Background : Patrick used to be stationed in Norfolk,VA with 1f1, and with it being pretty close to home (pretty close as in 5 driving hours and not as in 4 plane trips) he would come home a decent amount, and 9x out of 10, he would bring a buddy (or 5) with him. After a while I know longer thought of some of these guys as his friends, but as my own. I mean, he lives with him...answers his phone, I see them on trips and see them when he comes home, needless to say I got to know some of them haha. Josh tolleson (at the time) had a pretty red headed girlfriend named Jamie (and im not sure we could be more opposite) but we meshed SO fast and we've stuck together ever since.
Their is something about the connection btwn Marine wives. Its instant.
Saturday: I went to Lauren's bridal shower in lynchburg with Rachel and Aiden to start my day off. It was nice to see Lauren and meet some of her friends from school, she ended up with some pretty fun stuff :) I took Aiden home -gulp- with my mom and left him for the next 2 nights, I had a twinge of mommy freak out and guilt, but I really think it did some good, (I thought I maybe could sleep, ha!)
Sarah and I drove the 5 ish hours to Jacksonville, NC (btw, we can own some Adele) and finally made it at like 10 or so that night. booooy what a car ride, we really know how to make a roadtrip count. Adele, ducks and fake eyelashes. we rock.
-Keep in mind, we love jamie, she is one of our own and we hadn't seem her in like a year, (ok, so we saw her for like 24 hours right before Josh deployed, that was in August I think) but whatever, she lived in Texas... so we never saw eachother.
We pretty much ambushed her when we went through the door, and can I just say that I almost ended up doing this to her neighbor? (whoops)
We had a dance party to pass the time & sang journey and aerosmith to celebrate Josh coming home. Im not sure it had really hit her that her husband was coming home the next day....besides the wine, she was WAY too calm. ;)
Sunday: We once again ambushed Jamie and woke her up with by jumping in bed with her (I dont think anyone besides me went to bed before 4 am) and yes we got this on video :)
We took our time getting ready until I decided to call the deployment hotline and realized that they were telling the bravo families that they should be there an hour earlier, sooooo it got chaotic from there and didn't stop until we brought her honey back home!
-We piled into cars and stood in the freezing cold "get your temp. base pass" line that was 5678 people long, Seriously - it was freezing and I had on open toe shoes... I thought I was going to get frostbite. I felt terrible for Jamie because she was in a strapless dress, with a peacoat non the less, but a STRAPLESS DRESS, but boooooy did she look gorgeous. Sarah kept saying she looked like she was welcoming her husband home from WW2, she pretty much did.
-Well, leave it to the USMC to tell us that they would be there in 2 minutes!!! like....24 times :) It took about 2-3 hours once we got on base to actually see any sign on return, BUT we were at homecoming so she wasn't going to leave empty handed ;)
...all of the sudden you hear the roar of buses and the uproar of a crowd and high pitched squeals of women who haven't seen their men in months. I, more than once, had to talk Jamie out of walking infront of buses, (I dont think she heard me, and if she did...she didnt care haha) It took her a couple of minutes to find him but I spotted him out of the corner of my eye, and kept saying Jamie!! She took of running (oh, she kicked of her heels in the parking lot before this so she could run haha) and jumped in his arms, the rest was a mess of tears, emotions & smiles. I was so happy they were finally together again and Josh was home safe!
Can I just say that feeling, waiting for 7 months... worrying, praying...fighting the tears, raising babies...trying to function without him....goes away in that spilt moment your in his arms again?
The LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore
Pslam 121:8
Oh you know...Hurry up and wait
Jamie and Josh, after 7 months too long.
The girls together.
Welcome home, Josh!
Patrick,
I am ready for you to come home, especially being at another unit's homecoming...seeing everyone in their deserts, and thinking of how much I miss you, I am really really ready for you to come home. Words can't express how much I want ya home, I stay positive just like you ask...I have the Lord to thank for that.. he carries me when I can't figure out how to carry myself anymore. Aiden is doing well, 5 months old and such a ham. He is saying Dada all the e time and it makes me smile whenever I hear it. I sent out a couple of things for you today and I hope you enjoy your goodies, I love you more than anything. xoxo
Kels