A homecoming

Where to begin..I guess the best place is to start when Tony came home.  Seeing how I look at his homecoming as a new chapter in my life.  A dash in my timeline on life.  You know what I am talking about right?  We all have those moments, those experiences, that leave a mark.  Like when I graduated from college.  Or when I got married.  Or when we had the baby.  When such and such happened. 

I can remember back in high-school always loving homecoming. A) being because my birthday was always right around the same time.  B) being it was a time to party and C) being we dressed up in pretty dresses.  You can see none of those have anything to do with homecoming really.  But we all were merry.  Merry for our own reasons that contain us in our little bubble.

It wasn’t until I ventured out of my bubble and became a-not-officially-a-military-member-member, that I realized what a true homecoming really is.  All my spouses out there know exactly what I am talking about.  We are not the active duty member but we go through all the ups and downs with them. 

 A homecoming is a celebration of many sorts.  A celebration that you made it.  I mean you actually made it through whatever life threw at you.  You made it to the other side. 

A celebration that your loved one made it home to you.  And you just pray, I mean really pray hard that he/she is the same shape you sent him away in, mentally, physically and emotionally.

It’s a celebration that you can finally turn the page to that chapter and begin a new one as a family. It’s a time to party and get dressed up in pretty dresses because it is finally over…..until you go through again. But for now, it is a time to celebrate.  So that is what we did!

We surprised the little one and had Tony came home a day earlier than what she thought.  She was totally surprised!

Then we had party.  Texas style of course.

Then we hit the road to the East Coast.  Our final stop was all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.  Yes my friends, this was my view for a few weeks. 

But before we made it there, we took our time and explored the south.  More on that to come.

ciao for now..shel