Today is the first day of my husband's deployment, and I am strangely calm about our situation. If you'd asked me a week ago what today would be like, I would never have guessed that I would be sitting on the couch, watching tv shows about babies and chatting online with my mom, like I normally would if my husband was at work on a regular day. I imagined a much mopier me, with runny mascara, a huge frown, and a mouth full of Ben & Jerry's.
I really thought that saying goodbye would be one of the hardest things we'd have to do in this deployment, and if I'm right, this isn't going to be so bad. I dropped my husband off this morning around 5AM and our goodbye was eased with reminders that I would get to talk to him again very soon. That's not how deployments normally work, but since the boat that my husband will be working on left San Diego over a month ago, today will be a day of flying, not ...cruising (I think thats what they call it). He is flying to meet the boat at a port overseas, so he will be able to call me a couple times today until he gets to his final destination.
I could not be more thankful for my husband. He works so hard and puts all of his effort into what he does! He is one of the few people out there that can do anything because he is willing to work extremely hard to get whatever he wants. And so far its definitely paid off! Its amazing how much growing up we have done in the past few years together. I feel like all the people that havent seen me within the past two years, don't even know me anymore. Even the people who knew Drew and I when we started dating couldn't possibly understand how far we've come emotionally and financially since we got married. Which all leads me to the conclusion that couples who are extremely confident about their relationships are probably WAY more likely to survive deployments together (along with other difficult times that are sure to come).
There are so many articles on how military marriages have higher divorce rates than civilian marriages. They say its because women marry for money, and because military members tend to marry younger, and because the long deployments are too much for these weak relationships. For some reason I feel like I can laugh at all these statistics and all the people who immediately stereotype young military wives as soon-to-be divorced gold diggers.
Its also funny to me because I've met so many strong women who are in very happy relationships. In fact, most of the military wives I know are dealing with deployment right now. I think what most people don't think about is the fact that when our husbands are gone, we have to be two people! We have to do everything for ourselves and everything for our husbands. We pay all the bills and credit cards, we take care of the house, we take care of the vehicles, we sign what needs to be signed, we make ALL the decisions of the household! The wives that can successfully manage all of this and still have a stress relieving hobby or two are the strongest, most independent women you will ever meet! Besides, we are the ones keeping all those service members happy (your welcome for indirectly serving this lovely country).
Ok, so I went off on a tangent. Back to how I feel about this deployment... I am ok with this! I can do this! We were given enough time to prepare this (and I think we used it wisely) and we were given information on helpful resources in case we do need it.
Keep in mind, I do have extra mood-swing-causing hormones thanks to pregnancy and a tendency to feel sad when I get too bored, so yes, my opinion on this deployment could very possibly change in an instant. But as for now, Drew and I are both confident that this will just be another event in our marriage that we can conquer and call ourselves stronger for getting through.
Wish me luck!
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