Life As A Moore...: What a crazy week!

Hard to believe it's already Friday! Our week started out as a sad one. We had to say our good-bye's for a year. All day Sunday, Obadiah and I hung out while James finished packing for his trip. Those who know Obadiah know that he doesn't handle this well. He paced in place, whined, moaned, etc. while he watched James load up his bags. He knew something was up and didn't like it.

He eventually came over and sat beside me on the other side of the couch, while looking over at James. (Still whining about the whole ordeal)

By the end of the afternoon, bags were packed and James was ready. James said good-bye to Oba.

We attempted a family photo, but it didn't work out too well. Oba ended up looking squished.

Then when it was time, we headed to post. We knew we'd have about an hour to hang out before he shipped off on the bus. So we took full advantage of it. I only saw a few other wives there, but it was nearly 1am when they headed out, so I'm sure most were at home with their kids. Before heading to the drop off point, we grabbed one more picture.

When it was time, I watched him load the bus, and I followed them as they headed off post. As I was heading home, I still had a hard time believing we were about to go through another year apart. What can you do? The sooner it starts, the sooner it ends!

When I got home, poor Obadiah began his hunt for James. I don't know why it is that he does this when James leaves for training/deployment, but not when he's just going to work. I guess he just knows something's different. He sat at the garage door waiting and whining, so I opened it. I figured he can search the garage for James and figure out he's not coming home, since he obviously ignores me when I tell him. He ran around the car with much excitement, and looked up at every window, searching for him. When he got to the final window, there was complete silence. His tail stop wagging (as it will bang against whatever's close when it is actually wagging), and he came back inside with his head hung low, and just went to his bed. Poor Oba!

So fast forward to Monday early afternoon. I was so proud. I had passed the point of when James was supposed to have taken off from the AF base, and I hadn't broken down yet. Yay! Well, a few minutes later I get a call. I didn't recognize the number so I was thinking, "Awesome! He's already on the East Coast!" Wrong. He was still on base, and wanted me to come get him. I guess there were mechanical problems with the plane resulting in a major delay. So I ran to post, picked him up, and was excited to spend another evening together before another good-bye. When we got home, Oba let James have it. He was a ball of emotions, barking at him, pouncing on him, and basically letting him have it. Apparently, it's just as hard on dogs as it is kids. What an emotional roller coaster.

It was great being able to spend another night together, as we knew our time together would soon end. We headed to post Tuesday afternoon, for our second good-bye, only to find out things had changed AGAIN. This time, it was a delay of about 13 hours. I'm glad we were able to have the extra time together, but by this point, we were just ready for it to start. We spent the evening at home, and just prepared for this final good-bye. Sure enough, this last one was it. The best one yet. 0400 in the morning. I love these late night good-byes. At least I have a reason to go home and go straight to sleep!

By Wednesday evening, I didn't receive another phone call, so I figured this one was for real. Sure enough, it was. I was able to hear from James last night (Thursday), and he's halfway across the world right now waiting on his final flight to the base he'll be staying at. Glad that with all the mechanical problems and delays, that plane got them there safe and sound! I know James was worn out by the time they got there. I guess they decided to make a world tour out of it. They didn't decide to do a straight shot. No, that would be too easy. Instead, they went from WA to IN to Nova Scotia to Iceland to Germany to Romania, and FINALLY to the base that they're at now. Crazy! At least James can say he's seen a few new places now. After all of this, now we can officially start counting down and begin this crazy deployment.

Oh, and let me just say that I LOVE Skype. Well...I love it when it works! While he awaits his next flight, he is able to get online when the MWR is open.