Change of Plans

Ah, the military life. I'm still trying to get a handle on what it'll take to be a military wife...will I ever fully get the gist of it?

Long story short: Kenny's deployment got switched from this summer to the winter. This is sad news mostly because he'll be gone for his birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years (which is also our three-year anniversary). If everything goes according to plan, he should be back in the States at least a month before our wedding.

He told me about the new schedule this afternoon and I was strong; I didn't shed a single tear. In fact, I didn't cry all afternoon! Until tonight when I thought of all the special days we'll miss together. Such is military life. He was a sweetheart on the phone tonight and came up with all sorts of positive aspects of him leaving:

* He'll do nothing but eat healthy and work out every day while he's gone and lose another 30 pounds (hmmm...sounds like I'm the one who needs the "Deployment Diet" instead of him!)

* Since there's literally nothing to do out there, he'll be saving us money.

* My cell phone bill won't be as high because we won't talk as much.

* I won't have to buy an outrageously priced plane ticket to Atlanta this Thanksgiving.

* I'll be too busy planning the wedding to think about him.

* I can try my hand in the kitchen by baking new goodies to send him in care packages each week (okay, I thought of that one all on my own).

* He hopefully won't be deployed again for at least a little while after we get married, so we can enjoy time together as newlyweds.

....um...yeah, those are all I can remember. And truth be told, I see the immediate downside to each of those points and they all start with me missing him. Oh, and as he was trying to be optimistic about this deployment my strength became weaker and weaker until I noticed a tear streaming down my face. Now they won't stop falling. (The latest thing that turned my waterworks on again was me getting sad that we're going to miss our traditional Callaway Gardens weekend.)

Nobody said this would be easy, but I really hope you guys will all be here for me, because I'm not just marrying the love of my life, I'm marrying the Air Force, too, and unfortunately they don't care about feelings or "special" days.