Deployment...Take Three

It's weird writing about Jer's deployment, because I'm used to writing about things while they're happening, and you can't really do that in this case. It's a security thing: the same reason that I don't write specifics about his job, where in Afghanistan he's going, when he'll be back, etc.

Anyway, so remember when I wrote about Jer leaving? About eight hours after I posted that, I get a phone call from my husband. Turns out their plane broke down and they'd decided after sitting for six hours on the tarmac that maybe they should just let everyone go home. He was supposed to report back in the next afternoon.

We show up dutifully the next day, having said our goodbyes again, and guess what? The plane was still delayed. We were told to come back at around two in the morning.

Okay, this is going to sound kind of callous, but here it goes. Saying goodbye once? All well and good. Saying bye twice? You start to sound like a broken record, but still okay. Saying goodbye three times? Awkward. It's not that you don't enjoy any additional time you've got with them; it's that you've already said everything that you can think of to say the first two times, and you're so emotionally exhausted that you just kind of wish it was over with. Our first goodbye spanned several hours and involved many tender declarations of love, a few tears being shed-- you get the picture. Our second goodbye was a considerably shorter clone of the first. The third time the entire farewell happened as he was getting out of the car. I believe I said something along the lines of: "Love you. Don't forget your wallet."

Not to mention the fact that Connor now believes "Daddy is going to work and he won't be back for a long time" means that Jer will be gone about twelve hours. No doubt this has really, really helped him understand the concept of deployment. Blegh.

At any rate, it's been a while now and I haven't received a phone call yet, so I figure one of two things has occurred:

Scenario One: Jer is in Afghanistan.
Scenario Two: Due to an overdose on those little packets of pretzels Jer is comatose on a still-broken plane. I figure those things are toxic at high consumption levels.

Maybe the third time's the charm.

~Jess