Thinking about what's next

So Jack Bauer's been home for a few days and I don't have to go back to work until the end of the week. We've been hanging out, thinking about all the stuff we've got to do for our next moves. We're both anxious overthinkers so we kinda have to think through some of this stuff and come up with a plan to move twice in the next 6 months. And attempt to relax and have some fun while doing that. It's a challenge for me, but this is the stuff I have been working on myself for the last 2 years so I plan to make it will stick.

Today's project: test driving for a new car purchase. Will it be the Honda CRV or the Toyota RAV4?

Then it will be laundry list of things the real estate agent gave us to think about.

One other project: Do as many things as possible from the local magazine's list of 101 things every ____an must do. First up today is coffee at my favorite coffeehouse. :D

There's no place like home!

He made it home.

Oh, happy day!

T-1 hour

We went from waiting and waiting to hurrying and hurrying.

I learned abotu 4 hours ago that he was coming home tonight. And now I just found out he'll be here in 1 hour rather than 2.5!!

Gotta get dressed! My life is about to change. :D

Still waiting

Gotta a little snafu at the demob station. Homecoming is now waiting on one piece of paper. One little piece of paper. One little teeny tiny piece of paper that is worth a whole lotta money.

Hopefully it will get straightened out in time for him to come home tomorrow. If not, then maybe the next day, or the next day, or perhaps the day after that. Or not. I am sure he'll get here ... some day.

It is different from leave

Waiting for Jack Bauer to get home this time is different from waiting for him to come home on leave. Now that he is in the US, I've relaxed a bit. I guess it now feels like he is on a business trip. The chances of him getting hit by a stray mortar is unlikely. He is more likely to get injured using his cell phone in a rain storm or a storm of flying cheese curds.

Oh, I am still excited about him coming home in a few days. But it is a calm excitement. The frenetic vibe that accompanies scurrying around to get last minute things done is not happening here. Sure, I'll get the laundry put away, and I might even get clean sheets on the bed. Maybe I'll get something other than yogurt and bottled water for the fridge. Maybe we'll stop at the grocery store on the way home. Or maybe we'll just get some take-out.

Competition where losers are winners too

Jack Bauer and I have a friendly little competition going on. The kind of competition where we all win in the end. He is trying to get home before I reach my one stated goal of this deployment: to write 1,000 cards for Soldiers' Angels Germany.

I was on schedule to do this no problem until March became an insane month. And, well, life happened and card writing got pushed to the bottom of the list.

As of March 13, I had sent 841 cards to our wounded Soldiers. That means only 159 left to do. I started writing them again a few weeks ago. But picked up the pace dramatically last weekend when I cranked out 41; never made it to the post office though. So the cards piled up on my dining room table (glad to see the table is being used for something useful these days).

And now that Jack Bauer is much closer to being home, I thought I would just try to crank out as many cards as humanly possible. A great representation of the end of this marathon of a deployment and typical of me working best under pressure. Jack is going to try to get home as soon as humanly possible, but we don't really know when that will be. Maybe the faster I write, the sooner he will get home.

Well, I'd better be getting back to writing cards. I've got just 14 left to go. And I better prepare MaryAnn for the box she is about to get. :D

CDT

Jack Bauer is now in the same time zone I am. WooHoo! We get to talk on the phone now and not wonder about how many hours different it is. The math has gone out the window.

Yesterday I think we talked on the phone at least 7 times while he was trying to transit from the East Coast to the middle. That is really special for us. We hardly ever spoke on the phone during this deployment. It was just too much pressure to try to fill some time when we'd basically said everything that was going on in e-mail and IM. He'd call me when he needed to hear my voice.

But now, that has instantly changed. I can pick up the phone and call him. Whenever I like. Aside from leave, I haven't been able to really do that for almost 2 years. I might have to call him on my way home from work. Just because I can. Yes, I am feeling quite smug about this. :D

CONUS

Jack Bauer has officially made it to the US.

Now it is on to his demobilation station. He is dembbing by himself. We don't know how long it will take; hopefully just a few days.

Then he'll be home.

And this whole deployment will be done.