I have no words for this

I took Dan to the airport today. I can't tell you how wrong it feels. There is this "back to normal" feeling. I shouldn't feel like things are going back to normal now that Dan is heading back to Afghanistan. I drove straight from the airport to my afternoon A&P class, then home. Right when I got home it was right to chores, dishes, laundry, etc. It felt all like normal. I'm not sure what's going on. Just knowing that Dan will be coming home soon, knowing that I know what to expect now, knowing that I can do this. Dan should be home in about three months. They have cut off two months from the deployment.

Let's get to the fun stuff. R&R was beyond wonderful. Dan and I spent a couple of days in Nashville and in Kentucky at the Land between the Lakes. Just us two. We have only done that once before after we had kids. Man, it was great.



This is the view of Carnton Plantation in Franklin, TN. Dan and I did a tour. It was a plantation turned into a field hospital during the Battle of Franklin during the Civil War. There are still blood stains on the wood floors. There is a historical fiction out called The Widow of the South, it was very interesting. Also nice was taking a boring adult history tour of something and having no one to shush.



The view from the cabin we rented at the Land between the Lakes. Beautiful. I wish we could've stayed there for a few more days.



We came home on Sunday morning. I walked into the house and called the kids into the living room. Hey kids who wants to see what I brought home from my trip? Yeah! I opened up the front door and there stood Dan. They just yelled and ran to him. It was indescribable. This picture was taken within minutes and I think that is enough.


Having a man around the house again...



He did this to the garage in one day. One trip to Lowe's for a tool rack thingy, toy thingy, another couple shelves and the garage is so pretty. I wish I had a before picture so you could really get the full benefit. Let's just leave it at that there was a free path from the car door to the basement door.

He mowed the lawn twice, trimmed all the trees and bushes, took two trips to the dump, and a trip to the recycling place (we don't have pick-up here in Clarksville, we have to take it ourselves). And he bought me this...



We didn't quite measure the cabinet right and the fridge was too high, so Dan took care of that, too. He cut the lower lip of the cabinet so the fridge fits. I'll admit it, I have hugged my new frigde. The best part for Dan is the old fridge in the garage, the next time we went to the commissary he made sure we bought a whole mess of soda. While we would be watching TV in the basement he would just step into the garage and come back with a cheesy grin on his face and a cold soda.

I hadn't realized how many things I had let slide, couldn't do, or didn't do until I had a man in the house again.

Now lets get to the important part. What I wore to the airport.



I'm going to come clean about this picture, its a re-enactment. The picture at the airport is bad. When Dan came walking down that hallway thing and I saw him, I starting bawling. I never got fully into an ugly cry but when I cry my face gets all puffy and red. It shows up on the pictures. And the person who took the picture didn't get the full effect of the outfit. So, yes, I made Dan do a re-do. As much as I worried about this outfit I needed pictoral proof.

So now back to "life." I don't even want to think about what my inbox looks like or the google reader. Looks like I have a lot of deleting to do. I hope everyone had a good eighteen days.