The end of a decade(plus) in his life...and mine.

This Sunday was a bittersweet day for Ess Gee and I.
He said good-bye to the Army Reserve unit he has been apart of for the past 12 years.  He has been promoted and has to transfer to another unit because the current one did not have an opening for his new rank.  This weekend he received his Congratulations and Best of Everythings and See ya's Later.  He has experienced three deployments under their regiment.  He has seen Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan with them.  Ess Gee and I were reflecting this morning about the crazy stories he has lived through with these soldiers.  Unfortunately none can be told here:-).

   With this unit I learned what is it is to be the spouse of a deployed soldier (TWICE).  I have so much respect for spouses who have to be without their partners while raising their kids.  I have learned the language of the military and even the culture.  When we were first married and Ess Gee was deployed 8 months into our marriage, I was not a fan of the military.  I walked around our one bedroom apartment saying outloud on many, many occasions, "I GOT MARRIED SO I COULD BE WITH MY HUSBAND!!"  On the second deployment, I found some really sweet friendship's with fellow soldier's wives. I seemed to keep them an arm's length away on the first round.  It was the space my head was in at that time, but this time, we got together in each other's homes, went out for dinners, even took a weekend trip away simply for fun.
 
   I learned more and more about my husband and the kind of man he is as a soldier in this unit.  As a soldier in leadership he's dependable, well-informed, full of wisdom, a bit of a quiet Pied Piper (has a following of soldier's who may not even be in his platoon, but call on him for help), a grace giver--he won't rat a lower-enlisted soldier out...he'll take that soldier aside, have a good talkin' to 'em, give them a chance to get squared away and then watch to see if further consequences should be pursued.  He's fair minded and a bit old-school, which makes him grumpy when the Army tries to do it differently then what he remembers:-).

If I write about my husband/soldier when he was deployed I will start to cry.  Let's just say, I can count on only one hand how many days I wasn't able to speak with him when he was away.  He was gone a year each time.  That's soooo big a thing to give a wife.  The ability to communicate with your spouse, to hear his voice, almost everyday.  L-u-m-p in my throat.

Yep, lots to be reflected on with the leaving of one thing to move on to another.  We have another three more years to go.  Ess Gee will have 24 years in the military by then.  That's almost 2/3 of my lifetime:-).  We'll, I don't really know if that's true, I'm too lazy to do the math, but it sounds funny.