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.

So my birthday was this past Sunday and, obviously, my husband had to miss it. He tried to get a radio station to read a letter to me on the air but things didn't work out. But only because the airport employee he gave the letter to (the airport in question doesn't have mailboxes in it anymore because of 9/11 so he had to get someone to mail it for him) screwed him over and never mailed it. However, my husband, being the hopelessly romantic and sweet guy that he is, still gave me a birthday present. I was meeting my mother-in-law the day before my birthday for a quack appt. and then she wanted my help picking out flowers for a women's event that she was involved with. We went to a local organic grocery store that sells loose roses for $11 a dozen - my husband always gets me flowers from there. Anyway, she had me and my sister-in-law pick out 5 dozen roses. We got back to the office where my father-in-law works and she told me that the roses were actually for me. My husband had arranged the whole thing and wanted me to have them for my birthday. Now nothing could compare to having my husband with me, but can you blame me for loving this guy?