Forward or Back?

I met with a friend today who is reentering the corporate workforce after our shared layoff in February. Hearing her news made me pause and feel a little envious. I had to ask myself what I envied and it ultimately boiled down to the paycheck. These feelings made me question whether I was doing the right thing pursuing my passions and not a six-digit salary.

I got home, checked email and had received DailyOm's Today's Inspiration email with a title "A Moment of Choice." DailyOm has this uncanny ability to send just the right sentiment at the right time. Today's Inspiration discussed the benefits of starting something new -- exactly what I needed to hear. I am on a new path, one that is rewarding and fulfilling. I wish my friend a bounty of luck, but am confident that I am moving in the right direction.

Cresting the Deployment Hump

To many of you, this image means nothing, but to me, this is the image I have been waiting for for the last 106 days. I knew if I could just make it to this day, I would make it through. Today marks the half way point on this deployment journey -- today is Hump Day.

When I go running and come to a hill, I increase speed and charge up it with my head down. I want it to be over as quickly as possible and don’t want to see how much more torture I have left. Once at the top, I take a deep breath and enjoy coasting down the other side. Unfortunately, with a deployment, there is no speeding up to end the misery early, but my philosophy remains the same -- keep my head down until I crest. Today, I am cresting. Ahhh, I like the view from up here. I can see the Fall, the kids’ return to school, my working again, holidays and best of all I can see my sweetie on the pier.

The first half of the deployment was definitely challenging for me. Summer’s lack of routine and structure made the time just crawl by. The silver lining? All that down time brought the kids and me closer. However, I think we have all had enough bonding time and are ready for school, work and busier lives.

If the first half was harder for me, the second half will surely be harder for Bob. Our three oldest kids have big milestone birthdays coming up -- Robb turns 18 next Saturday, Alex has her Sweet 16 in October and in November John turns 21. Add in Robb’s senior year of football, apple picking (and my amazing apple bread), Navy Football, Halloween trick or treating with Rubes and well, let’s just stop there because it is kind of depressing to think about all that Bob will miss out on this year. But every time I start feeling sorry for myself (or Bob), I think of all the soldiers in Afghanistan on 18 month tours and I feel lucky that Bob is only gone for seven months. In just 106 days, I’ll be snuggling on the couch with my husband getting ready for an extra special Christmas celebration. Let the downhill coasting begin.