February Deployment

Neal left for his first deployment in 3 years, on February 17th, 2 days before Lucy's first birthday.  Luckily he was around for the baptism, and back just in time for Spring Break, so I really can't complain.  Not our favorite memories when Daddy is gone, but blog worthy just for the sake of documentation.  There is a funny story to go along with the passport.  Neal's dad got up super early Tuesday morning and drove him all the way to Travis AFB, about 70 minutes away, and 10 minutes after he dropped him off I got a frantic call from Neal.  Somehow in the last minute packing, and bag switching, Neal had forgotten his passports....no passports=no boarding the transport=very mad bosses.  I gave quick instructions to my MIL on the morning dropoff carpool routine, and hopped in the car almost immediately, passports in hand and drove all the way back to Travis.  Our good friend Jason Bachelor, new DO of the KC-10s, helped us out by stalling the transport en route to Al Dhafra, and Neal made it on his flight by the skin of his teeth.  An airman met me at the gate, grabbed the passports and dashed them onto the plane as it was pulling out.  Crazy crazy morning.  All so my husband could leave us for (around) 6 weeks and serve this wonderful country that we live in.  God Bless the USA.

FaceTiming and a wonderful 13 year old babysitting daughter made this deployment much more bearable than previous ones!

A dear friend of mine sent me flowers to cheer me up and give me strength while I was alone.