Pure Heaven!!!

I wasn't going to post today. I was not really inspired, very annoyed which is a story for another time, and did not have the wedding blog finished and ready to post yet. I asked Foster if I could have his blog entry to put up because I was too lazy to post, but he wants to perfect it, and until then, it will not be handed over to me. So I was ready to head to bed when I decided to check my facebook one more time. One of my friends posted a military reunion video that brought me to tears. Not because they were sad, but because they were such amazingly happy, touching moments that unless you have been a part of that moment, you cannot truly comprehend the feelings that overflow. I am blessed enough to have gotten to experience this beautiful moment first hand on December 10, 2008 when Foster returned home from his deployment.

Foster and I had officially been together for fifteen months, however, we had only spent four months together on the same side of the earth. He was sent to the sandbox three short months after we met. I was lucky to have spent four amazing days with him between his training in Texas and his year in Iraq. Plus, there was a ten day period he came to Texas while I was training as an Army medic that I was able to see him for 48 glorious hours of that. Other than that, we were apart for a year. So you can imagine the excitement that started to build as his homecoming ceremony was approaching.

Foster's parents, my parents and myself were patiently awaiting the bus full of soldiers at a local school. The Army band was there ready to strike up, and there were families getting antsy. After three hours of waiting, two hours past their expected time of arrival, I saw Foster's friend who is was stationed with the rear detachment. "Captain B, what is going on that is taking so long?"

He pulled me aside from the rest of the families to explain to me in a hushed voice that our guys and girls were cooling their heals at the airport. Someone had not done their job properly, because the buses never showed to pick them up. That was no big surprise, the Army never ceases to amaze me sometimes. I suggested we used the band's buses and as many mini vans as possible, and we could go pick them up ourselves. The airport was only a half an hour away and it was ridiculous that it was taking 2 hours to get them. By this time they could have walked to the school. CPT B got everything under control (I guess he had already thought of the band buses, great minds think alike!), and about thirty minutes later we got the news that the buses were pulling up.

I bypassed the front door, because that is where everyone was filing out, and I found a side door. I ran to the front in my heeled boots. It was cold! I anxiously watched the buses and vans pull up with hundreds of guys in uniform. They all looked alike, but I was sure I would be able to pick Foster out in the group. I looked and looked, and started to get worried that he had not made the first trip of buses and was still hanging out at the airport. I guess my father saw him before I did, but did not say anything, because as I stood looking for him, I felt these strong arms wrap around my shoulders from behind. I felt warm lips on the side of my face, and an "I love you" in my right ear. I whipped around and embraced Foster with all of my being. I kissed him and hugged him and did not care that my parents and his parents were standing there watching. Actually, I wish someone had gotten that moment on video.

I have never felt such an overflowing of emotion. Relief that he was home safe, Love for this man I have not seen in person for almost a year, excitement for that moment and the future to come. If there was one feeling I could bottle up and sell, it would be that feeling. There is no one word that can explain it. The closest I can get is "heaven".

The following video is not the one I posted on my facebook, because I could not find the embedding code, but it is close! This video made these feelings come flooding back, and I figured I would share it with all of my fellow military wives who's husbands are deployed. We are blessed. When our husbands return home, we get to experience this unique emotion that so few people will. Let this future reunion keep you strong and positive these next months while your men are gone, because you will soon get to be doing this too, and I hope someone catches it on video.

God Bless Our Troops!