Ok, thought I would take the time this morning to back track as to how exactly we ended up in the booming metropolis of Elizabethtown - for the record we actually adore this little town.
Now I won't yet be telling the stories of how we met (again) or how we fell in love because we're going to do a separate day on that - one in which I will be able to coerce the love of my life into writing his side of the story for that and we'll post one from both of us!
So I need to back track to Big Texas for a minute to tell you how we got to Kentucky. Barry and I started dating after I moved to Texas, he was stationed at Fort Hood back from his first deployment to Iraq but preparing for a 2nd quicker than either of us where ready for. Right after Christmas Barry left for Iraq on a day that I can only describe as one that I dreaded more than anything I have ever dreaded in my life and that day did not let me down in expectations.
Though this day was hard it would actually prove harder to send him back to Iraq after his 2 week R & R, because this time I would know what to expect. Realize you have found your soul-mate only to have him taken away from you will forever be one of the hardest things we have ever been through, but it made us so much closer and our relationship so much stronger.
R & R in San Antonio
As hard as the deployment was and as much as I missed him I knew he had a job to do, a job that I was proud to stay back and support him doing. I have never been more proud of anyone or anything in my entire life - patriotism and pride took on a whole new meaning. I can now no longer hear the National Anthem without tearing up, knowing the sacrifices our soldiers and their families have made and continue to make will never cease to move me.
Barry returned from Iraq barely short of a one year deployment on the 3rd of December, one day before his birthday and the very best day of my life (at that point anyway ). Homecomings are a tricky and actually stressful couple weeks leading up to the actual day, and that day changes a multitude of times just to keep things interesting.
During this last month before Barry came home I also adopted a new puppy for Barry as a welcome home present! Our little man George was rescued running the street in freezing rain in Joplin by a friend of our Ashley Hailey- a wonderful girl with a soft spot for rescuing puppies. After seeing her post about a tiny little mutt on FB needing a home I melted and knew he was going to be ours, and all it took to talk Barry into it was to show him that very first picture.
And who wouldn't melt with that little face!
Thus George Brett Green (named after Barry's favorite baseball player) was born into our little family, and after a good friend of Barry's, Miss Lauren Gilbreth (also in our wedding) brought him with her on a trip to Dallas. I made a late night trip to Dallas and finally picked up our little Georgie and he waited out that last excruciating week with me.
Then came the day of the Homecoming - finally! It was moved about 3 different times leading up to that actual day but I can say that the moment I saw the white buses pull up and saw the love of my life with his smiling eyes it was all worth it - I remembered nothing else but how it felt to hold him again for the very first time.
Waiting on the buses and trying to stay warm!
A Homecoming is truly an electric day, there is a crazy energy with such a build up to one day that we had all been waiting a year to make it to with our sanity intact. I was of course running late this day and got stuck in traffic at the gate, I am habitually late everywhere (it's called Williams time). And this was the only ceremony I had ever heard of that was actually on time, what are the odds!
I made it there just in time to wait for about 15mins before the announcement was made for families to line up on the white line on the parade field because the buses were on their way. That is the moment everyone waits for, they are actually there and on the way to you - just got chills again. Now the big white buses are a stomach-dropping, nauseating sight the day they deploy because the buses are what take them away; but on the day of the Homecoming ceremony it is the most wonderful sight to see coming down the street behind police escort from the airport because those same buses bring them back.
This turned out to be an absolutely amazing picture with the little girl next to me holding her flag to welcome her daddy home. I can't take credit for these though, I took none.
I was too busy bursting into tears about now.
Ok, with this particular ceremony for 1st Cavalry the buses pull up and our soldiers unload on the other side of it, then when the buses pull away all that is left is your soldier in a sea of ACU's. Chills and tears begin right after this moment....I'm actually tearing up thinking about it all over again.
And there they were - and no I had no idea which one he was lol
When the buses move they march onto the field in formation, but you can't run to them yet - which is a practice in self-restraint. Once they get onto the field the commander comes up, says a few words and a prayer (which gets everyone crying) and then they say' families go find your soldiers!'. If you envision mass pandemonium at this point it is, you are ready to run but have no idea where to go! Now in my infinite wisdom we had decided weeks before of a meeting point, but the day of I happened to be with one of Barry's good buddies gf's (Khan and Tiara) and Tiara had brought a pink umbrella and that was how he was going to find her. I thought I wonder if he's gonna think I'm with her! So I basically stand between two points trying to second guess where he will think I am (he has no cell phone at this point), with George in my arms freezing our butts off and I am becoming more upset by the second that families are reuniting all around me and I can't find Barry! He re-tells the story and some lady offered him her cell phone to call me b/c he looked lost (he was of course at the meeting point I decided on lol).
Just at the moment I become the most panicky there is a break in the crowd, and there he was with his tanned face and smiling eyes and the biggest smile spread across my face and there was the moment I had been waiting a year for. It was finally over and Barry was home safe and sound right where he belongs, with me.
Its like the feeling you had a five on Christmas morning - only better
Happy little family
December 3rd 2009 marked the end of Barry's second deployment with 1st Cavalry, and one of the very best days of our life. It marked a beginning in more ways than one. While Barry was in Iraq he also re-enlisted for 4 more years with the Army to go to Fort Knox Kentucky to be a part of a training unit there. So the end of March the Army packed up all Barry's things (mostly my things lol) and we relocated to Kentucky. Though we don't know how long the Army will keep us here, we are making the most of every adventure by taking it one day at a time and doing it together. Our life with the Army is a forever changing saga and when we know more be certian on the changes to come there will be a full post on that as well!
Sorry for the long post early this Friday morning but it gives you a mini-story of Barry's deploymentand Homecoming ceremony and how we ended up in Kentucky!
Look for the stories from us both in a soon to come post about how we met (again) and how we fell in love ;)
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