The Countdown Has Begun

We started this journey on January 4. It has been a long four months. It has been a short four months. It has been a difficult and exhausting four months. It has been a fun and exciting four months.

I have bonded a little more with my children as we leaned on each other and helped each other out in our times of need. There were many nights where I held or laid next to a child while they cried for their Daddy. There were days where one of my children patted my arm or cleaned up a mess while I sat on the couch and cried, defeated. That is what a family does- we stick up for one another. We are there for each other and we are closer because of everything we have done and been through together.

But at the very heart of it all, our family was fractured. One fourth of our family has been missing but will very soon return. The countdown has begun. We cannot wait to have Daddy, Husband, Playmate, Friend, Lover, One-Who-Picks-Up-Dog-Poop back with us again.

When we started this journey, I posted this the first weekend when we sat down and made our deployment chain. This is what it looked like when we hung it- it draped all the way to the floor on both sides of the door:

Here is what it looks like tonight:

That's right. We are down to ten days. TEN DAYS. We have one hundred and eighteen days behind us tonight and only ten measly days in front of us. I won't say it has been easy- it hasn't. It still isn't. But, we are so close. We have it beat. Colbert Family: 118 Deployment: ZERO.

Suck it, deployment. You are such a loser.

** I got ahead of myself- we have ELEVEN days left. Damn. Still better than 129.