Gearing Up at Home

If you'd have seen this image two weeks ago, maybe you'd have thought this was the flag of Japan. Nope, Brian whipped up this deployment calculator in Excel to help us track his deployment progress. I continue to find the red pie chart nothing short of alarming. It's only been 2 weeks since he left. But I imagine it'll get less overwhelming as time goes on; I guess it already is. Maybe it depends on how you look at it....after merely two weeks (and a day), Brian's chart informs me that the deployment is 8% over, which is more than half way to 10%, which just seems more substantial, so that's something, right?

Of course, I realize this logic assumes their return date isn't altered by any unforseen circumstances, such as their detour to Haiti...we shall see. I can't let myself get bogged down in the details.

At home, the girls and I have an old fashioned tool for counting down--a calendar, which Sydney crosses off each day with a pink marker, of course. Before he left, Brian also supplied us with some Hershey's kisses, and we filled a large jar with about 4 months worth of "kisses from Daddy" for both girls, with the assumption they won't get one quite every day...that'd be 209 pieces of chocolate each, which seems like too much. Besides, if these kisses are anything like vitamins, we're lucky if I remember to give them to the girls once a week.

The girls also have their "Daddy books," a photo flip book that I made with pictures we took with Brian while touring the USS Nassau to tell a simple story about where Daddy is (on his ship, the USS Nassau with Sydney's number, "4"), where he's going (Middle East), why (to help America and other countries), and when he'll be home (in the summertime, when we can go swimming).

And let's not forget their "Daddy Dolls," which generate quite a few snickers and jokes (I can still hear Jill laughing now...), but have seemed to offer quite a bit of comfort to the girls, especially with Brian's photo on the front and his 10-second voice message the girls can play on demand. They like to sit with "Daddy" in his favorite leather chair in the living room.

So, we are prepared and ready for the long haul, as much as we can be, anyway. In some ways, it's been easier than when Brian's coming and going, since I know I have to have stamina and patience to last 7 months and there's no one else who can do it for me. I don't find that the girls have been acting any differently (besides talking about Daddy's whereabouts in a good way, such as saying prayers for him). So I am thankful for that and it renews my confidence each day. But sometimes the usual daily challenges can still get to me, and family and friends have also been checking in on me quite frequently and giving me things to look forward to (like my cruise in 4.5 weeks!), which helps a lot and I really appreciate it!