A Letter to My Wife - Part 1

Hello, my love.

I actually wrote this letter, and all of the letters in this series, a while back, back before I shipped out. Although I'm not actually writing these letters from Basic, I have scheduled them to appear while I'm away in training.

Since I am writing these posts "in the dark," it may be interesting to compare them with my hand-written letters home to compare the accuracy or wild misses of reality and our expectations. Perhaps you could even comment on these posts or hack into my account and post accurate information, mis-information, letters home, etc, for our readers, if you've got the time.

I know that you are going to be very busy these next few months. Not only will you be continuing your own role on the homestead, but you'll be taking mine over as well, as well as helping the kids adjust to this new way of life, while you cope with it yourself. And on top of it all, you're busy preparing for the big changes ahead. And now for the first time since we met, you're doing it all without close support.

I applaud you. I love you. I respect you. And I appreciate all that you are doing.

Well, let's talk about me now, shall we? Do let's!

So I imagine I've had a pretty eventful last 24-48 hours. We had the Send-Off, which I'm sure was a blast. We said our goodbyes, which was hard. And just so you know, the goodbye's were about, oh to put an exact number on it, Id say, infinitely harder on me than I showed on the outside. But if I crack, we all crack a little (or a little more).

Anyhow, then came another trip to MEPS and another night in the hotel. And then came the ride to the airport, where I jumped on that plane. And that plane took me farther than I have ever been from home, and farther than I have ever wanted to be from you. And the whole time my mind is surely divided between the longing thoughts of what's behind, growing smaller and smaller in the rear-view mirror, and the ominous and adventurous mass of what's looming ahead.

So now I'm all tucked in my new bunk, and of course thinking of you, and for the first time in a long time, I'm having troubles falling asleep.

I miss you already and I love you with all my heart.

Love,
Your Husband.

P.S. If you do hack into my account, don't read ahead into the posts that haven't gone up yet... there are some surprises in there that should wait until their scheduled posted dates. Trust me.