Reunited and it Feels Surreal

J's plane touched down in Seattle late last night, just as the kids and I were pulling into the cell phone parking lot. And although it had been the end of a very long journey, what his arrival also represented was the start of a new beginning.

But first, the "reintegration".

Basically, it's what the military calls the gradual process of learning how to be a family again. After so much time apart, J has learned to survive our separations doing things his way. And I have been doing what I need to to make life manageable for me and the kids. What works during a deployment doesn't always translate in the redeployment. And that's the tricky part.

Mariah asked me earlier this evening, "Mommy, when will it feel like Daddy isn't just visiting--like Granny or Ti-Ti?" It is a completely baffling phenomenon having a husband/father feel like a guest in the home you have made together.

I am over the moon having my husband safely home. After 14 years of marriage, that man still gives me butterflies. Readjusting to living together and parenting together isn't instant just because we love each other. But because we love each other, we will work at it. Before long, it will feel like J never left in the first place. And hopefully he won't have to leave us again anytime soon.



Welcome Home, Baby. We missed you.