Dear Deployment,

Dear Deployment,                

               

You are over. You came (and scared me, a lot) and you have passed, slowly, but you are now complete. Although, you didn’t come without leaving your marks behind. Some were positive while others have been negative, but each mark has taught me an important lesson that I will use in the future as an almost “Army Wife.”

                

At first you brought long months of training for my, at the time, boyfriend. In those months of training I learned more about what life was going to be like with him gone, a lot. He’s a member of the Missouri Army Reserves so usually he was home and that was something I liked very much. So sending him off to train for months prior to your arrival was not easy. In those training months I learned ways to pass time and which friends I knew I could sit around on Saturday afternoons and watch movies, eat ice cream, and cry with. I learned that you were real, and that there was nothing I could do to stop your arrival, trust me, I tried. The end of training meant four days of leave for my solider.  Those four days also taught me a lot and changed my life dramatically. During those four days I became a fiancée and no longer just “the girlfriend.” I learned that this was my future and that you may come again and that was something that would always be a part of our new life.       

                

It’s now been nearly a year since you took your place in my life and it’s finally coming to an end. I’ve managed to completely plan wedding by myself, start my last year of nursing school, and move into our very first home. You’ve taught me how hard it is to be without my sweet fiancé but also how important it is to cherish the time that we have when it’s given. You’ve taught me to sleep with my phone on loud and right by my head, every single night. You’ve taught me that you can survive with very, very little sleep. Because of you, I’ve learned that I will have some of the best, most supportive in-laws ever. You taught me to always say “I love you,” and “I miss you.” Always. I’ve learned that not everyone will come home and not every girlfriend, fiancé, wife, etc. will get to hear those words from their loved ones. I wish that was something I wouldn’t have needed to learn from you.  You took the man he looked up to most in his company. You took the husband of an Army wife who gave me unending support and helped me relax as you approached and throughout your stay.  I’ve learned tomorrow isn’t always promised, and when it happens, I learned that it’s ok to wake my mom in the middle of the night in complete hysterics as I learned the news.

                

More importantly is that you are over. My fiancé has made it back into the country and in just three short days I will be in his arms again. We survived our first visit from you. You were a difficult experience, although I can’t say that I you didn’t teach me important things for my upcoming life as an Army Wife.  Thank you for leaving because now I can marry my solider and my best friend. I hope not to see you again but if duty calls for my husband, you will not get me down as much the second time around.

Sincerely,

The Almost Army Wife

Kelsey