Weekend Pass

So let me tell you about the past couple days in case you are interested.


Graduation was nice. Not too terribly hot and we had good seats. The only real negative of the day was my camera died and I wasn't able to get many pictures. But honestly they didn't do anything much other than march in, stand there for an hour, and then march out. No big pomp and circumstance.

Once we got all his gear loaded and got back to the hotel, we ended up spending several hours sorting out some of the nastiest smelling laundry ever. Problem was they never had dryers and everything was hung dry. But not everything dried and they just sat there and rotted! We basically had to wash everything in his bag – which was a lot of stuff! So watching Billy do laundry was amazing! He sorted, washed, and folded everything. For a moment I thought I should learn how to fold it the military way, but quickly decided this was just one less thing for me to deal with. And besides he did a fantastic job. Rolling all those socks and tshirts - so proud!

So after laundry and then packing his bags to prepare for his next leg of the journey, we took advantage of having some family in the hotel with us and went on a date night. Nothing too extra special. We ended up shopping for a garment bag for his dress blue uniform and then grabbing a quick bite at chik fila. Then sitting in the hotel room Billy finds the Military channel. This got him talking about guns and bombs and grenades and terrorists and uniform and tactical maneuvers. I don't know how to act like this is normal conversation. It really struck home how they leave a man and return a soldier. Seriously.

So the next morning was our long drive to Virginia. It was a bit nerving to get about an hour away and get stuck in traffic. The traffic report was “tunnel blocked. Expect long delays” UGH! Billy and I were on the edge of our seats because this tunnel was the only way there. And he had to check in by 8pm. We just weren’t sure how long the traffic was going to be at the stand still like it was. Eventually we started moving again. Jonathan driving all the while. Which put me in the back seat with the stir crazy kids. By the time we pulled into the gate at Fort Eustis, I was one big raw nerve. Anyway, long story short, Billy went into the building to report in and came back out in about 3 minutes. It was in this three minutes that I fretted about whether or not he was going to get his weekend pass. So, when I saw him come out so soon, I just knew for sure he was just coming to get his bags and that was it. But nope! He got the weekend pass. Since he had Sgt Price (Jonathan) with him, the check in process was nothing but “here take this papers and come back Sunday at 1700” So that was incredibly cool! After much debate, we decided to drive back to Jonathan’s house in North Carolina (another 6 hours in the car) and spend the weekend.

So Saturday we wake up and drive out to the beach. It was wonderful to see Billy relax finally. I don’t think he ever really calmed down 100%, but being in the ocean with the kids was as close to relaxed as he got all weekend.

Sunday was the hardest day yet. Knowing that he was leaving in the morning to go back to Virginia and that we were going back to Nashville, my heart was hurting so bad. Knowing how hard it was the last time around only added to the pain. I just don’t think I can deal with that kind of separation again. But the difference this time is that he will be able to call home more often and even have access to the internet. So, we should be able to communicate almost daily.

Watching him leave was hard. Going back home without him was harder. But knowing that we are very blessed to have such a wonderful man in our lives is a great thing. 8 weeks. We can do it. Just going to float.