepped outside to let Teddy go to the bathroom. Thank GOD my dad heard the phone and raced to grab it, figuring it was Jamie. I’m so used to a missed call being no big deal, but if I miss his calls I have NO way to call him back. That thing was glued to me ALL DAY.
All in all, I’m doing just fine. My theories why:
#1 – We’ve been SO FORTUNATE to know about this deployment for 13 months. We’ve been able to plan so much, like our wedding and our home, knowing when he was deploying and for how long.
#2 – We have spent an amazing three months together as newlyweds. Though we’ve been back and forth with our jobs, we’ve seen each other three out of seven days a week on average, if not more than that.
#3 – We are used to goodbyes. Though this one is VERY different, it’s a familiar feeling of sitting in my parents house with two rings on my left hand without him.
#4 – I’m in denial. I’ll admit it. I don’t think it’s truly hit me the danger he is in and the things he will face. Though we’ve talked about it a lot and have prepared with how to deal with our struggles of being apart, it just hasn’t sunk in yet.
#5 – I have a lot of fun things planned and goals I want to achieve, which include visiting friends across the country, running a half-marathon this fall, going skydiving in a few weeks, being in my sister’s wedding, watching lots of friends get married, etc.
#6 – THE BIGGEST REASON – We are loved and supported in overwhelming ways. Every single message, email, text message, phone call, wall post, and photo comment has encouraged me and made me realize just how many people are covering us in prayer. What else can we ask for?
To those who have checked on me/us – THANK YOU. Really, thank you. I’ll never be able to express how much your kind words have kept me upbeat.
I’ll be blogging a lot over the next 10 months. Please check back for updates on Jamie and also on how I’m doing crossing off a list of goals that I’m going to post later this week. I want to document this unique, trying, challenging, crazy, wild time in our lives. I am looking forward to learning and loving to cook (good thing Jamie’s gone! He won’t have to eat my burnt food.), being with my friends and family, and figuring out my place at Fort Campbell.
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo