Military Spouse Appreciation Blog Carnival 2012: My Best Military Spouse Moment.

Today marks the third day of the Wives of Faith third annual Military Spouse Appreciation Blog Carnival. Head over there to learn more and/or find more blog posts on today's topic. If you're a military spouse, please join in on the fun and write your own entry!

{my best military spouse moment}

I'm going to say my favorite military spouse moment (I can't think of a best) was making it through his longest deployment. Granted, that day didn't go quite as I had always envisioned.

I first realized that our grand reunion wouldn't work quite as I dreamed while I was packing to go meet him in Hawai'i...

The ship was pulling in earlier than we had thought, so the plan was for him to just meet me at the airport. I was a little bummed I wouldn't get to see the ship pull in (since I had never witnessed that first-hand before), but I was mostly thrilled that I was a few hours closer to holding him again. I started picturing running into his arms and him lifting me up and twirling me around -Husband had already stated that was the first thing he planned on doing. In my head, it was all very much like that scene at the end of Love Actually when Natalie jumps Hugh Grant at the airport after he returns from ...somewhere.

When I finished packing I realized I had 2 suitcases and a bulky purse, and they did not fit into my vision. Would I just drop them in the airport to fulfill my reunion fantasies? What if someone took off with them? They had some important stuff in them -like his special reunion gifts. No, no I couldn't drop them and run to him.

So, new plan: Walk quickly to him -bags and all- and let him run to me. Once together, I would drop the bags place the bags by our feet and let him twirl me around. I was okay with this plan, it would be only slightly less romantic.

Reality:

The flight to Hawai'i took forever, and I'm pretty sure I was bouncing around in my seat because my excitement could not be contained. I kept looking around the plane wondering how many other people on it were heading to see their loved ones too. Finally, we landed. My heart was pounding, I was now minutes from seeing the love of my life again. I turned my phone on -I had lots of text messages from him!

They were in port...
He was off the ship...
He had the rental car...
He was at the airport looking for a place to park...
He was at baggage claim waiting for me!
Was I off the plane yet?!

I got off the plane and pretty much ran/walked to the closest bathroom to make sure I looked perfect for him. Then I power-walked to baggage. Except, in my extreme enthusiasm I failed to actually thoroughly read the signs to baggage claim.

I ended up going to the wrong baggage claim.

I'm talking buildings away at a different airline's baggage claim. Hrm, I thought it had seemed like an awfully long distance...

I shoved my disappointment (and embarrassment) to the side and focused on the goal: I got directions to the right baggage claim and took off. The fastest route was outside in the humidity. I got a little sweaty thus killing my "perfect" look. After many more "Where are you?" texts from him, I got to baggage claim -where was he? Baggage claim is not that big, how was he not in plain sight?

We did finally see each other. He didn't run to me like I thought he might, and when I got to him he gave me a big hug before I got a chance to drop the bags. There was no twirling. Though I'll admit we both had goofy grins on our faces and that kiss felt amazing. It was all very surreal, and in some ways it felt like he hadn't even been gone more than a few weeks. Deployment was behind us.

He grabbed my checked bag, and we wrapped our arms around each other and set off to the car. We were both more than ready to get to the hotel room where we could relax and simply enjoy each other's company. There was one little setback: we couldn't find the car. We walked -somehow with our arms around each other while carrying the bags- from level to level looking for the rental car.

In his excitement, Husband had forgotten in which garage he had parked the car.