Catching Up

I realize I haven't been on in awhile. I have wanted to several times over the past few weeks. I really enjoyed the past month and it was great to have some real quality family time. Tomorrow, starts our new realty. AJ leaves to start his training for the deployment. We will get to see him two more times before he goes in country, but when he is home it will just be "vacation". He won't be a real part of our day to day lives for a year. It just hurts my heart. It has been awhile since an actual deployment, and I am not sure I am ready to feel that emptiness again.

Yesterday, he started pulling out the bags. I just sat and cried. I don't like for him to see me upset, but the realty set in. He has been good about packing when I was asleep or when I was doing something else. The bags are not all over the house and the boys are feeling pretty calm about it all. It does help that we have all the holiday hustle and bustle to keep us busy and really Christmas will be here before we know it.