Sake?? Who needs sake??
Anyhoo... There is a very good chance that Kurt will be flying home from San Diego a few days early, rather than pulling in with the ship on the scheduled homecoming date. I'm very stoked about that.
It's not so much that he gets to come home early, seeing as it's only a few days. It's more that I don't have to do a whole homecoming again.
Wow, I sound like such a bad Navy wife, don't I??
The first deployment Kurt went on was when we'd been in this house for two weeks. He had to fly out to Bahrain to join his ship in support of the war back in 2003, at the very beginning (just a few months before Bush's declaration of "Mission Accomplished" on the carrier). He was gone for seven months. This is before Grace, and I didn't work, so I was really on my own. It was very good for me. I really grew up a lot and realized that I could be a good Navy wife and keep the fort strong at home.
When Kurt came home that November, I was a basketcase. We'd only been married for two years at that point (he'd missed anniversary #2 by being underway), and I wasn't sure how it was all going to work. I went to the homecoming, very excited and nervous, and even brought J with me. That homecoming went quite well -- he was one of the first guys off the ship, right after the new dads and the First Kiss winner.
*side note* There's always a raffle put on by the spouses' group for a chance to win First Kiss. That means that your spouse is the first off the ship, hence the title of "First Kiss."
I don't know how Kurt got off the ship so quickly, but he did. And he looked so damn spiffy in his uniform!!!
I swoon for guys in uniform.
The next time he went out on a long deployment, I had Grace to take care of. That went much better because now I had something to keep me busy! I couldn't just sit at home and brood. But when he returned, he had duty that first night home, meaning he had to stay on board the ship and make sure it didn't catch on fire.
At first I was extremely upset that I would have to wait yet another day before he would be home again. But then the more I thought about it, the more I realized it actually worked out. I wouldn't have to fight the ferry traffic trying to go pick him up, I wouldn't have to fight the traffic to get on the base, I wouldn't have to carry Grace an insanely long distance (almost a mile) from the parking lot to the pier if the buses weren't running... And most important of all, we could have our own little private homecoming and not share it with everyone else.
It really did work out for the best, so a few weeks ago I asked him if he was going to take duty the first night in again. It also gives him the most days off (two whole days) if he doesn't have the first leave period.
That's when Kurt told me he might be able to fly home from San Diego.
This means I won't have to head to the base. I won't have to deal with parking. I won't have to walk a mile to the pier (although I sorely need the exercise). I won't have to wait in line for Kurt to come off the ship.
And I'll get to go all the way to the gate to pick him up! How much more perfect could a homecoming get???
The only fly in the ointment is ever since Kurt told me that, he made time stop dead in its tracks. April was just flying along on its own. One day it was 1 April, and the next time I paid any attention it was 17 April! But this past week has dragged on and on and on and on...
Now all I think about is Kurt coming home. I'll be doing something, and all of a sudden I think of going to the airport and picking Kurt up, of heading to the gate and seeing him come through those doors.
ACK! Make it stop!!
Oh well. I will live, and it'll be June before I know it.