Tonight Kurt left to meet up with his ship in the Persian Gulf to finish out the remainder of its six-month deployment. This is the first time we've been separated for any length of time since we first started dating over three years ago, so it's been hitting us really hard. Sometimes it's hard to keep the tears inside, but I usually managed.
Today was especially hard. We wanted to do all these things that he wouldn't have a chance to do for a while, but we ended up just doing normal things. When my brother-in-law called to wish him a safe journey, Kurt was finalizing his packing, deciding which CDs he wanted to take, and I was coloring my hair, which needed it badly.
We decided to go to dinner at Hooters, Kurt's favorite restaurant, and I wore a dress I bought last night while he wore khakis and a polo. Once we got down to Hooters in Tacoma, the place was absolutely packed, and there was really nowhere to wait but in the foyer, which was freezing due to all the people going in and out of the restaurant. So we decided to keep heading toward the airport to see if something else caught our fancy.
We'd eaten at the Black Angus Steak House once before, and I told Kurt we should've eaten there again if we'd thought about it in time. He told me to keep an eye out for one, and I finally saw one right before the airport.
It took a while to get a seat, but the meal was just fantastic. I am definitely a carnivore. :o) Our waitress brought out the dessert menu, but we were just too stuffed to eat anything else. The diners next to us needed a dessert menu, so I gave them ours.
Not long after that, the lady who we'd given the dessert menu to leaned over and told us she'd heard us talking with the waitress about Kurt having to catch a plane tonight to the Gulf, and was Kurt in the military? We had a nice chat; they told us they had a lot of family who'd spent time in the military, and that the lady had wanted to join but her parents convinced her to go to college instead. I heard them scheming with our waitress a few minutes later, but didn't really pay any mind.
When Kurt asked for the check, the waitress told us that it was taken care of, and at that moment I knew it was the kindness of the pair of strangers sitting next to us. I couldn't stop thanking them -- it wasn't about the money; it's just so nice in this area to know that people still support the military in the midst of all the protesting. And that gesture made it possible for me to raise my mood out of the doldrums and send Kurt off with a smile, instead of tears.
So now Kurt can take with him my final kiss and a smile, and remember how nice that couple made our final evening together -- because we will always remember this night and know that there are still good people in this world.