One Week Down...

...and it feels like a small victory.  K has been gone for 1 week, as of today.  Sometimes it seems much longer, sometimes it seems like no time has passed.  It's been a lot of changes, a lot of transition, and I've been all over the place emotionally, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts after making it through one week of this deployment:

I am relieved that one week is over.  I have been told that the first and final weeks are the hardest.

I cry a lot less, sometimes I make it a whole day without a single tear!

I have found that I feel disconnected.  My mind is 6 months in the future, when K will be on his way home, but my body is stuck in the present.  This feeling is subsiding, but my mind seems to have trouble reconciling the fact that I still have to endure all of the "now" before I can get to the "later".

I am happy that K finally made it to Iraq after days and days of traveling.  I mentioned this on my Facebook page, but the journey is so unorganized, it seems like he had to go to the moon before he could go to Iraq.  We got to video chat after he finally made it to his destination, and I could see the exhaustion in his face.  Poor guy.  At least he's settling in now.

I'm getting used to being around my family a lot.  I haven't spent this much time with them in awhile, so it's taking some adjusting.  Also, the fact that I am in their home and not mine has been a transition.  It means less privacy, more noise, and having to remember to shut my door so that the cats don't take naps on my pillow (I seem to have developed some allergies).

It feels weird to be back in my hometown.  I am constantly running into people I know... old neighbors, people from high school.  Las Vegas was such a big city and we lived in our own little corner so I rarely ran into people I knew, but it seems to happen here every time I leave the house.

I miss my husband terribly, but I am so grateful for iChat and Skype.  I get to see him every now and then, and being able to see him let's me know that he's still real and he's okay.

One final thought: I am very thankful for all of your calls, comments, texts and messages over the past week.  The support that you have given K for what he's doing, and to me during this difficult transition, means the world to both of us.  Thank you!!!