Let the Waterworks Commence

I had my first pre-deployment, teary-eyed moment today.

My family has been able to spend quite a lot of quality time together this past week, for which I am very grateful. But we've also spent what seems like an inordinate amount of time preparing for my husband’s deployment.

Between appointments and shopping and logistics, it has been stressful. But we declared a few hours today as “Let’s Indulge the Kids” time and we headed out to the Boardwalk.

We let the kids choose where we would eat lunch. We let them order sodas. We let them ride the trolley. Most of all, we let them build a Build-A-Bear.

Like every kid that visits the Boardwalk, my kids almost always try to beg a bear out of us. This time they didn't ask at all, which made our special treat even a little more special.

Every night when we put our kids to bed, we hug a stuffed animal and fill it up with love. We say, “All filled up with love from Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa and everyone who loves you.”

So we decided that with my husband leaving, it would be extra special to fill an animal up with love from the inside out. We even bought the recordable message boxes and my husband left a personalized little message of love for each kid.

It’s when I pressed the button to make sure that his recording worked that I teared up a little. It was just a tiny bit and only for a second so I’m sure no one noticed. But still. It was my first official deployment cry.

There will be many more, I’m sure. I’m not much a crier normally, at least not at really important things. Sure, I’ll cry like a baby over Extreme Home Makeover and long distance commercials. But when it comes to the important things in life, I can be pretty stoic.

We’ll see, but I hope I will grow immune to their bear’s recorded charm sometime soon. Or it is going to be a long deployment.