7 Goodbyes

Hello Everyone,

Just wanted to give you all a quick update on Josh and life. Josh and I said goodbye last thursday. From there he was put on lockdown and taken to a base (30 mins away) to fly out. I heard from him a couple times that day for he told me his flights kept getting delayed but he would fly out the next day. Friday he called me again and said once again his flight got delayed and he would fly out that night. So on Saturday he texted me in the morning and told me he was getting on the plane and would try to write me once he got there. So on Saturday, my sister and I (and a few other friends) ventured out to a festival at a castle. We were just hanging out when my phone rang and it was his ringtone. I was very confused and asked where he was. Turns out he hadn't moved and was still in Raimstein (the Air Foce base). So I did what any smart girl would do and asked if we could come see him. Turns out none of us had eaten so my sister, Shannon and I drove to Raimstein to have dinner with him.


A picture of the Girls and Kaiden at the Kusel Festival




That night we had so much fun at dinner but needed to say another Goodbye because he was scheduled to take off in the morning.



To make a long story short. Josh and his 8 soldiers (who were suppose to fly out on the ADVON (advanced party) group) finally took off yesterday after spending 6 nights in the terminal sleeping and had about 14 flights cancelled. Lucky for me I found out that after 7 Goodbyes it isn't so difficult to say Goodbye anymore. :) He was very excited to get there and I too was very relieved when he called me yesterday morning and told me this was it and he was leaving.


One last photo of Josh

The ironic part of the story is that the main body ended up flying out before the ADVON group. Each time a flight would get cancelled, the guys would get more and more frustrated. I tried to go see Josh as much as possible after work so this week I have been getting home between 1:30- 2:30 AM. So it is now time for me to catch up on sleep. Last night I was in bed by 8:30 PM. :)


The plane that FINALLY got Josh off to where he was suppose to go.

Hope everyone has a GREAT 4th of July. My sister, I and 3 other gals are flying to Berlin for the weekend so I will have to update you all when I get back.

Love,

Gretchen

Goodbyes :(

So all the preparing and anticipation finally arrived today. Josh left
for a year to go to war. I can't say that I was the strongest person but
I think I did pretty okay.



Yesterday afternoon I called my boss (She too is an Army spouse with three boys) to ask if I could have the afternoon off in order to spend some time with Josh. She told me that I can have as much time as I need and if I needed to take today off she would understand completely. I let her know that I think I needed to come in after just to be around people but I really appreciated all of her support. So when I got home at lunch to hang out with Josh I realized that my mind and body had not been in agreement. I told Josh that I "just felt really weird" and I think I needed to lay down. I went into the bedroom where I closed all the curtains and turned on my fan. When I do this Josh tells me that I become a hermit because I don't like sunlight in my eyes when I'm trying to sleep. I awoke 1 1/2 hours later to Josh sitting next to me (in the dark) typing an email on his laptop. It was 1630 at this time. He asked if I wanted to go to dinner or go workout and I told him that I wasn't hungry and didn't really want to get out of bed. (This is very unlike me because I usually am hungry all the time and am always up for doing something.) I was sad and just wanted to be where I was for the time and I needed him to stay next to me. He got up immediately, told me that I could no longer be a hermit and opened up the curtains. To my surprise it was a beautiful day outside. He took me to the soccer fields where we watched one of my good friend's kid, Kaiden, play soccer. He is 4 years old and he spent the majority of the practice picking flowers for one of the girls he had a crush on. They start young here in Germany I guess.



Last night I would not let Josh go to bed. We kept falling asleep on the couch after saying bye to our neighbors John and Abby. (I encourage everyone to follow my sister's blog because she has a blog titled "meet the cast" where she gives everyone in site into our friends over here.) I kept waking Josh up telling him that we couldn't go to sleep because that meant morning would come sooner. He was one heck of a husband and stayed up talking to me while wiping my tears away. I love that
bouy....I think a little too much.:)

This morning I woke him up at 4 am and asked him if he wanted to read a chapter of "The purpose driven life" together. He agreed and so I read it out loud to us. The chapter was about how on earth is temporary and we need to focus on our purpose here on earth because just like that our time will be done. It really made me realize that this year, even though it feels like it will take forever now, is only a small window in our life.



I just wanted to let you know that I am doing okay right now. Right before Josh left he called my sister and asked if she would come stay over with me tonight. Without hesitation she said she would clear her schedule and be there. I am very lucky to have a sister like her.



On top of that, when I got to work I had a ginormous bar of Milka chocolate and a bottle of wine at my desk from Kristy (the girl who works in my office with me). Then I opened my email to find numerous emails from other girls here letting me know they were thinking and praying for me. I feel very loved today.:)

I know you all will be wondering and thinking of Josh (and please keep him in your prayers), but I will do my best to post blogs so you all can know how he is doing and adjusting over there. Some things I might not be able to say but I will give all the details I can.



I hope everyone has a great weekend. Thank you for all the love and
support.

Love,

Gretchen