Wow, has it been a week!!! First off, I finished with the semester. I am very happy to have that weight lifted off my shoulders! I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but that's just life. I'm not going to dwell on those grades.
Then, later in the week I received some wonderful news! Travis called and as a huge surprise to both of us... he is coming home early!!!! I am beyond thrilled and still very shocked. We don't get too many good surprises with the Marine Corps. So homecoming has changed considerably. Happily, I am running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I have accomplished so much in the past two days. I've planned my drive back to California, secured a place for us to live, gotten my mother in law's plane ticket back, planned to see my family before I leave, gotten some clothes packed up, and much more! And this is all happening the week before my brother in law gets married! Family started trickling in today for the wedding festivities and Saturday I will have a new sister in law! Post wedding it's more packing, a dentist visit, and then I am off to Camp Pendleton, California!
I can't wait! I am so excited this deployment is coming to an end!! I absolutely can not wait to see my wonderful husband. We are both so ready to get back to our normal lives. So ready to spend some time together without a looming deployment. Since February of 2010 we have had a deployment looming over us or being surviving a deployment. We are both thrilled to just be together and to be able to actually focus on each other. Elated doesn't even scratch the surface!!

Two peas in a pod

This week has been a challenge.
Sadly, my sweet Dixie cat left this world this week. It was a hard decision to make, but somewhere inside I know I made the right decision. It was very emotional. I've had Dixie for as long as I can remember. We have shared some wonderful memories these past 16 years. She's been the sweetest cat, a good friend, a comfort for when I'm sad, and if you knew us well you would agree we shared many of the same personality traits. It was very hard to let her go. This was the first time I really felt like I needed my husband during a deployment. Of course I want him home every single moment of every single day. A strong want. But I felt like I needed him. This has been a big fear of ours since the first deployment. It was a hard feeling. And I know he wishes he could have been here. But amazingly enough, I made it. Dixie has been my deployment companion! When my husband is away for field training for weeks at a time, she's there to cuddle on the couch with me to watch a tv show. She's there to share some dinner. She's there to lounge on the patio in the sun. Dixie has made it through five moves, four cross country drives, and lived in three states.
I will miss her a lot.