Coming Up For Air...

Its been one week and two days since John returned home.  The first day felt like six weeks.  The second day felt like two days and 4 hours.  The third day felt like a day because John had to start going back to reintegration that morning... 

Ha ha ha...anyone a fan of Steve Martin's The Jerk?  If so, you'll understand that little above reference..  If not...you should watch it.  :D

That being said...I figured it was time to come up for air and bring you up to date on the joyous reunion of the Larson family...

Last Thursday night I had chatted on Yahoo IM with John for a few minutes and was told that the earliest he would be flying in was probably Sunday evening.  So, I went to bed that night thinking I had two whole days to finish cleaning and organizing the house and getting everything ready for his return home.  Imagine my surprise when at 8AM on Friday morning I got a call from Sgt. Meyer telling me that John was on a plane and headed home.  She had confirmation from a "friend" that texted her.  WHAT!  I didn't fully believe her until 10:30AM when I got a call from Rear Detachment telling me that John was in the air and the welcome home ceremony would be at 18:00 hours.  (thats 6PM for all you non-24 hour clock peeps...)

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! was my first reaction and then it was scramble time!

By 4PM we were pretty much ready to go and I had given the girls an early dinner and they were in their pretty dresses and we'd fixed their hair and we were all just sitting...waiting...anticipating...

At 5PM exactly we got in the car and drove the 4 minutes it takes to get to the Memorial Gym and snagged our front row seats.  We had an hour to wait.  One hour.  The first minute felt like 6 years...the second minute felt like 3 years and 3 months...the third minute...just kidding...ha ha ha...

And then it was nearly 6PM....and....they told us the busses were late and we had a whole 20 more minutes.

GAAAAAAAH....the longest 20 minutes of my life.  The first minute felt like....ha ha ha.  Still just kidding.  We took a "waiting for dad" snapshot...

And then all of a sudden it was time for the soldiers to come in...

Keep in mind that we'd been planning this coming home moment for a year!  I had planned on video taping and taking a bunch of photos but when the moment came I ended up with a partial video and just three photos.  I know... crazy

But...the partial video makes me cry every time.



The whole ceremony took about 3 minutes.  There was a prayer, the National Anthem played...John mouthed that he loved me and I melted into a puddle of tears...(thats my handsome soldier in the stetson..)

...General Salazar made a few comments and then released the soldiers.  And then it was madness.

Imagine grown women shoving small children aside as they race to their soldiers...  Maddie was one of the first to reach them so she managed to dart inbetween people and got to John quickly...Bella and I held back some to allow for the trampling to subside and then went and got our kisses.

Bella was a little apprehensive at first...

We took another photo with both of them...

Its so good to have him home.  Really good.  And now that I've come up for air I'm headed back down again. 

Welcome Home John.  We love you and missed you.