The day (night) has finally come, I just finished packing my very last care package for our first deployment! I can't wait til it is officially out of my hands and on its way to the sand box tomorrow morning.
For now, I'm just thankful for my purchase of my tape gun ten months ago. It got me through some tough times trying to get lots of goodies into teeny tiny boxes!
So thank you, tape gun for your undying loyalty and help through countless care packages and probably thousands of dollars of snacks, goodies, games and reading material sent over to Afghanistan over the past year. I have to say though, I'm really not gonna miss you all that much!
It just occurred to me that I could be down to single digits with DPTs I have left! WOW! If that's not a positive, I don't know what is.
For the time being though, I'm going to stick with my promise to let all of you out there in bloggie-ville get to re-live our amazing two week R&R through posts and pictures.
On the first Sunday that Andrew was home, I was finally confirmed as a member of the Catholic Church and took my first communion. As with everything else in my life, I had waited a long time for that special moment, but man, was it worth the wait. I can't even let myself imagine what it would have been like to take such a huge step in our joint faith without Andrew. It felt great to have him physically behind me as I was welcomed into our church.
It was so nice to have both of our families be a part of such a huge day for us! Other than the actual day Andrew returned home, it was definitely the most emotional day for me. Everything happened exactly as I had envisioned it, including the song "Come Back to Me", which I've had my heart set on being played at both my first communion and our wedding since the first time I heard it way back in March... remember?
I really want to take this opportunity to thank everybody who has been there for me during this process. The entire parish has been more than welcoming and accommodating to both Andrew and myself.
There is a Josh Turner Song (see above) that has always spoken to me and has often helped me through long separations. When Andrew came home last month and I ran into his arms, sobbed on his shoulder for minutes on end, while we held each other as tightly as I possibly could, and then finally got that first kiss I have been dreaming of for so long, it really rang true for me. We had briefly talked about making this our wedding song, but since it's about the Navy, we decided it was not quite "ours". That's not to say though that every single lyric to this song doesn't bring a tear to my eye, because it most definitely does; and depending on the day I'm having or the mood I'm in, most of the time I can't even make it through the song in it's entirety without skipping to the next song on my iPod (especially when I'm driving).
Last week I posted the first picture taken of Andrew and I in the past 9 months, but I didn't explain the story.
Andrew's tentative date to be home was Monday, October 17th. As I told many people during that time, if I were a betting woman, that is the one day in the entire month I could tell you 100% for certain that Andrew's leave would NOT start. Ding ding ding! Win for me. KO 1, Army 0. Not getting your hopes up is absolutely vital for any military family.
I had very little communication with Andrew while he was in transit (all in all, about 20 hours of flight time took him over 5 full days) so on Monday night when Andrew texted me and said he was in Germany, it wasn't shocked (at that point it had been about 2 days since I had heard word from him). Since the Army will pay for their soldiers going on R&R to fly anywhere in the world, Andrew's plan was to fly directly to Harrisburg. When he landed in Atlanta on Tuesday morning, he realized that flying into Baltimore would save him a layover in Chicago and add several more hours of leave. Thankfully, he was able to use the internet at the USO (great charity, if anyone is looking where to send their extra cash!) in Atlanta to get a hold of me and tell me his new plans.
So Tuesday at 4, Mom and Dad Dolan and I drove down to BWI to pick up our soldier! Honestly the whole day felt like a day dream. I couldn't eat, the night before I don't think I got a wink of sleep, and I was basically a complete basket case waiting in anticipation of seeing my sweetheart.
We got to the airport just as Andrew's flight was landing and waited for what seemed like another 9 months outside of the security checkpoint for Delta flights.
I was beginning to get worried that Andrew was already at baggage claim or that we were at the wrong place, when Dad leaned over to me and said "who is that, coming around that corner?"
My heart actually stopped. I almost choked on my own breath before he even caught a glimpse of me. Within a split second, I made the decision that I couldn't wait for him to walk another 20 feet to get to me, I said "I don't care, I'm goin' in!", ran past the huge "DO NOT ENTER" security checkpoint sign, and RAN as fast as I could. He had just enough time to throw his bag down before I reached him and we threw our arms around each other.
I couldn't even get words out. I made total girly-girl stupid sobbing noises I had never heard myself make before as I buried my face into his shoulder and all I remember was him saying "Wow, you're even prettier than I remember". It was the single most amazing feeling I have ever experienced in my life, and our first kiss was definitely the sweetest (and saltiest- because of my tears) of my life.
Pure Joy
Brotherly Love
Shannon and Andrew
It took a little while for the kids to warm up to their uncle, but within ten minutes they couldn't get enough of him!
A few months ago I asked Lillia what she was going to do when she saw Uncle AJ again. Her response: "Scream, of course! And then hug him forever"
Where is Afghanistan, Uncle AJ?
The kids (minus Jared) with their gifts from Afghanistan. Children don't have toys to play with, so the only thing Andrew could bring home for them were clothing items in the form of hats and scarves. (I love Austin's "tough-guy" face in this one!"
The first hours of R&R were perfect, just the way I envisioned them. We spent time with the family at the house and then extended family after the Aunt's finished bowling (without me-- Sorry, Aunt Lori!) and everything was right with the world- no worrying, no text messages, unlimited hugs and kisses, no quick addition to figure out what time it is in a place far away, and no holding my breath whenever the doorbell unexpectedly rang.
As of 12 hours ago, the best two weeks of 2011 have officially come to an end. I can't put into words how perfect it felt to have him back in my arms after 9 long months apart. This morning it was so difficult to drop him off again and say our "see ya laters", but knowing that we are down to a matter of weeks before our first deployment is over forever made it a tiny bit easier.
R&R was nothing short of fantastic. I am going to try to post about it in sections over the next couple of days because it is way to much to summarize all in one post (plus I'm pretty exhausted to be completely honest with you), but in the meantime, here are some of my favorite highlights from the past 16 days:
Wow, narrowing thousands of pictures down to just 3 was nearly impossible. More to come soon, I promise, now I'm off to bed with my cellphone on for the first time in two weeks.
