Day 275

Today was THE day and this is it - my last blog. Today I brought home Wade from the airport and we begin our life together again. As I left for the Dayton airport this is what the car looked like. Yesterday it was lightly drizzling, but overnight the temperature has dropped and it was lightly snowing. 
I left at about 9:30 and his plane was scheduled to arrive at 10:40. 

I debated about stopping at an ATM for some cash, but it would have been out of my way. And as it turned out his plane actually arrived at 10:20 and I might not have been at the airport when he walked through the gate. 

Here he is at the airport. We did actually have to wait for a while though. A lieutenant was supposed to meet him there and take possession of his firearm to take back to the base. We thought Wade would have to drive back to the base with this young man, but he was allowed to just turn over the gun and come home with me. 
Our first stop was at the car dealership to speak with our sales person, Natalie. We took the car for a little test drive and made an appointment for Friday morning to come in, sign paperwork, and drive off with our new Honda Civic. 
Wade was very tired and very hungry. So we decided to go to Red Lobster for a meal. My lunch was the jumbo shrimp cocktail and was so good. He ordered a steak with some sort of crab topping, mashed potatoes, asparagus, salad, and of course the Cheddar Bay biscuits. 

After so many months of eating sub-par food, he was in heaven with this meal. (Think of Bill Murray in "What About Bob?") He told the server that he had been in Iraq for the past nine months and this was so delicious. In a little while, the manager came by and asked him again how he was enjoying his meal. And he went on and on about how wonderful it was. 

Well, she gave us 3 five-dollar gift certificates as a way of telling him thank you. What a nice gesture, we were totally blown away by that. Not expecting it at all. 
After a quick shopping trip for a few things, we went home and settled in. The nice clean closet is now filled with luggage and other items that will be straightened up at a later time. 
Then we watched some TV and napped a little bit. 
Tonight we went to the Living Christmas Tree to watch the performance. I only had this one night to be in the audience because all the other nights I am upstairs doing childcare. It was a good performance. Now we're relaxing and thinking about what needs to be done tomorrow and on and on. 
But this is my last post...... And I have taken off the chain I've been wearing for the past 9 months that had Wade's dog tag and his wedding band. He's home safe and I'll be able to actually touch his arm, hold his hand, and kiss his punkin' head. 
Good night and sweet dreams.