I remember the first time my friend Amy, whose husband is “Surface Navy”, admonished me for venting/complaining about my husband being out to sea…..again….and gosh he had been gone “forever”. It had been a whole six weeks. Her husband would go out on 6 month deployments (or longer), while mine would leave and come back and get ready to leave again before hers would even be back.

I remember her telling me, “I don’t even hit my stride until month four.” Month four?!

Well, I’m past month four and I keep asking myself, “When am I going to hit this stride?” At this point, I’m not sure it really exists. I’ll admit “some” things have gotten easier, I’ve let go of some routines and started new ones…..here are a few:

I’ve finally figured out it is OK to shop weekly so my food doesn’t go bad in the refrigerator.

I really don’t mind still raking leaves in January (I’m in TN and trees are everywhere here).

When our calls get dropped, I’m not devastated. My solution has been to hop on my email and finish my thought….and hope he can get to his computer too.

I’m starting to make R&R plans and plans for when he gets home.

I’ve realized quantity is not always the answer when sending care packages and quality is fun too. I’m enjoying finding smaller things and sending them right away vs. waiting to fill an entire box.

Having said all of that, my internal patrol clock is telling me its time for him to come home.

My friend Amy was right when she told me, “you just find a way to adjust”. We are adjusting to this way of life that is completely foreign, but in my mind I’m secretly wishing for someone to call me and say, “I have a phone tree message for you.”