27.3 Hours

We are so close to this deployment being over. So close I can literally stretch my arms out and reach the finish line. Well not literally, but it sure seems like I should be able to. 

This deployment for the most part has gone extremely smooth. The time seems to have flown by looking back on it, but now that it is coming to an end I cannot figure out why the days have gotten so long. We went from somehow having 24 hour days, to now feeling like the days are taking 27.3 hours. .3 added on for the lack of sleep I am getting due to my extreme excitement. 

The kids and I have been so busy lately that I feel like I am going a million different directions. School, after school activities, sports, and errands. I get home and I feel like I am going to collapse, but we have to get dinner ate and homework done. Not to mention it is only 4:30. REALLY. I just crammed all of this into my day and it is not even dinner time! 

I love my children, but it seems like anymore their bedtime is 12 hours away from just the time I pick my daughter up from school. 

Once the day finally comes to an end, and I have my alone time, I crawl into bed and wonder if I will even be able to get covered before I pass out. Then before I know it, an hour has passed and I am still laying there. So tired I think, so I close my eyes. Once again I cannot figure out why I am just laying here thinking about how tired I am, instead of just sleeping. So I watch T.V., have a midnight snack, play with the dog, do some writing, and then lay. Just lay. This is where the .3 of my 27.3 hour day comes into play, it seems as though this time of my day is just a waste of being awake. I know it is just the excitement of waiting for my husband’s arrival, but this is really getting to be just a pain. I do not know who is controlling the hours of the days, but I would appreciate shorter days right now. Save the 27.3 hour days for when we are a whole family once again.

I cannot even begin to imagine how it feels for the soldiers away from home. I know that at the end of the deployment the time for them gets busy but at the end of the day, or a very long night, they are still on the other side of the world. Away from their friends and their families, living in danger, going with much less sleep then I could ever imagine for myself. 

We have been blessed to be able to have contact with my husband, once a week or at least every two weeks we get to see him on Skype. If I have a question that I need answered I can email him, and most likely have an answer within a day. So I tip my deployment hat to the families that do not have this luxury, because that is truly what it is, a luxury. 

It is a bittersweet feeling really. I am tired from the lack of sleep, and frustrated at times with the clock moving so slow. The truth is though, at the end of the day, I am alive, and healthy. We do get to see our soldier from time to time. In all I am a proud Army wife that I am lucky enough to have a 27.3 hour day.