There have been so many times throughout this deployment that I've felt like I've completely hit a wall. It's not that I want to give up or throw in the towel-- that's not, and never will be, an option. But it's just a tiredness, such an emotional exhaustion that makes everything seem unconquerable. When John left after his R&R, I sat in my car in the airport's parking garage for at least 30 minutes because I just couldn't get the gumption to turn the key. I couldn't even find the energy to put the key in the ignition, for goodness' sake.
When I did get myself back to Baltimore, I tried to snap myself out of that awful funk. I went on a shopping spree for food for John's care package. (You already know this if you read this.) I'm really bad at estimating, so what I though was enough for a box and a half ended up just barely fitting into three large USPS Priority boxes.
I decided to take the food I had bought and try to organize it into cute themes. I took all of the soups and made the Souper Super Bowl box up. And then, I realized that I had so many fish products and fruit products that they could fill an entire box.A box so awesome it would sum up my thoughts on this whole deployment. A box full of F words!
I sent a lot of fruit cups, bags of dried fruit, packaged tuna lunch-to-go packs, and a lot-- I mean a lot-- of of ready-to-eat Sweet and Spicy StarKist tuna. (Those are John's favorite. For some reason, they sell all of the other varieties at the PX on his base, except for that flavor. This would be the second time I cleared a shelf of it at Wally World. I think I'm getting a crazy cat lady reputation there.)
The outside of the box was kind of (exceptionally) awful. I had fish, fruit, and letter "f" stickers that I stuck all over it. (It was cooler in my head than what it turned out to look like.)
Stay tuned for a the last box in the trio! It'll be on the blog tomorrow!
I didn't know what to think until I started reading, and then I giggled. I know this has been a rough time, and it's not getting any easier. The next time he's home there will be a wedding, right? That's indeed something to look forward, too! :) Oh, and you might be right about that cat lady rep! LOL ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you got a giggle out of it! I thought that it would be an attention-getter! :-)
DeleteIt's so hard after R&R! He'll be home soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chantal! :-) It's nice knowing that there have been many other people who have done this before! :-)
DeleteLove the theme! lol Hopefully the time following R&R flies!
ReplyDeleteThanks on both accounts, Jackie!
DeleteHe'll be home before you know it, and afterwards you'll probably feel like you can do anything - at least that's how I felt after our deployment :) I have a kickass rum cake recipe that I used to send My Man when he was overseas -- I make 'em as cupcakes and they are delicious.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words, April. We are definitely on the downhill slope now. I just didn't expect that the after-R&R stuff would be so tough!
DeleteI visited Joe in Busan half way through our deployment and saying goodbye the second time was harder than the first...having to go through the adjustment all over again took me a while...Hang in there and keep busy. One day at a time! Love your boxes! They are great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie! I am glad I'm not alone! :-)
DeleteI bet he loved it! I would have just thrown it all in and never thought to theme it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he thought it was goofy, but whatever. :-) I almost did throw it in a box and ship it off. There's just never enough time, you know?
Delete*hugs* My guy's on deployment, too. It is tough, but even the longest deployment doesn't last forever!
ReplyDeleteTime goes by sooo slow when they are gone! Great Care Packages!
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