I leave tomorrow to go see my husband. Right now I can't even describe the excitement and apprehension about these next few days. I'm excited, obviously, about seeing my husband again. The apprehension stems from having to travel by myself for the first time and having to spend a night in a hotel by myself after saying goodbye to him. I'm still hoping that things will change and they'll get 96 hours of liberty like the rest of the base instead of just 72, but not really expecting that it will happen. It's funny about going to see him after being apart for awhile. When I'm thinking about it or planning for it, I usually envison us going to the beach or other various "activities." But in reality we almost always end of doing very boring and "ordinary" things like going for walks and holding each other. I guess it's because those ordinary, everyday things are what I miss the most when he's gone.

Well my husband has gotten into his Machine Gun section at his training school. This is good news for me and him. Apparently the other sections are spending mutiple nights out in the field which has been very rainy lately. My husband's section will no longer be spending nights in the field. This means more phone calls for me. He has been able to call me every day so far this week. It's weird to think that in less than a week I'll get to see him again. But I'm not looking forward to saying goodbye to him again. For several hours after we left the guys and started home I just sat there crying and praying that he would be able to call me that night. (He eventually was able to call me) Some people say that seeing each other in between actually makes it harder. They say that having to see each other and then say goodbye again is harder than just not being able to see each other. I definitely agree that it is very hard to see my husband, spend every single minute with him for a weekend, and then have to say goodbye again. It's kind of like going through withdrawl. But I wouldn't trade that time we had together for anything. At this point the only thing I have to look forward to is seeing him again. It's a lot easier to count down the days in a couple weeks than in a couple months.

I can't believe that I'm leaving to see my husband tomorrow and the day after that I'll be in his arms again. It's a good thing I'll get to see him this weekend because I haven't been able to talk to him all week. Usually one weekday evening he has a chance to call me. If it weren't for this trip I would be really depressed right now. I've just been planning our trip for the past week: buying snacks, reserving a hotel, buying a new bathing suit and some other trip essentials. The only thing that I'm worried about is saying goodbye to him again. I know that when I have to say goodbye I'll be able to look forward to seeing him again in two weeks, but it's always hard to say goodbye to someone you love.

I'm going to see my husband this weekend! One of the other wives from my husband's unit decided to drive down this weekend to see her husband. Her husband told my husband and offered a seat in his wife's car to me. So I'm going to drive down with three complete strangers (this marine's wife and two of her girlfriends) to see my husband. 16 hours in a car with people I've never met. It should be interesting. I'm going to bring a book that way if they feel weird about me being there I can just keep to myself. I have to miss some classes and the first track meet of the season but it will be worth it to see my husband. We've reserved a hotel room down there and we just plan on relaxing and spending time together. We really don't have any plans except I want to go to the beach and there's some stuff that my husband wants to buy off-base. I'm going to see him over Easter so I've been counting down to that since he left. Suddenly we've gone from being 17 days away from seeing each other to three (not counting today). I can hardly wait.

Well yesterday I got the first letter from my husband. And I also got the letter that the airport employee was supposed to mail. Apparently he's not a jerk, just incompetent. Thankfully today I got the letter that the radio station should have read on my birthday, had it gotten there on time. In addition I was able to talk to my husband last night. He wasn't supposed to be calling but he did anyway. He got promoted to squad leader! Him getting promoted is great for both of us because they decided that squad leaders didn't have to have fire watch. That means more sleep for him and more time for him to talk to me. God keeps reminding me how blessed I really am. It sounds like his company is over there in the "sandbox." I can't even think about the fact that he could be over there right now instead of doing training here in the states. Compared to a year apart, with virtually no communication, letters taking three weeks to go one way I'll take the month that we'll be apart before I get to see him again (albeit for only a few days), the at least weekly phone calls, and the three to four days it takes a letter to travel. It may sound strange but I am truly blessed.