In July, was invited to a wedding in Newport, RI on Aug. 27th. At the time, it felt like we had just arrived in Hawaii, I wasn’t really eager to get on a plane again, and Brian wasn’t going to be coming with me.

Well, when the Navy threw a wrench into my plans and took Brian a year sooner than I thought for deployment, the thought occurred to me I could go to that wedding, kill some time, visit family, etc. etc. To add some extra excitement, I decided to keep it a surprise from my parents. So here’s the video of me greeting my dad:

If only everyone had Dad’s who loved them this much, what a world we would live in! Needless to say he was surprised. There’s no video of my mom seeing me, because dad was too eager for me to ask him to take one, and also because if you know my mom, the most excited she gets is “Oh, this is nice. By the way at work today the line for sandwiches was out the door…”. But she’s happy I’m here.

It was a tough decision, honestly. First, I am an anxious flyer, so it’s tough to fly alone. To mitigate this, as dramatic as it sounds, I just thought about how so many Afghani’s would give their life to be on any plane. I also sprung for first class. With all the sh** thrown at me the last few weeks, I justified it (more on this later). Next, work. Thankfully they approved my time no problem, even though I took a lot already this year. I can’t say enough good things about my employer. Then there were the logistics, again thankfully I had family here to help get me from the airport and my parents are ok with loaning me a car. I was also concerned about the optics of “Oh, she’s coming home for a wedding but didn’t come home for Grammy’s funeral?”. I figure people will get over it if that’s even a thought. (No one has said that to me, btw, these are just my thoughts) And finally, am I running from Hawaii because Brian’s not there? So what if I am for a little bit? I think that’s ok. I’m going back, and I’ve only been gone a couple days and am actually really excited to go back already (Hawaii’s easy to miss. The OPPRESSIVE heat here helps! Oh my goodness).

What really pushed me to go was when I went to the book club and all the military wives were around the table. I asked them all what they’d do in my situation, and it was a resounding GO. And I said but what about logistics? And they were all like “just ask!”. So it was actually a marine corps wife who’s husband is also deployed that drove me to the airport, and a sub spouse wife is grabbing me when I return. I trust a lot of military wives’ opinion, especially the ones who have been around the block.

I am missing a golf lesson and a COVID recovery clinic appointment. I am missing a couple events with the Officer spouse group. But all that will be waiting for me when I get back, and I will be ~12 days closer to having Brian home. I will have attended my friend’s wedding, and I was able to eat a dinner celebrating my uncle’s retirement, will be able to see a couple friends and some new houses of my aunt and cousin. I think I made the right choice.

It was an expensive choice, one that I would’ve never made five years ago. Thankfully, though, because of the decisions we’ve made, we have plenty of expendable income for it. Since we’re debt free (except the car, don’t get me started), maxing out retirement and saving more, and I don’t have to feed Brian for the next few months (that alone is $10k 😉 ) it was an easy decision. Brian is of the opinion we can’t afford to fly first class when we have kids…so why not while I can! I’ll take the Mai Tai’s all day. The flight was 9.5 hrs on the way here, and will be 11.5 on the way home. I a little bit regret not stopping in California on the way back for a bit, but I didn’t want to procrastinate on getting home, and it’s one more flight I have to muster the courage for.

Anyway, that’s the story. Blogging from MA today!