A SIGH OF RELIEF

John traveled to Camp Ripley this past weekend to meet his new unit and start to train with them. I made him promise me that he would not come home unless he had his schedule in hand.

I got a call from him on Saturday night and he let me know that he had his dates. He would be training for a week in March. He would travel for one day in April to make sure all the paperwork was in order. Then came the BIG DAY! He would leave our home in May to begin training at Camp Ripley.

In June he would return home to drop off his car and then the family would pile into the car and travel back up north to spend a few days as a family taking in the sites and just being.

Mid June he will then transfer to Fort Lewis in Indiana where he says the official "ONE YEAR" countdown will begin. Sometime in July, he will then transfer to Afghanistan.

As I was writing these dates on the calendar, it was a weird feeling of calmness. It was a weird sense of excitement, yet nervousness. It sure is real now, there is no more changes, no more promotions, no more transfers. His service will begin in three months.

The kids and I talked about it the next day and we came up with several ideas of how to make it through the year and make it special. There will be jars of special candy for each of the kids to help them countdown the days until Daddy will be home. There will be a jar used as a reward when the kiddos help out around the house. Then by the end of the conversation, my guardian angel on earth, the kid that kept me sane after Chloe's death, came up with a "jar" for Mommy. Max said that it was only fair that I have one as well. He said that I could earn a piece of candy for every day that I did not yell! Kids say the darndest things, don't they. Then he added insult to injury by stating that he had the perfect candy for me - NERDS - could the kid have picked a smaller candy? I don't think there would be a jar big enough for the candy that is going to get me through the next 16 months.

It is such a relief to know that there is finally a date on the calendar and we can make it through and make decisions and finalize things. I even think that John is relieved to know that there is finally an end to this.

So a big sigh of relief in the Karline household this week.