Homecoming

As the days continued to decrease to the day Steven would be home, my nerves began to run wild. It's said by many military wives and girlfriends that the last hours and minutes before they return home are worse than the rest of the deployment. I can definitely say that I agree with this statement.

On the day of Steven's return, I kept myself relatively busy in order to maintain some level of sanity. I went to church, then lunch, and then to Uptown to shop around for a dress to wear to the airport. By the time four o'clock hit, I was starting to get frantic. After double checking the flight times over fifteen times in the past twenty-four hours, Shelby and I decided to head to the airport early. We got to the airport around 5:30 which gave up a little less than an hour until his flight was supposed to arrive.

As soon as we got to the airport, the nerves started to hit me. I could feel my hands becoming shaky and my heart was beating at a steady but faster than normal rate. Luckily, Shelby was there for me to talk to, although most of what came out of my mouth were just continuous strands of nonsensical conversation.

Around 6 PM the other friends starting gathering in the waiting area outside the terminal. At 6:02, I got a text from Steven, meaning his flight had arrived. I immediately texted some of the other friends who hadn't gotten there yet and we all began waiting, very impatiently. Because Steven was flying with the rest of his team from Qatar, they had to regroup as a team before coming out of the terminal. Meanwhile, the group of us waiting began plotting crazy chants and choreographed dances to do as they walked out of the terminal- which was mainly just a way of keeping calm and collected as we waiting for him to arrive.

Finally we spotted his team walking through the terminal. Suddenly, I forgot about the group of friends behind me and even the large formation of people who had constructed a line up of flags for the team to walk through when they got back. My eyes were locked on Steven and the only thing I could think about was finally getting to hug him again. As he walked through the revolving doors, there was a bigger smile than I have ever seen on his face. I could try to describe our reunion, but they say a picture says a thousand words, so I'll stick with that.

After Steven said hi to all of his anxiously awaiting friends, we walked through the tunnel of flags and people welcoming the troops home. I can't recall any details about being there except that Steven never let go of my hand. We regrouped, waited for all of the team's luggage and finally headed to the new church building which opened while Steven was gone.

I am not very good at sharing, especially when I hadn't seen Steven in such a long time, but I couldn't help but want to let Steven hang out and catch up with his friends because I knew it was what would make him happiest. After the church, we all went to Dion's, a staple of Albuquerque cuisine. I haven't had that much fun in a long time and what was the greatest part about it was the fact that these were people who I used to refer to as "Steven's friends" but they had finally become mine as well. I no longer felt on the outside or that I needed to be glued to Steven's side of continuously a part of his conversation. It was okay that he was in a completely different conversation than I was. Of course having Steven home made the night and I truthfully didn't need anything else, but to be able to finally feel like I was genuinely a part of this established group.

Needless to say, I can't recall a time where I've been happier.