Ramblings of a Deployed-Spouse

Well y'all. Miles and I have been hoofing it without the Aviator for the last 2.3 months. :-) But who's counting?
Initially, my feelings about going through a deployment with a wee-one by myself were fear, anxiety, worry, fear... But now that we're on the downhill side of it, I can truthfully say that I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Having a newborn has kept me so busy that there were times (sorry honey) that I would crawl into bed and then realize in a panic that I wasn't signed in on Skype.  I had almost forgotten! How could I forget?!  Well- I was exhausted. What can I say?
The amount of support and love on this base is truly unbelievable.  I don't know about others but I can honestly say that if I've ever needed anything, it's been there.  Even getting my lawn mowed has just happened miraculously.  I love the lawn-mowing fairy or pilot that is taking care of us.  It's such a huge blessing to not have to worry about that right now.  Plus, it's hotter than heck out there.  :-)
I realized something last night.  I was looking for our blender.  I never use our blender. In fact, before my love left, he put it away, off of the counter, out of my way.  Well I decided to make chocolate malts.  But where was the blender? I thought I looked in all of the obvious places but truth-be-told, I had no idea where it was.  Of course, I thought about asking the Smoothie-King husband of mine.  But then I found it.  Just like that.  I hadn't looked hard enough.  And who knows when he would've been able to tell me that it was in the high-cabinet above the fridge? So what I realized was that without him home, I actually am missing half of my brain.  He is my better half after all, so with him away, I'm literally missing half of me.  He helps me remember that it's time to do laundry. He helps me remember that it's time to go grocery shopping. He helps me remember that I need to put the laundry into the dryer.  Seriously.  He helps me remember everything!  :-)
Being away from my man for this long has done a funny thing to me.  I have much more in depth conversations with our son because I'm sure that he is helping me cope with his Daddy being gone.  I still sleep on 'my side' of the bed.  His pillows are stacked neatly on 'his side' of the bed.  His closet doors are still open... I suppose I could close them but then it wouldn't be even because mine are still always going to be open... (Does anyone ACTUALLY open and close their closet doors all day long??)
I know that Miles enjoys my stories because he has taken a very active role in replying to and joining in on them.

Sleep.  Sleep when your hubby is gone is strange too.  I find that I need much more time to wind down at night, sometimes even at 0200 I'm still awake wondering if it's crazy to start another episode of BBCs Top Gear (Thanks LAURA!!! (:  ). I also talk to God a lot more.  I pray more now than I have ever prayed in my life.  I know that He is giving me the strength to be a good Mommy day in and day out.  I know that He is giving me the strength to support my hubby and what he's doing.  I know that He is giving me comfort when I miss the closeness of family.  He has kept us safe and taken care of.  I am so thankful for my God.  He is so awesome.  I love being His daughter. His Grace is all-consuming and for some reason, being away from my best friend and husband, has reminded me of all of this.

I am thankful that this deployment is not as long as it could be.  I have a completely different respect and adoration of my Army, Navy, Marine-sisters.  I know that the Air Force is pretty laid back for the most part and especially on this side of the realm.

I will be so glad to have my man back home with us, safely.

How do you cope with deployments? Your favorite part? Your least favorite part?