Not whining …

but a fellow blogger pointed out a very real fact about military life.  After a deployment ends, you have a reintegration period with your spouse that can last from a few months up to a year, all depending on what that deployment entailed.  I’d say for the infantry deployments where people are boots on the ground dodging dangerous stuff, the reintegration can last a long time.  For less hectic places and jobs, not as long.  Obi-Wan and I didn’t have much of a reintegration period.  We were lucky and sort of fell right into step with each other after he came home.  The biggest adjustment was getting used to seeing his stuff scattered all over the house again b/c I was a neat freak when it was just me at home.  God knows I love the man but he’ll never get that it’s NOT ok to just leave clothes wherever you want b/c the little woman will just pick them up.  But, I digress.

As I was saying, you have the reintegration period and then that ends and it seems like you have to gear up for another deployment immediately.  That’s the cycle, and it’s a vicious cycle.  This blogger has ended her reintegration period and is now on a countdown to the next deployment.  Obi-Wan and I are in our own countdown to when he leaves next, even though it’s not a deployment and it is stateside at least.  Although it seemed like the countdown to when he’d leave again practically started 3 weeks after he was home.  I knew when he got home that he’d have a year here before heading off to school out of state for 7 months.  And now we’re in the 3 month window before this all shakes down.  Not looking forward to it … at all.  I’m not whining, really I’m not.  But it does suck that we spouses don’t get much time to enjoy the “now” before facing another deployment or whatever coming around the corner.   You might get a few months or even a few years depending on your spouse’s career circumstances, but deployments are always looming in the background.  We know this.  They will go and they will come back and then go again.  Until they retire or get out, we’re all stuck on this roller coaster until Uncle Sam pulls the brakes.

But to put a positive spin on this so I’m not entirely whining (b/c like I said, I’m not ) knowing we’re always on borrowed time with our spouses makes us appreciate that time together that much more.  At least it does with us anyway.  So, if you have a deployment on the horizon, live life, live in the now and enjoy each other as much as you can.

P.S. – For those of you who tagged me recently, I promise I will fulfill the requirements in the next few days – I haven’t forgotten.