Erik left yesterday to go back to Camp Lejeune, and I headed back to work today as well, after taking all of last week off. The weather cooperated beautifully, and we were able to get mostly moved into our new house (yes, we signed–it’s ours!). We love the house. It completely feels like home. The kids have their own rooms now, and they both like it. I was worried that Gavin would be lonely without Olga close by, but he seems quite happy.
I have to say, despite all logic to the contrary, I got really used to having Erik home. Gavin, who was still pretty little before Erik went to Iraq, really got to know his daddy well this trip, and now he’s wondering where his big buddy went. Olga understands the situation a little better, but that doesn’t make it any easier to deal with. Luckily, we’re expecting much more frequent visits from him during the next year.
Life in the Corps, This dream of mine
On Thursday, Erik flew home to us. It’s like someone pushed the “resume” button, or like I’ve been holding my breath for the past eight months, and now…
…now we’re all finally home.
Life in the Corps, This dream of mine
Erik is back from Iraq.
My husband is finally back from Iraq after seven months. Life is so much simpler now.
It will still be another week and a half before the kids and I see him. We can hardly wait.
Life in the Corps
That’s me a few days ago, just a stones throw from home.
Erik has been in Iraq about two months, now. I got a phone call from him the other morning, and he’s doing well. Olga and Gavin each got to talk to him, and Olga told him it was high time he came home. She has really been missing him. Yesterday Erik missed the first of several family holidays he’ll miss in the coming months.
Well before he left, I made a conscious decision to be okay through this deployment. Erik always tells me: if you can’t change it, don’t worry about it. I certainly can’t change the fact that Erik is deployed, nor that he’s in danger, or that he’ll be gone so long. So I decided not to worry about him at all.
Instead, I’m devoting all of my energy into doing something constructive for our family, which in turn always helps out Erik in the end. Because the less he has to worry about us at home, the better he can concentrate on the matters before him, and the more likely he is to come home to us safely.
One of the things I do while he’s away is shoot a few targets now and then. I got a nice confidence boost from shooting a decent group at 50 yards with the AR-15 the other day. That’s essentially the same rifle Erik uses in Iraq. The one I shot doesn’t belong to me, but I like it so much that I may end up getting one. All that confidence gets lumped back into that constructive energy, instead of withering into worry, and in the end, we’re all better off.
Life in the Corps
First, I want to thank everyone for your lovely comments and emails over the past few weeks. We certainly miss our biggest guy, but we’re all fine. This is actually our third deployment (twice to Iraq), so things are pretty much business as usual. Communication is vastly improved since the last time he was there, and we expect to hear from him a lot more. Erik arrived at his camp right around October 1st. If all goes as scheduled, he’ll be home around April.
Here’s a photo that the wonderful Freeport Flag Ladies took of Erik while he was waiting in the Bangor, Maine airport for his flight out of the U.S. These ladies are amazing–they see off as many of our cammy-clad Ladies and Gents as they can, take their pictures, and give them a little gift to send them on their way.
P.S. I don’t know if you can see them in the photo, but Erik is wearing pink earphones. I have the khaki set here at home, and we were going to trade, but he worried that they might “go missing.” He’s pretty sure no one will “borrow” his cute pink pair. 
Life in the Corps
Even though most of my fun stuff is packed away already, I do have a couple little projects stashed around the house to work on. Erik wanted a new beanie and neck warmer thingie (I don’t know if it is spelled gaitor or gaiter, so thingie it is). I love a man who can’t go to war without some tactical hand knits. I’m using Wool-Ease yarn, because it’s so perfectly suited to the harsh abuse I know it will get. It is easy to wash, and the wool helps the garments maintain their shape and loft (fluffiness) much better than acrylic alone. It is also less sweaty than all-acrylic.
I tried something new for the top of the beanie. Instead of fastening it off like normal, by drawing yarn threw the last few knit stitches, then drawing it up and weaving in the end, I grafted the last 12 stitches together using Kitchener stitch. It made a nice flat secure top. It will be comfortable under a helmet, and I don’t have to worry that a hole will form.
The thingie is just a simple tube. It can’t be tight, or it will be uncomfortable, and the edges need to have a bit of stability or they’ll curl and be bulky. A knit in hem seemed to be the best answer. I have a few more inches to knit on this, then it will get crammed into Erik’s sea bag with the rest of his couple hundred pounds of gear.
Knitting, Life in the Corps
hat, kitchener, knit, knit hem, neck warmer, wool-ease
We are full on into packing mode, deadline mode, and getting ready for deployment mode. On the one hand I’m feeling a little bit insane, and on the other it’s a bit of a blessing–there’s no time to slow down and feel bad about the upcoming deployment.
The kids are taking all this excitement very well. Olga was a bit concerned that the storage unit was like a giant trash compactor, but now she understands that we’ll get all of our stuff back eventually, so she’s helping me sort through toys and blankets to pack. Gavin still lives in Oblivious Land, so as long as he can climb in and around, and drive his cars over the boxes, he doesn’t really care what else is going on.
Life in the Corps, Magazine
