An Early Christmas

My Christmas started at 7:47 am on Saturday morning at Sky Harbor airport ( maybe a little later, but who's counting) when I got my husband, my SOLDIER, back after 6 weeks of being apart.  Now I know in the grand scheme of military life 6 weeks is almost a laughable time apart, but for us, this is the longest we have ever been away from each other.  The hardest wait was not this last 6 weeks, but the last few minutes, down to the very few last seconds as he was coming up the security walkway that very clearly said DO NOT ENTER it wasn't until he finally reached the very last of those horrid signs that I told Gunnar to run!  I, with a Starbucks in each hand, could no longer hold back my tears after seeing my handsome husband clad in his Army ACU's and my beautiful son clinging to each other.  Then it was my turn, I handed him what I later learned to be his 3rd Starbucks of the very long transition from Oklahoma to Arizona and hugged him like I have never hugged him before, Starbucks and all.  I don't know which of the 3 of us was beaming more, but I think we may have been the happiest family in the airport that day.

After the airport we went to my parent's house for my Dad's famous brunch.  He made pancakes, bacon, and eggs with OJ and coffee (yes, more coffee!).  My mom and my sister both teared up at the sight of Curtis in uniform, and I saw in my Dad a very proud father in law.  Even Luke, my parents dog was super excited to have him home, I don't think his tail stopped wagging the whole time we were there!  We enjoyed our brunch, but were all exhausted, Curt had been up for about 48 hours straight at this point, and I don't think I had slept much for the last 6 weeks he had been gone, and Gunnar was drained from pure excitement, so we headed home for a movie and some rest.  No sooner did the movie start then I was asleep on Curt's lap and Curt was asleep too. 

Later that evening we decided to go for some pizza, a luxury Curt is not afforded in BCT, and one we all paid dearly for later.  We hadn't realized how drastically our eating habits had changed in such a short period of time, and the deep dish Chicago style pizza did not set well with any of us.  It meant an early bedtime for us all, and REAL sleep for me for the first time since before Curt left.  I slept so soundly I didn't even hear the text I received from a friend at 10:15 pm, when normally I would have still been up, or at the very least would have heard the text from my usual resting phase since I don't really sleep.  Not this time, I was OUT COLD, and let me tell ya, it felt GREAT!

Sunday we did some shopping, Curt's jeans were a tad big, and a bit saggy, so he needed some new ones.  We also had a few other errands to do.  Then I had off yesterday with the intent of getting a Power of Attorney (POA) and my military ID at Luke AFB about an hour from our house and then having lunch with my Grandparents.  Well, the military loves to play the "hurry up and wait" game, so we went straight to the ID place and I asked Curt to go without me to get the POA so we could kill two birds with one stone.  In my now optimistic mind I was thinking we would be done about the same time and be able to hit up the BX (Base Exchange) before we had to meet Pops and Grandma Barbara for lunch.  Little did I know that 2.5 hours later the POA would be long finished and I would still be waiting (not quite as patiently as I would have hoped) for my turn for an ID.  A few minutes later out comes a gentleman who has been working there the whole time to tell the crowd it's going to be a minimum of another 2.5 hours to get an ID.  At this point its 11:30 and we are supposed to meet for lunch at noon.  No to mention I had just wasted much precious time with my husband, normally this would have put me in a pissy mood for the rest of the day, but I just said, com'on let's go.  We needed the POA and we have it.  I can always get an ID another time, I don't have to have it until my doctor appointment in mid January, it's not the end of the world if I don't have it today, and I'm surly not going to waste anymore of my Hubby's time waiting here.

With that we were off.  We ran...literally...ran, through the BX trying to find a pair of Army ACU's for Gunnar, but that is no easy task with 5 minutes to spare the week of Christmas and on an Air Force Base no less.  So the mini ACU's were a no go and we were only a few minutes late for lunch.  We promised Gunnar we would get them in OK in February at Curt's graduation.  This was after I, with a catch in my voice, had to explain, that Santa could not bring the ACU's because we did not put them on his list before we sent the list to Santa, so Santa doesn't know he wants them.  If anyone knows how to get mini ACU's by Christmas, PLEASE let me know!  Then we had a nice lunch with my Grandparents and did a few more errands, including picking up a pinewood derby car for Gunnar and Curt to work on for the Cub Scout's pinewood derby I know NOTHING about that is coming up sometime in January. 

Then yesterday it was back to work, the boys, Curt mostly isn’t feeling quite up to par, which is not at all like him.  In the entire time we have been together, he has been sick only once, and he slept for about 15 hours and was over it.  This however seems to be lingering.  We did manage to take a horse drawn carriage ride with our neighbors church last night to go Christmas Caroling through a near by neighborhood.  It made me once again realize the many little things I used to take for granted when we were together all the time.  Like the simple joy I get from sitting next to him and holding his hand, or hearing him whisper I love you in my ear. 

I know he may only be home for a short time right now, but I could not be more thankful that I have this time to spend with him however limited it may be, to show him the changes in me and to show him and tell him, just how loved and appreciated he is.  Having Curtis home is the only Christmas present I need or want.  My Christmas is complete, whatever else comes after this is just icing on the cake.

My Christmas Present