Slammin the door on '06. Bring on 007

After three months of training and 12 months in Iraq, Terry returned home to us on July 29, 2006. The tour was the reason for starting this blog. He’s been home for five months and we’re almost at that 6-month mark where everything is supposed to be peachy. It’s not, but it's better than it was.

There’s been a trade off of “issues;” some good exchanges, like he can drive without swerving away from every bag, bottle, and branch on the road, and some bad. A lot of the PTSD issues are muted, or missed (I sleep through them.) Asher is no longer afraid of Terry though. In fact they are pretty close. Just yesterday when Asher got hurt, he ran to daddy and not me. We both recognized it as a milestone. We discovered that Gabey was actually embarrassed that his dad was in Iraq, because, as a Reserve family, he goes to a public school and there weren’t any other kids with parents deployed, but a few with parents in the military, so anything that makes you different in 2nd grade makes you "weird." I feel terribly that I didn't work harder to find families with kids who also had deployed parents that he could befriend and be super proud of his dad. That is my biggest regret in all this.

We did so many fun things after he got back. We postponed our Disney trip to the spring and opted for New York, Williamsburg, and lots of nights out alone or with friends. There was some fun recognition too. We were interviewed by the Pentagon Channel for a documentary and spoke at the board meeting of a nonprofit that supported our boys while he was deployed. We also were honored by another nonprofit that I’m now trying to get a job with. :) (Always the opportunist.)

We celebrated both our birthdays (his 30th). His parents visited for Thanksgiving and celebrated Asher’s birthday with us.

We finally committed to a church and have made some great friends there. Of course those we like the best are active Army. One of my active friends is moving in only two months. I am so heartbroken. She and I met and became fast friends towards the end of Terry’s deployment when her husband was at OCS. He’ll probably get deployed in 2007 and I wish I could be there for her.

Terry got his raise, the one he would have likely received had he not been deployed, but he did have to fight for it. In the end he even got the back pay and they backdated it to one year from when he started. It was a wonderful Christmas present.

So it wouldn’t be New Year’s without a look back at a crazy 2006. First, some stats. By a vote of 26 comments, Reuniting Part III was the most popular entry of the year.

Bloggers I miss (who I suspect are now blogging in anonymity)
Marie
Melanie
Please come back to us!!

January 2006
Last year I pledged to read more, write more, better swimmer and take acting lessons. I hit all of ‘em except the acting lessons; and I attempted that one. My class was cancelled due to lack of interest! I was so bummed at the time.

I would soon be very depressed for the rest of the tour.

Feb 2006
The second half of Terry’s tour was the worst. Close calls, lots of death around him; I heard a lot of it. And it started to shake me up. It still does.

My love affair with iTunes began in Jan. I made about 12 CDs for Terry during his tour. These were some of my favorite songs.

Also Terry went back to Iraq after two weeks at home.

April 2006
I’m feeling really crazy at this point

May 2006
You gave shout-outs to Terry when things got tough over there.

Deployment Anniversary

Grey’s finale was more than a finale. I missed my husband. I missed my “wife” who was in Germany with her soldier on his leave from Iraq. I still miss Denny!!!

The surviving spouses equity act didn’t pass. Don’t stop calling and writing your congressperson whenever you think of it. We can’t bring their service members back to life: Those spouses deserve some real equity.

My first Memorial Day that meant more than a day off.

June 2006
The process of redeployment begins!! We hear what to expect when our soldiers return. Some foreshadowed issues did pop up too, when our soldiers returned…

Tough questions from Gabe that I will never forget

We meet President Bush

July 2006
Terry comes home! But you don’t hear about it until…

August 2006
A quick note to let you know he’s back

Then, part II and II’s sobfest.

Still one of the best memories after Terry came home…enjoying live music under a clear evening sky in the summer, eating ice cream, dancing.

September, October, November
I think you can remember the few posts that popped up those months. ;)

Happy New Year!