A Year of Solitude...Part Deux

The call came through this morning. Soon Hubby will be leaving for another year tour in the land of sand.

This experience is nothing new. We've certainly been through it before. In fact, a good portion of our nine years together have been spent living apart. Maybe that's why when other marriages fell apart around us upon his unit's return from the sand box just over a year ago, we just moved on along to our own beat.

It's amazing the things that come to mind when you're told that your spouse will be leaving again. Simple little things come to light that you never even thought of before. Who is our dogs vet? How do I change the timer on the sprinkler system? When are the bills due?

Suddenly I'll be shouldered with the responsibility of running a household on my own. Again. I've been through it before, and learned a few things about myself in the process. I know that I can organize a household move on my own, assemble and install furniture and manage to get my car fixed despite language barriers. Fortunately, none of those things will be an issue this time around. And should every light bulb in the house burn out within a week of him leaving again, I'm prepared with extras this time.

What is different this time around is that we're civilians. I don't have the instant support network that I had last time. Nobody else in my neighborhood or at work will have a spouse that is gone for a year with the distinct possibility of not coming home. There will be no monthly meetings with a chain of command back home to let me know what's going on in the sand box. What information I get from Hubby will be the information that I have to go on. And let it be known that he is not a man of many words.

So the next year (I hope that its only a year!) will be filled with uncertainty. I won't know everything that is going on over there. I'm back to never knowing when the phone might ring with his voice on the other end of the line. When will he be online to chat? Oh here's hoping that there are no problems with the computer while he's gone!

I thought that our days of never knowing all the details would be over when he hung up his uniform for the last time. Little did I know, mere months ago, that life would be running in a repeat loop for us. But we're ready, and this time I know more about what to expect. No support network? No problem. Ive got my dog, and he gives me plenty of support. Now if only we could train him to change lightbulbs...