Waverly and I said "see you soon" to Joshua yesterday.
But before that dreaded moment, we started the day off with Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It is so funny now to watch Waverly HAVE to get her hands on EVERYTHING within her reach. Menus, straw wrappers, syrup bottles, orange slices. She kept us entertained and happy while we had a good last big meal out. We headed home for her nap, and Josh and I were able to watch some our favorite shows we'd DVR'd from the night before. I had to wake her up to feed her before we left, and Josh started getting ready while I got baby ready. I didn't know how hard it was for him before we even left the house - she was watching him put on his boots with apparently a "what are you doing" look on her face. So sad!
We had to run a few errands before we arrived at the company area; Josh needed some patches for his uniform - thankfully that kept us occupied as we had to try about 4 different stores to find the ones he needed! We grabbed Arby's drive thru and ate in the parking lot before going in to see what was going on. Thankfully, this time around, there wasn't a huge hoopla. We aren't huge fans of hundreds of families all crying in a gym. Makes it 100 times worse in my opinion. We were able to take a few pictures and then say goodbye at the car, relatively privately. It was so hard. It was hard for Josh to say goodbye to Waverly especially. They are such buddies...but I am thankful she is too young to realize or remember any of this. I got my hugs and kisses, but when I thought I had my last one, I just broke down and had to get one last last one. We didn't prolong it - why would you want to do that - and Waverly and I headed back home.
I expected to be a wreck all day. I believe all the prayers from family and friends helped this not to be the case. I wasn't looking forward to crying my eyes out while trying to take care of the baby...fortunately she took a great nap once we got home and I had about 2 hours to myself to curl up in bed and try to get my mind in the place it needs to be. I definitely had some teary moments, especially when we said our prayer for Daddy at bedtime. We pray angels surround him and keep him safe and bring him home to us soon.
Today we got to Skype and chat on Facebook, and it was so great to see Josh and for him to see the baby. She even clapped her hands for him for the first time (on her own ;). Praying we get much more of those opportunities and that the rest of his travels go well. I've made my to-do list for the next week, and it is full of packing, errands, purging stuff we don't need, and hopefully some time with friends before my parents and Mark arrive and we head out to California. I'm so thankful I have that to look forward to, otherwise I'd really be dreading staying in Clarksville while many of my friends here are traveling with their kids. We should be back in the area hopefully before or after Christmas, depending on how long Josh's deployment is.
I'm so thankful for everyone's support - the kind words and prayers have been such an encouragement. I hope the rest of the deployment goes quickly and smoothly and that Josh's experience is rather dull. ;) We can only hope and pray!
