Going 7 months without the love of your life is not for the weak-hearted. It hurts. Some days you don't want to get out of bed, but we do it. We are The Military Wife. It is our calling and we do it with pride.
The past 7 months have been hard and I have grown and changed more then I ever thought possible. While I'm still me, I'm a new and improved me! I'm more independent and I did things I never thought I could!
On Saturday I woke up early to head out to the place where the ocean meets the river. We all always do the same thing. Get coffee(tea) and head out 2 hours before the pier pull-in time. We get to watch a tiny black dot appear and slowly get bigger then we race it to the pier with a few stops along the way.
Right in the middle is a TINY dot! The first sighting we had!
After it got closer and we saw it meet up with the first tug boat we took off down the river to beat it to the next spot.
Here it is going down the channel. This spot is my favorite because you are so close. This picture isn't zoomed in at all!
After that we head under the bridge. Here because of the bridge we can yell back and forth and can hear each other! This was also the first time J and I really saw each other. He's on the very top of the sub and I got teary when he waved to me the first time. Right here was when it really sunk in that he was home!
We then raced the boat to the pier! This is what everyone saw pulling into base that day!
My best piece of advice for anyone who is having a homecoming: have someone there to take your pictures not just another wife waiting for their hubby also. I always bring an "outsider" and I get the most amazing memories captured because of it!
These next few are of us waiting on the pier for the boat!
At this point I was telling Landon "Daddy is right there! Can you see him? He's almost home!" It was so close and I felt like it couldn't come quick enough!
There they are! All lined up to moor to the pier!(Side note: That HUGE wreath lei was made in my living room a few weeks back! uber fun to do with ladies from the boat!)
This is one of my most favorite from the day. I was so excited and it's a little blurry but you can see the sub behind me! This was right before they opened the gates to let us on the pier!
Bitsy & Landon on the pier when the boys were getting ready to walk off!
Landon & I waiting!!
We could see him, like REALLY see him at this point! He's the one on the far left right in front of Santa!
Santa came off and handed out candy canes to all of the kids. It was super cute!
There he is! Landon beat me to him, but I don't mind....
...Because then I got my turn!
(ps. Look at that arm! He made first class with 4 years in this deployment!)
First kiss in 7 months! I can't even begin to describe how I felt at this point. It almost felt like I was kissing him for the first time all over again. OR like that first kiss after you are married! Yeah, kinda like that!
Can you tell I absolutely adore that kid?! Gosh, I love him!
He came off the boat with the most amazing red roses.
The next few are just a few pictures I liked that were candid. The next 20 min were filled with lots of hugs, kisses and laughs. It was so great watching Landon reconnect with his Dad, he missed him so much.
Now we are home and settled. To be honest, it feels like he never left. Everything is back to how it was the past 7 months(besides a few things(like everything I bought and the Independence I gained)). The next few months are going to be filled with tons of fun family things! Get ready to be sick of gushy family, overloaded picture fun!
