Page was given his 2 week leave or R & R time at the beginning of August. We had a wonderful reunion at the airport where, once I told the workers at the airport what we were there for, we were treated like royalty. Karis, Thia, and I were given bogus boarding passes and the little girls were given stickers and told to hug their daddy real tight because he was a hero. We were allowed to go all the way to the gate to meat him. We waited patiently, or rather, I waited as patiently as I could and the girls ran around the gate area with signs saying "We love you, Daddy!" and "Welcome Home!". They also had their sweet shirts Nana gave them that said, "My Daddy is my Hero!" Everyone in that 4 gate area knew why we were there. As soon as they saw Page, Karis took off running towards him pushing people out of the way as she ran. Thia couldn't get her little feet to move fast enough, so she ran in place a few times before she took off after Karis into her Daddy's arms. After Page was able to get up and out of the way of everyone, I was able to get a quick hug and kiss as well. Mine wasn't as memorable as the girls because they were louder and a bit more demanding. Thia would not allow him to put her down, bursting into tears the moment he mentioned that he needed to pass her to me so that he could get his bag.
We made it home a little while later and it seemed that from the time we walked through the door time slowed way down. We weren't concerned about what was going on outside our home. We weren't concerned about what day it was. We got up with the girls, had wonderful dinners including Thanksgiving dinner a little early. We had date nights. We went to the beach, the park, and the zoo. We did not stay shut up in our home the entire time completely to ourselves. We saw friends and family, but somehow the entire time the focus was on family and making each moment count.
From the time Page got home, I forgot about the 7 months he had been gone. I was also able (for the most part) to forget about the 4 1/2 months left. We were just living in the moment. The girls immediately had their Dad. I had my best friend and husband. The world was right again and we didn't care about anything else. There were no transition problems. We had one or two "serious discussions" but nothing that was due to his having been gone. They were normal married discussions. It was as if he had never been gone and he wasn't leaving again.
All of that ended last night. We decided to have one last "date night." We put the girls to bed and popped in a movie that neither one of us had seen. We sat snuggled up on the couch through the entire movie and then the credits began to roll. As soon as the credits started it was if the bells were chiming on that "kill-joy clock" on the Disney movie Cinderella. You know....the one that continually wakes her up from her beautiful dreams and chimed the night of the ball breaking the spell...turning everything back to reality. It was over. The 2 beautiful weeks that had seemed timeless actually had a definite beginning and a very definite end.
Page was taken away to the airport this morning at 7:30 am. We have all had our moments of tears today. I don't really want to focus on the sadness of his leaving again, because we knew that was coming and would be something we would have to process through. I want to focus on the surprise and the blessings of the 2 weeks that far exceeded either one of our expectations. I want to focus on the laughs and screams of delight from two little girls that were thrilled beyond measure to play with their Daddy. I want to focus on the hours of uninterrupted conversation I was able to have with my best friend. I want to focus on the time spent with family and friends. Most of all, I want to focus on the feeling of "perfection" - not the perfection of being without a mistake because we are all human and know that is an impossibility. No, I want to focus on the feeling of "perfection" as God sees it.... a completeness that could only come from an Heavenly Father that loves me far beyond what I could ever understand. A Father that saw fit to not only give us wonderful memories, but went a step further to prove to me once again that He knows me so well that he met my love language in the 2 weeks of R & R. He gave me Time....Quality Time. I don't know how He did it, but He worked a miracle over the past 2 weeks when He made.....time slow down.
