150 Days

This is how long it's been since Al left for Iraq.

Originally, this would have been about the half-way point of his deployment. Instead, it marks the 75% mark! Although it's not a guarantee (it is the Army, after all), we are pretty sure he's coming home in July. Of course, he'll be in EP for about a month before I'll actually have him "home" with me. Still, this is much better then the original November return date.

I am doing my best not to get overly excited so when the time comes (as it usually does with the Army) for them to change their mind, I can handle the new information. If there's anything I've learned from my time as a military SO, nothing is ever the final answer.

Either way, this is fantastic news and I am looking forward to the next step in our life together.

10 Things I've learned in the past 150 days:

1. The heart really is a lot tougher then I'd initially thought

2. Talking on the phone over thousands of miles is a much different kind of communication

3. Absence does NOT always make the heart grow fonder

4. But absence DOES help teach you what's really important

5. Emotions are more intense and conversations more vital when you can't have them face-to-face

6. Being able to "kiss and make up" is hugely underrated

7. So is make-up sex, morning sex, and really any kind of sex we don't get to have

8. I miss fighting over the covers and explaining why I bought another pair of shoes

9. Even when he's crabby, smelly and sweaty, a soldier still looks hot in uniform

10. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world