Blessed

I am blessed. In so many ways. I was blessed the day I met my husband. We only knew each other for 3 short months before our first separation, and we both knew, deep down that we were meant for one another. 5 years later we finally stopped being separated long enough to get married. We have said more good-byes and had more reunions that many couples. We spent years separated by continents and oceans, and the military in general. The biggest blessing that we could have asked for(or not ask for). In those years of separation we developed deep, loving relationship through letters, and emails, and (in the pre cell phone years) the VERY occasional phone call. Homecomings were sacred. You have not experienced true passion until you have been separated from your true love for over a year. When your eyes lock, in that moment,  nothing else even matters. You don't care if your hair is perfect, or your outfit looks right, you don't care if people stare. All you care about it jumping into that person's arms and never letting go again. 

I thought when Jake came home from an 18 month deployment that I would never be happier. I was wrong. Fast forward 3 1/2 years to March of 2009. I had finally completed 3 1/2 months of  Army Basic Combat Training and was allowed to see my husband and my two babies. Thor was just 2 1/2 and Baleigh was not quite 1 1/2 yrs old. I vividly remember walking across the parking lot, and then running, then crouching down and my chubby little boy running towards me. He had  a tiny dinosaur clutched in his fat little paw, and he launched himself into my arms. I could not have been happier than I was at that very moment. I was blessed. There was a moment (ok, maybe a little more than a moment) when Baleigh did not recognize me and was hysterical when I picked her up. It crushed me that she did not recognize me or want me to touch her. We eventually warmed up to each other again when I was able to be home with them again every night - 6 months later. But I was blessed to realize how much my family means to me, because I have been without them so many times. Very few will ever be able to know what it is like to be without their family and then be re-united with them. Jake and I have a unique perspective on love and family-togetherness.