Reunited, and It Feels So Good

Greetings from Germany! J is currently at work completing and submitting his travel voucher, so I have a few minutes to blog before we head to the tax office to file our taxes together. The past two days have been a whirlwind of anticipation, emotion, and frenetic activity, but I am by far the happiest girl in the world. I finally have my J with me and it's the best feeling ever.

Part of me wonders whether this is just a wonderful dream and that if I close my eyes for too long, I'll wake up and J will still be in Afghanistan. Everything feels almost too good to be true--am I actually in Germany with J? Is he actually home for good? Likewise, I think J feels the same way about life outside of the desert, this new reality of his. Small joys like delicious German breads and hot showers and the conspicuous lack of mud and sand seem to bring him great happiness. And just being able to sleep in a real bed with his wife in his arms...it's been an amazing 24 hours, I'll leave it at that.

Yesterday morning, I received notification from MSgt C, one of the guys in J's squadron who met me at the PAX terminal and who went out of his way to take care of my travel arrangements and accommodations, that J had finally been able to board a flight out of Afghanistan. Even as of the previous night, we weren't sure when J would be able to leave, as his flight had been canceled five times in a row. I was anxious to say the least, but I can't begin to imagine J's frustration. But, after days of sleeping in the airport terminal and in transient tents and on a couch outside of a USO, J finally boarded a 4am flight that took him straight from Afghanistan to Germany (as opposed to his original flight that would have left him in Qatar for who knows how long).

MSgt C and Lt R picked me up from the on base hotel, drove me to the PAX terminal, and waited with me for J. We sat outside for awhile, chatting and enjoying the sunshine, until J's boss, Lt Col B, showed up.  I assume that it's customary for the commander to greet one of his officers upon his return home from deployment, but it made me a bit more self conscious about jumping on top of J when he emerged from the terminal; I could tell that J also was more reserved than usual when he saw Lt Col B standing with me. But our long awaited reunion was everything that I imagined it would be--the overwhelming relief, the indescribable joy, the tears that came to my eyes...I've never been so happy in my life.

For the next few days, J has scheduled medical appointments and reintegration training, and I'm sure he'll have to take care of other administrative details that will arise. We'll take this time to settle back into the good life, enjoy Kaiserslautern (Himalayan food, anyone?), and maybe take a quick day trip to Luxembourg. But after Tuesday, J's good to take his non-chargeable leave, which means we'll have at least one full month to travel together--plans are underway. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to a beautiful spring weekend in Germany. Happy Friday!

dinner at St. Martin, downtown Kaiserslautern