Our homework was to get VERY detailed about one story, I wanted to write about the hospital but I knew I would get very emotional and I was writing this late at night sooooo I chose Homecoming instead which clearly was a much happier time for us... a time before either of us knew how bad things were going to get... I miss that time...
I stayed up all night waiting for the call and long into the
day. I knew he was leaving Kuwait at 9pm
his time but had no idea where he was stopping or for how long, all I knew was
that some time in the next few hours my phone would ring and it wouldn’t show a
011 number or just a simple number 4 it would play “Irresistible” and <3
Josh <3 with a picture of him would show up on the screen. In a matter of a
few hours he would be in the US and not long after that standing in front of
me.
By the time he called I had been up for 36 hours and waiting
by the phone like a psycho. It was one
of the most exciting moments of my life; I had waited 15 long months for that
call. I was so excited I almost didn’t pick it up in time! When I finally
calmed down enough to answer all I could do was squeal like a 5 year old into
the phone and scream “WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” He was not pleased with
that hehe :D
Once I got all the squeaking out of my system he explained
to me he still had to contact the Air Force to set up a flight from
McGuirehe AFB NJ back to Ft Lewis WA and
we weren’t sure if he was going to fly into McChord AFB or into Sea Tac air
port just yet.
Just our luck, he landed 15 mins after the Air Force left
for a 4 day weekend for Easter so he was stuck in NJ for 4 days but it was ok I
knew then that when that weekend ended he would be home and I really wanted to
believe that he was safe and our lives would just pick up, I still believe that
on some level even then I knew that wasn’t going to be the case.
He called me early in the morning on Monday and told me that
he was able to get a flight and would be landing in SeaTac at 6pm then said the
4 most beautiful words any military wife could ever wish to hear “Baby I’m
coming home” when we got off the phone I danced around the bedroom in slippers
singing “MY HUSBANDS COMING HOME” into a hair brush.
I found out I was going to ride to the airport with his unit
to pick him up and was told to be at the Kennels at 4pm ready to go, I was
there at 3:30 jumping up and down.
We stopped at Taco Bell on the way to the airport, Josh said
he wouldn’t speak to me unless I had a taco when he got off the plane. We also stopped at the grocery store and I
picked up one of those pre cooked Prime Rib steaks, Before he left I swore to
his dog that if she got him home safe I’d greet her at the airport with Prime
Rib she held up her end of the deal so I held up mine.
Finally we made it to SeaTac and the airport was kind enough
to let me go though to the gate to meet him as soon as he got off the flight I
stood by the gate shaking this was the moment I had waited 15 months for it was
all leading up to this. I had this whole
image of Homecoming in my mind and saw myself running to him and jumping into
his arms and holding him tight… What I forgot about in that vision was the 60lb
Lab who he was bringing with him and who got very upset when I ran at him. She ran between us and instead of hugging him
I went face first into his chest as she tripped me!
As he caught me I looked up and saw he was really there that
I was really touching him and for the first time in 15 months I was able to
breathe
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