Saturday, January 8, 2011

This is the story....

This is the story of how I knocked a chair over and made a loud noise. This is the story of how I cried on Pepsi Day....again. This is the story of how my sweetheart came home.

Before Christmas Kyle received a "middle-of-the-night" knock on the door of his barracks where his commanding officers told him that because the manning numbers were being cut down he was the one from their shop being sent home early. He tried to pass it off to another man who is married, but his buddy refused the chance. So, Kyle started packing to leave the day after Christmas.

He wanted to surprise me, so he only told my parents and his parents that he was going to be home early. To distract me, he told me that he was selected to go off base on a mission and we wouldn't be able to talk for a few days. Because of the nature of previous deployed friends who also went off base, I assumed that he was being sent to Afghanistan. So I mentioned it. My handsome man hung his head, searched for an answer, and the looked at me and said, "How did you know?"

jerk.

He told me it could be anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks. I prepared myself for the worst and didn't expect to hear from him for at least two weeks. So I waited, wondered, tried to stay positive, and prayed for him.I didn't hear a word from him.....and then one night I got on facebook and for one of the few times I actually got online to talk to people....and I saw him online! *this goes against the "I have no internet" thing I was told*......so we talked for a while. He said he hoped we be talking soon (as in the next day) and that he loved me. I cherished that talk.

On Sunday night I went to bed and dreamed...I dreamed that Kyle came home early and surprised me. I figured it was because I was missing him so I chocked it up to my brain and attempted to forget about it.

I'm not going to lie, I had gotten suspicious on Monday because my mom had been very strange and encouraging me to dress up and look good and stay awake late, all the while she wouldn't let me TOUCH her cell phone and she would turn away from me to answer text messages. That was unusual for her...and I had hoped. I had literally conjured in my brain that he was coming home early and I expected him to walk through the door. I had gotten my hopes up all day--and then he never showed. I cried. As the night wore on, I got a text from him saying we couldn't because he wasn't back yet. So we texted. I asked him what time it was and unbeknown to me he googled the time in Afghanistan and sent that to me. He told me he was sleeping on a cot in a tent. I was relieved to know he was fine, but anxious nonetheless for him to be out of "Afghanistan".

Honestly, he was in a beautiful hotel room in Newfoundland, Canada waiting on the plane to be repaired. The breakdowns cost them several days on the trip. They stopped in Germany, England, and Newfoundland on the trek. He has beautiful pictures from the trip and I'm so jealous of the scenery.

*sigh*

On Wednesday I  did work for Mom in the office and that afternoon she decided she was going to "clean her camera" and lenses. I told her she was speaking my love language when she asked me to help. So we sat down in the kitchen and I looked up new cameras on the internet while she attempted to "clean". After a while dad came through and said he had to go outside for a minute. I had no clue what he was doing but Mom and I chatted while she snapped a couple pictures of me...just testing the lighting.

I heard Dad come back in and Mom looked up past my shoulder (my back was to the door) and got a funny/distracted look on her face. I felt hands go around my eyes and a sweet voice in my ear saying, "Happy pepsi day...." I knew the voice. I had heard it in my dreams....I had listened to it over skype....but I hadn't heard it in my ear in so long. I jumped and my jeans caught my chair. But I somehow made it out of the seat while knocking it over and making a loud thump. I wrapped my arms around that handsome man and cried.

He was home after only 11 weeks. To be frank, Kyle and I are relieved that he is home, but we both wanted to finish strong. He had finally gotten a routine over there and was settling in.....don't misunderstand--we are so blessed he is home safe and soon. But we wanted to prove we could do it--make it through our entire first deployment. God has other plans for us apparently, and I wait to see what they are.

He is home. We start house looking, wedding prepping, marriage counseling, and enjoying every moment together that we can. God is faithful, and we trust in Him.

and as Rush Limbaugh says, "That is the rest of the story"

Pray for one another,
Sarah

2 comments:

Hope said...

What a sweet story! Love it!

Louise Leathers said...

Paul Harvey tells, "The rest of the story..."