Deployment Positive Monday- Week 2

Oops. 

I guess I am not completely used to being back at blogging again.  I will get better, I promise. 

This week, for the first time ever in my life, I am thankful for travel plans going awry.  I have spent the past couple of days with my amazing in-laws for a little getaway from my normal routine. The trip couldn't have come at a better time, as I could feel myself starting to slip into that inevitable sadness that this deployment is actually a reality for the next X amount of months. That feeling usually hits me about a week into any separation, and then after a couple of days it will pass once I am fully used to this each new phase of our lives. 

Visiting Andrew's family always makes me happy and keeps me busy.  Mom and I built in our tradition for the first deployment of treating ourselves to an afternoon at the Hotel Hershey Spa. How wonderful it was to just let go and relax for a while!

Last night about 3 hours before I was supposed to fly back to Kentucky, I got a call from the airline saying that due to air traffic congestion (really? This just seems like poor planning to me) my flight would be canceled. At first I was irritated because I thought I would be stranded in Charlotte on a layover overnight, but after talking to a not-so-friendly US Airways employee I got it changed to fly out this morning.  I'll be a little late for work, but in the grand scheme of things it was totally worth it. Lillia and Gavin had a sleepover and as I was reading them their bedtime stories I couldn't help but hold them just a little bit tighter than normal. These precious little children, hanging on my every word, trying their hardest to understand why their aunt is home and not their fun-loving uncle, were so worth the stress of yet another flight mishap. I wouldn't have traded that moment for anything. 

As I continue to get accustomed to this deployment, I keep reminding myself to look for the silver linings in everything. That is one thing I will always be thankful to the Army for- at a somewhat young age I feel that I am always able to find the positive in a difficult situation, because in our world that is survival.