Alone Again

Well, this is it. My husband has left for some training to prepare for deployment in a few months. He has been here almost every night since returning from deployment last July, and now we won't see him for a few weeks. As a somewhat "seasoned" Marine wife, I realize that a few weeks is nothing. But I am surprised how much this impending training has been getting to me in recent weeks! I guess I have been viewing it as the beginning of the end. After 7 months here, suddenly he's gone for most of April, back for the month of May, gone for most of June, then deploying sometime shortly after that. So even though he was packing for a relatively short, easy training mission, I have been mentally preparing for the deployment itself, and that has created some tension. Especially since our baby will be born AFTER he deploys, I am starting to feel like I need to get furniture moved and set up the nursery soon, while he is still here. It's like going into "nesting" mode when you still have 20 weeks left to the pregnancy!

But in a way, now that he is gone, I can breathe a little easier, and get ready to move on. I am planning to spend the next few weeks with my parents--my first real visit to their house in exactly a year! We got used to visiting every few months during the last deployment, so it has been strange to go so long without seeing them and my "back home friends." I think focusing on the immediate future and this visit to family will be a lot more refreshing to me than focusing on the more distant future where husband will be deployed.

Of course everyone struggles with pre-deployment stress. I just didn't expect it to start so soon! Anyone have some good ways of calming yourself when your mind starts racing months before the actual deployment?