30 days let the count down begin...

      30 days..."Stacy its ONLY 30 days" Is something I have heard several times. However that has NEVER been said to me from another army wife or my husband bc they know 30 days can seem like a lifetime. The hardest thing for me is I'm not guaranteed ANY communication with my soldier while he is gone for the month. They aren't there long enough to receive letters and from the time they get there till they come home they are busy. NTC is a necessary training they are out in the desert so when they are in the "box" they get no communication which is approx. 2 weeks. I'm not new to NTC this is my second time around so I know how it works and what is expected of the soldiers. I wasn't an army wife before kids so all I know is 2 weeks without dad talking to Dylan was going to be very difficult. When we lived in Alaska I was a part of the FRG and we would have meetings prior to NTC and get higher enlisted talking to us about what is expected of the soldiers, of the FRG leaders, and so on...So I got to understand NTC from a business stand point which helped me a lot.

"Love you bud, I will miss you"
"Love you daddy"

      Mike had to be at work to load the bus at 1 am. So he went to bed early. Going to bed early was my intention but as I laid in my soldiers arms while he slept I laid wide awake. My alarm went off still not getting an ounce of sleep.Too much on my mind. I got up with Mike so I could help him load the car with his bags and get the kids up and ready to go.
      I try to stay strong and not get all emotional on him but I hold him tight, cry a little, tell him not to go. What can I say? I'm his wife I will miss him! But I get myself together so the last thing he doesn't see is a cry baby wife. He knows that he can leave and everything will be fine and I support his career a trillion percent.
      Mike isn't an emotional person but anytime he has to say bye to me and the kids he gets choked up. Before he got out of the car I told him "I'm proud of you everything will be fine here you do what you gotta do and get home to us." And so the count down begins...