I get to see Eric this month! It’s not long at all, just a matter of days before he will be on his way home. It is so exciting to know that we are getting so close. I actually had to move the hotel reservations forward, because we figured his homecoming a day later than it should be. I just hope that it works out how we have it planned. I’m sure the hotel is getting tired of me calling them! I feel so relieved that it is getting so close to him being next to me. I hope that these days fly by!

Eric finished his algebra class today. He took his final, and is completely done with it now. He just has to finish his geography class and he’ll be done with classes for the semester. I have to take two more tests and then I’ll be done with my classes too. I am so ready to be done with this semester. It seems like it has taken forever to get to this point.

It's the weirdest thing, but the check engine light in Eric's truck hasn't come on in several days. My dad hasn't done anything since he changed the spark plugs, and he reset the light. It came on a couple days later, but then he reset it again, and it hasn't come on. We have both drove it several times and still no light. It's so strange because he took it over to Auto Zone yesterday to have them check to see if it was the sensor, before he took it to the dealer tomorrow. They said they couldn't check it if the light wasn't on, so he tried to get it to turn on, but it wouldn't. So then I drove it all over last night, but still no light. Then today I took it for another ride. I totally give this to God, because I know that without Him it would still be on, and I would have taken it to the dealer and spent Lord only knows how much on it. So I am very grateful. That's a big load off.

I got an email from my sister-in-law (Eric's brother's wife) today. She said that my mother-in-law sent her some pictures that my mom had taken while she was down last weekend. She gave me the nicest compliment. I've never met her in person, but she seems like a very sweet lady. They live in Alaska, so I've never met his brother either. She said that they were thinking about coming down after Eric comes back home for good. I think that would be such a wonderful surprise for him. He's been wanting to get up there to see his brother since before we were married. In fact one of the things that we first talked about was taking a road trip to go see him. That didn't happen, but it would be nice if they could make it down.

We are down to the low double digits before Eric starts his journey home for R&R! I'm so excited. I went and got my hair trimmed today, he told me to be sure not to let them cut too much off. I have done lots of shopping and packing. I've made plans with his mom, I've checked the reservations at the hotel (a few times, lol). The only things that I have left to do is to clean the inside and outside of both our vehicles and finish packing. I am so ready to make that trip to pick him up. It's so wonderful to know that I will soon be in his arms again, right where I belong!

My mother-in-law came down today. It was a pretty good visit. She was as talkative as ever, but my family didn't say anything about Eric coming home, so we're safe with our surprise. I was very glad that they didn't slip and ruin it for us. I knew that they wouldn't do it on purpose, but you never know when an accident will happen. I enjoy visiting her every once in a while, and although she makes you want to scream with her incessant talking, she's a very sweet and loving person. I was upset with my dad and how he acted while she was down. I don't think she seen what he was doing, but I did and I would have been really mad if the situation was reversed. She was sitting down in the chair, across the room from me, and I was sitting in a chair next to my dad who was laying on the couch. She was going on and on about whatever it was, and I look over and my dad is pretending to load a gun and shoot himself. I know that had she looked over in his direction at all he would have seen her. I was offended, and my feelings were hurt. She's here at the house after them not seeing her in about 2 years, and he can't be courteous to her for a measly 4 hours?! Give me a break. After that we went to the park, and left my dad home. After she left I came home and told my dad that is was 4 hours out of his life, would it kill him to be nice to her? I also told him that if he went up to visit her and she acted like that I would be very upset. It's Eric's mom and she's nice enough to drive 2 1/2 hours to bring Easter things for me and Eric how many MIL's would actually do that? Especially when their son's not even around. I think my dad feels bad, because I know that he was just trying to be funny, but doing things like that where your guest can see it, is very rude.

My mother-in-law is coming to visit this weekend, along with my sister-in-law. They are coming down to bring down Eric and my Easter things that she got for us. She doesn't know that he's coming in a couple weeks, so hopefully my family doesn't tell her while she's down. I'm glad that my mom will be around to help me keep her occupied. I have a hard time trying to think of things to say to her. She talks all the time, but I still worry about things to say. She can ramble for hours about anything, especially her work. Although I have a hard time understanding what she's talking about most of the time, so I just smile and nod. She's actually pretty enjoyable most of the time, but a lot of the time I can only handle so much of her at a time. I have reminded all of my family to keep their mouths shut about Eric coming home next month, but I'm afraid my dad will slip while he's trying to make conversation with her. He has a tendency to blurt things out in an attempt to fill the silence.

Eric called this morning. He told me that he's afraid that he won't recognize me when he walks off the plane. I think that it's normal to have nerves about seeing someone after not being around them for so long. I have some worries too. I'm worried that he won't be attracted to me anymore, or that it will be weird having him around again. I know that it's not going to be like that, but it's still weird to think about him coming home so soon. It was odd to have him here one second and gone the next, and soon he's coming back again. I can't wait until he's back here again, I miss him and love him more than anything and it is going to be so wonderful to be with him again. I can't wait until these next couple weeks pass by. I wish I could fall asleep and wake up in the morning with him by my side.

I have to take his truck into the shop next Thursday. The stupid check engine light came on AGAIN, and dad changed the spark plugs. Well, it stayed off for another 2 days and then came back on yesterday. So we called the dealer and they can't get it in until next Thursday. That will only leave a little over a week before Eric gets home for them to fix it. Well, if it takes that long to get it into the stupid shop, how long is it going to take for them to get it fixed?! I just want it to be off by the time that he gets home and it has me worried that he's going to have to be thinking about it the whole time he's here. Vehicles frustrate me so very much. Why do they have to be so stinking complicated?

Easter has been an alright day. My brother, Matt, was here and we had a little Easter egg hunt. Matt says that we're all getting too old for that (we're 25, 22, & 15). My sister and I both say that you're never too old for an Easter egg hunt. Yesterday was a pretty good day. It was alumni weekend, so my dad, mom and I went downtown to the parade, my sister was riding on one of the floats, the best float in the parade, in my opinion. They did a "Spirit of 76" theme in support of the class of 76. It was pretty neat.

After we got done at the parade I took my sister and we went out to eat with a few of my high school friends. Of course the majority of them have kids, so we didn't really get to talk because they were tending to their kids, so, we left and went home. After awhile one of my friends called and said everyone was finding babysitters, so we could all go out and just have a girls night. They came and got me and we went out and just caught up on old times. I had a pretty nice time just hanging out with the whole gang from high school. I really have only kept in touch with one of them since we graduated, but we don't talk that often. I started to drift apart from the other one's our senior year, so it just divided us more after we moved on from school. Of course I guess it doesn't help that I moved away from town. Our class as a whole didn't do anything. Apparently the senior pres., vice pres, and secretary are supposed to get something together for the class, but our president decided that she hates everyone from this town so she refused to get everyone together. I don't know why someone else didn't do something to get a reunion together though. We've been graduated for five years, and that seems so unreal to me. One of the girls I went out with said that when it comes time for our 10 year she's going to put something together, and those who want to get together will, and those who don't won't. I think it's sad that one person can ruin the whole event for the others. It's not that I was a big fan of seeing everyone I graduated with, because the majority of them I couldn't care less about. However, it should be up to each person if they want to see everyone, not one person. Anyways, I was hesitant to even go out with them, but I'm glad that I did. It gave me a chance to get away from the house, and just hang out. The sad thing is that it took alumni to get us all together, when we all live here in town. Oh well, better late than never.

My brother came down today, for Easter. The last time he was down was probably a month ago, so it's good to see him again. He usually only spends the first night here with us, and then he heads out with his friends. My sister, him and I just got done playing Friends Scene It. It's a pretty neat game. I enjoyed it.

Eric's engine light was on, again. So, my dad went out and looked at it. He found a hose that had a crack in it, and fixed it. Hopefully that is the problem and it will go away for good now. I was kind of getting worried about it, considering it's getting closer to time for Eric to get here. I really don't want that to be on his mind while he's here.

Eric is the sweetest man. He seen a season of The Rockford Files, which is one of my dad's favorite shows, and bought it for him for his birthday next month. I that was extremely sweet of him to think about dad. He said he also got my birthday present. My birthday is also next month. It's so nice to know that he thinks about me. I love him more than anything and he means the world to me. I can't wait!!!!

Since Eric left I have been keeping a deployment journal. I've found that it's a very good way for me to get out all the things that I'm feeling, so that when he reads it he will know exactly how I have handled this separation. Of course, I don't write down things that would make him feel badly about having to be gone, because that would defeat the whole purpose of my writing it. It's just my way of showing him how much I support him and will stand by him no matter how long he's away, or how far apart we are. I have been pretty faithful at writing in it, only skipping just a few days out of the 5 months, 1 week and 4 days that he's been gone. I found out that this journal is exactly the right amount of pages to make it through this half of the deployment. It will get me through until he comes home for leave, and then it will be full, so I will have to start another one for the second half. Even though it's been over 5 months since he's left I am still used to him being here for me to tell my thoughts and feelings about everything to. We've always been the best of friends and able to communicate about anything and everything. So, it's very therapeutic for me to get all my thoughts down that I am unable to share with him at the time.

My sister was laughing at me because I already have some of the things that I am going to be taking with me to get Eric from the airport in a bag. I just figured that the things that I don't need at this moment could be packed and ready to go, so I don't end up forgetting them when it comes time. I guess you could say that I'm definitely not a procrastinator. Although she doesn't have any room to laugh at me. When she came up to our place last summer, she was going to be spending about a month there. Well, she's the type of girl that thinks that she has to pack every piece of clothing that she ever owned to go anywhere, for any amount of time. So, when she was packing to come up to our place, she brought 3 bags of clothes, and 1 bag of shoes, big bags. She even pre-packed, twice, to make sure everything would fit, lol!

Eric got an email today, they need his information about where he's going to be for R&R. They need to know who the next of kin is, they need to see a copy of his orders (because apparently you have to prove that you've been sent over there, in case there is some wacko who just packs up and goes on his/her own), they also need to see a copy of his LES and pretty much everything short of a blood/urine sample. That's ok though, I got everything that I had for him and emailed it, so we're one step closer to him being here. I'm so glad that they are now in the process of getting his leave form together for him.

My grandpa and his wife came down today. It's so good to see him, but as I sat there watching him today, tears came to my eyes. It's hard to see him getting older. In the past few years he's went downhill pretty bad. He has always been healthy as a horse, I had never even seen him sick. In the past year though he's been sick a few times, and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It's so sad to watch as he declines a little at a time. Growing up he was always the one making jokes and cracking everybody up. We were always dying with laughter when he was around. He was so sarcastic, although he says he's "quick witted". Now when he comes down to see us it's sad to see the humor slowly fading away. He still greets us the same though. We ask, "How are you Grandpa?" and he replies with his trademark phrase, "If I was any better I couldn't stand it." He's selling the house that has been in his family for many generations, which I know can't be good on his state of mind. He told my dad today that the people who bought the house paid only $25 for his fridge, and all his furniture. My dad was really upset about that, because he thought Grandpa was getting ripped off. His wife told my mom that all that stuff is in their garage. The saddest thing, I think, is while he was here, I went over and was holding his hand. I thought he said something, so I said, "What'd you say Grandpa?" and he looked up at me with sad eyes and said, "I didn't say anything, I thought you were wishing you could help your grandpa." I said, "What do you need help with?" His reply broke my heart, "I'm getting old sweetheart." It's sad seeing life take it's toll on the one's that you love, and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Thank God he still has most of his mind a lot of the time.

He got some new sunglasses from the eye doctor the other day, I got a picture of him and my dad. He's so cute!

Apparently I moved home to be a taxi driver. Ugh! I'm so frustrated.

I got Eric's anniversary gift in today. They said it wouldn't ship until today, but it arrived today. I was so happy to see it. I was hoping that it would be here in plenty of time, that's the whole reason I ordered it a month early. I got him an Army pocket watch, and it came in a beautiful dark wood box. It is perfect, I hope that he likes it. He said that he got mine too, but no matter how hard I try, he won't tell me what it is. It's usually pretty easy to get him to spill the beans (he's not that good at keeping surprises lol), but not this time. I'm proud of him! I'm trying to think of all the little things that I need to do before he gets home, and it seems like there is a huge list. I know that he won't care if the truck and jeep are clean, or that I cleaned out from under the bed. I just want everything to be perfect for him when he comes home. He got an email from his mom today, she said that she was going to give me something to send him for Easter. She said that it will be late, but better late than never. I'm pretty sure that I won't see her before he comes home (unless she comes down here), so I think that will be a really nice surprise. I also realized that he will be here for Mother's Day, what better gift to give than him being there? I hope that I can pull off making dinner plans with her, without raising her suspicions. She's pretty gullible, so I don't think it will be too difficult. I just want everything to be wonderful for him when he gets here. I can't wait!

Oh my, what a beautiful day outside!! It's a wonderful temperature, the wind is just a breeze, it's wonderful. I took my sister to her friends, and couldn't hardly bring myself back home. I took a nice long drive with the windows open, just enjoying the weather. So different from a couple days ago when it was freezing outside. Oklahoma weather cracks me up. It's the type of day that I used to enjoy with Eric. We would get in our car and just drive. I miss those days with him. We would ride and ride, going nowhere, but enjoying every minute of it. Most Saturdays after I got off work and Sundays when were both off we would just go. Seems like an eternity ago that we were able to do that, but now it's less than a month and we get to enjoy it again. Days like this are bittersweet, but now they're more sweet than bitter, so that's an improvement.

Yesterday was a weird day. As I was typing my last blog, my mom came in my room and told me there was a fire down the road from us. So, I finished what I was writing, and went to look outside. The whole neighborhood was covered in smoke, we couldn't even see across the street. My sister was at another house, babysitting, and called because she was done, so my mom went to get her, and told me to keep my eye out to see if the fire came any closer. We could see neighbors outside watching the fire, and it just seemed to be getting worse. Sirens screamed past several times. My mom and sister finally got back home, they had went down the street to see where it was exactly. It was across the highway that runs past our neighborhood, in a valley. The whole state has been in a burn ban for several months, but people seem to have a hard time not throwing out their cigarettes and such. It's very irritating. My mom said that to be on the safe side we might want to gather a few things just in case it spread any further, because the wind was blowing pretty bad. So, I got a few of my things together, and some of Eric's things. Luckily they got it contained before it got to anybody's house, so there was no structure damage done. I was so glad that it didn't get carried over the street to us, and that nobody was hurt.

My sister, Meagan, told me that her bus driver asked her if I was back in town, and Meg told her yes, for a while. Meg then told her that my husband was overseas, and the bus driver said, oh so she's still married? I figure that the town has us divorced, with me getting both vehicles in the divorce. He got the house and furniture, but doesn't pay his alimony on time. Ha! On April Fool's Day, my sister and mom decided to play a joke on me. My mom told me that my sister's friend, that had stayed the night the night before, thought she was pregnant. It wouldn't be her first friend who has ended up pregnant, so I bought it. I was upset though, because I have known that particular friend forever, and she's not that type of girl. My mom asked me to run them to Wal Mart to get a pregnancy test so she could find out if she was or not. I told her I would, but she would have to buy it because I didn't need that rumor flying around when my husband's been gone for 5 months. Needless to say, it was just a joke, one that I didn't find to be too funny. Ahh, the joys of living in a small town, rumors about anything and everything.

Less than a month to go, it's so exciting. I bought another outfit, one for when we go out to dinner for our anniversary (early) while Eric's here. It's so good to get things for when he'll be here, that means it's getting close.

Eric went to his briefing yesterday. They have two every Thursday. He slept through the first one, but made it to the second. He's supposed to eamail his platoon sgt today and see about getting his leave form. I'm so excited. It's less than a month now that we have left! I called the hotel that we are going to be staying at to confirm our reservation, and also added an extra day. We talked about it and decided that two days isn't enough time for us to have alone. Once we leave there we will either be at his mom's or my parent's, so it's the only time that we will have totally alone. I'm glad that we extended our stay. He said that the chaplain that gave his briefing said to make sure not to book every day that they will be home full of things to do and to give themselves time to rest. I thought that was common sense, but apparently it's not.

I went to the carnival on Wendesday with my mom, sister and two of my sister's friends. We had a pretty good time. I love the tilt-a-whirl. That's my favorite ride. My sister and her friends went off to do their thing, so my mom and I rode the rides together. We had an alright time. Eric asked me to look and see if they had a booth that sold stickers, he wants a ram for his Dodge. I told him I wasn't sure if they would have one or not, but I would look. Apparently I've never taken him to a carnival in western Oklahoma! There were two booths. Neither of them had anything special.

My dad took Eric's truck to the shop yesterday to get it diagnosed. The guy hooked it up and checked it. It took him about 5 minutes to figure out that he doesn't know what it is. He said that it could be anything from a hose that isn't hooked on tight to the gas cap not being on tight enough, but he said it isn't anything serious, so that's good. I told Eric, and he was thankful that I took care of it. He told me that he was grateful that he has a wife that can take care of the things that need to be taken care of while he's gone. That made me feel good.

Tomorrow I have to take Eric's truck into the dealer to get a diagnostic test done on it. My dad was able to get the engine light to go off, but it came back on a day or two later. So I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon to see what's wrong with it. I'm praying that it's just the sensor, because it is running just fine. There are no weird noises, and it drives wonderfully. After my dad got the light to go off I told Eric that it was off, and I haven't told him that it came back on yet. I figure there is no reason to make him worry about it, when I don't even know what's wrong. I will tell him about it, just as soon as everything is fixed.

We have a suite reserved for two days when Eric gets home. We talked about it today and we agreed that the closer it gets to us being together, the more two days doesn't sound like very much time alone together after six months apart. I don't know if we're going to change our plans though. His mom doesn't know that he's going to be here next month. I'm going to call her at the beginning of May and make plans with her and my sister-in-law to have dinner with them, so that we can surprise them both. His mom has always said that someday she really wants someone to surprise her (it's very hard to come up with something that she would be surprised about), I figure that this has got to be it, hopefully. I just hope it goes as planned.

I did a little shopping today. I spent quite a bit getting a new wardrobe for Eric. I also found the cutest outfit for when I go pick him up at the airport. I was going to wait until it was closer to time to do the shopping, but I was bored today. I came home and got out the box of clothes that I thought had Eric's clothes in it, turned out it was some of my old clothes, that I couldn't wear anymore. I tried them on, and they fit. I was so excited. I even tried on my wedding dress. It was a lot looser on me then when I got married. So was my Sr. Prom dress. I was thrilled at the progress that I have made.

I get a kick out of how when you're a younger teenager even people in their 20's seem so much older than you. Meagan, my 15 yr old sister, went out with some of her friends a few weekends ago. Since she's so much younger than me (7 yrs) and my brother (9 yrs) we've always been really protective over her. It's always been the family joke that she has two sets of parents. So, she was getting ready to go out and I told her that I was going with her. She told me no I wasn't. So, I said yes I am. We did that for about 30 minutes, and then her ride pulled up. I put on my jacket and shoes and was starting to follow her out the door, when she got mad and yelled for my parents to tell me to stop. They did. So, I didn't go with her, but the next day she came down to my room and asked if I was mad at her. I told her I didn't understand why she didn't want me to go with her (of course I knew why). She said, "You never let me go out with you and your friends when you were in high school." I said, "Well Meagan, you were like 8 when I was in high school." She said, "Well, yeah, but you're 22!" I said, "Well, let me get my walker then..." Talk about making me feel old! ha!ha!
















This is my brother, me, and my sister at my wedding.