Adios

Today is October 28, which means that the long awaited day of October 25 came and went and somehow we all survived. At least I'm assuming that Will has survived so far. No news is good news is the slogan I'm running with, especially since we probably won't hear from him until NEXT Friday. We got a very brief e mail from him when he got to the MTC, just saying that he was there and was ok, and his PDay is going to be on Fridays, and we got nuthin today. So I'm not planning on hearing anything for 7 more long days.

I'm oddly okay with everything. He was such a rock at the airport, especially after the super not fun false start we got that morning. His flight was originally scheduled to take off at 7 AM so we all got up bright and early and arrived at the airport at 5 AM, as instructed ( okay, they actually instructed us to be there three hours early, but that's just crazy talk) only to find out that he had been put on a different flight, that took off at 10 AM. No biggie, we were only FOUR HOURS early, and none of us got any sleep, and gee, it might have been nice to be informed before then, but whatever, right? So we hauled our you-know-whats  back home, had a nice big breakfast, and took a nap then headed back to the airport around 8:30.  All this changing of plans threw off our groove a little bit, but Will was just calm and collected all morning, cracking jokes and making the best of it.

It finally really came time to say goodbye, and we all shed a few tears, but he was so ready to go, and so happy, it was hard to be very sad around him. I hugged him tight for a few minutes, just trying to soak him in, and that is what makes me cry the most now, just remembering that last hug for two years. You don't really appreciate the physical presence of someone until they are gone. The last few days he was home, I just hugged him and touched him every time I could without it being too weird. My neighbor gave me some good advice about recording him before he left, so we got a few minutes of video, and I'm so glad I did that.  I just miss him being HERE, running up the stairs in the morning whistling.

Three days down, 727 to go.


This picture is the ultimate Will. He is presenting Olivia with his cell phone, for her to use while he is gone.  I bet in two years, there will be some big changes in Olivia's height.