From their first pictures together,
To one last pictures before Josh left,
To our most recent "family" picture on Easton's First Birthday.
While looking back over all of these pictures, I started thinking back to life over Easton's first year. When Easton was first born, Josh was stationed in DC completing a duty station with the Ceremonial Guard. After we got married, he was "suppose" to only have 11 months left in DC, therefore, we opted not to get housing and we would just see each other on the weekends. For the first EIGHT weeks of Easton's life, that's how it worked. I stayed with Easton 5 days by myself during the week, then Josh would drive home on Friday night and leave back for DC on Sunday night. I remember when Josh left that first weekend, I didn't know how I would make it until he came back home. Here I was, a single mom for 5 days/nights, and it scared me so bad! At the time, I thought this was the hardest thing in the world. When Easton turned Eight weeks old, Josh left for A-School in Mississippi, we knew that we probably wouldn't see each other for eight weeks. EIGHT WHOLE WEEKS BY MYSELF. When faced with this, I didn't know how I would make it. But somehow, we pulled through, and when Easton was four months old, we moved to Mississippi to FINALLY be a family! While the joy was short lived, it was the best FIVE months I could have ever asked for. While in Mississippi, Josh left for field exercises for two-four weeks. Again, when faced with this, I didn't know how we would make it. Here I was in this new city, and the only person I really knew was leaving me. I didn't know what I would do to pass the time, outside of school work, and I wasn't sure how I would have time to get all my work done. I remember calling my mom days during that first week, in tears not knowing how I would make it 10 more days. 10 days... REALLY?? I was crying over that? Ha! And before this deployment, I remember thinking the same things. How in the world would we make it 8 months. How would we stay connected/close? Would we be able to talk? Tons of questions and worry went through my mind. I didn't know how Easton and I would make it that long on our own. But today, I am proud to say we have made it TWENTY WEEKS by ourselves!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Twenty WHOLE weeks!! Crazy! I can't say every step has been easy, but we have made it! Our weeks left are quickly dwindling and I am starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel! We are going to make it through this!! Not only are we going to have made it through this, but we are going to make it through this with flying colors!!!! Josh and I are stronger than ever. With communication skills limited, you learn to connect of different levels. Our ways of communicating have improved two fold. While I know we aren't done yet, I look back, and I can't help but be proud of how far we have come. I was the girl that couldn't go one single day without crying because my husband wasn't home to going days without it bothering me. Don't get me wrong, we still miss him and hurt that he's not here all the same, but we have grown stronger. I never realized I could be strong enough to make it through this, but it's always amazing how far you can go when you have to! Can't wait to celebrate Father's Day tomorrow! Can't wait to enjoy the day with my Daddy and my grandfather! But it's bittersweet! I wish my son could celebrate with his father! I wish I could show my husband how great of a Daddy he is! Please remember those people, those fathers who are not with their families this day! Being deployed is never easy, and it gets hard on days like this.
Happy Father's Day to You, Josh! We can't wait to celebrate YOU when you get home!
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