Sew Me Something!

It is 5:46 p.m. on New Year's Eve and my husband is already asleep.

I'm sure he'll wake up in a half hour or so to put the kids to bed, but I expect him to be back asleep by 10. That's just him.

But I can't blame him, because we have to have him at the airport at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning for the first leg of his flight to the desert and four months away from home.

With the earth's rotation and the distance he needs to travel, he won't be arriving at his destination until January 3. He'll be making stops in Baltimore, Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Poor baby.

For the last two nights, I've been watching him pack. It's been pretty interesting. Since he isn't flying in his own aircraft this time, he has to pick and choose the things that he really needs to take and fit them into just two bags.

He has a whole new set of uniforms and equipment in desert camouflage-print. Except for his flack jacket.

Me: You're taking your jungle-print rain coat.
Him: Yeah. They told us to. It does rain there, you know.
Me: You'll make a great target in your jungle cammo Gor-Tex.
Him: That's okay. The flack jackets are jungle cammo too. And you actually wear those when someone is shooting at you.
Me: You're kidding me?
Him: Nope.
Me: So you're bringing a jungle cammo flack jacket to the dessert.
Him: Nope. I'm not bringing a flack jacket at all. I haven't been issues one.
Me: Oh great. That makes me feel so much better.

So I'm sure you've heard that whole thing about how it will be a great day when the military has to hold a bake sale to buy more bombs. But how about getting a sewing circle together to make some desert camouflage-print flack jackets, huh?

He did manage to get a flack jacket yesterday though.

Anyway, yes. He will be leaving tomorrow morning. I'm sort of looking forward to getting the hard part over with. My daughter will cry her eyes out when he says goodbye at the airport, and she won't stop until we get back to our house. This is standard for her.

But I have no idea how my son will act.

We'll see.

Happy New Year, everyone. And a very special thank you and happy new year to my fellow military spouses whose own hearts are far away tonight.

Please be safe.