When Deployment Slaps You in the Face...

I feel like I haven't said a whole lot about Frank's deployment over the last several months. I think we're just kind of used to it now. Frank goes to the other side of the world and does his thing, and we stay here and do our thing. We settle into a routine and we stay busy. I think that if we sat at home every weekend, we'd go nuts! Thankfully we are rarely lacking things to do and that makes time go faster. We're always counting down to something or going somewhere... even if it's a spur of the moment pack up our car in two hours and hit the road kind of trip. I love that we can be spontaneous like that. :)

The kids seem to handle Frank's deployments pretty well... Kassidy and Kameron get it. They are old enough now that they know where he is and what he's doing and how long a year is. They've been through this 4 times now and they roll with it - most of the time. Kennedy will tell you that her daddy is on an airplane. Longest. Flight. Ever. Keeghan will say that his daddy is in Afghanistan. And really, if you know us in real life, you should ask him, because the way he says "Afghanistan" is way too cute! And Kellsey, well, she's going to need to get to know daddy all over again when he comes home in March.

Last night though, Kass, Kam and I were sitting on the couch talking and Kameron said something and then said, "Well when daddy comes home for Christmas we can do that." And I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor and Kassidy's eyes popped out of her head.

Kassidy said, "Kameron, daddy's not coming home for Christmas... why would you think that?!"

Kameron just stared at us. "What do you mean he's not coming home for Christmas?"

"Honey," I said, "He was just home for your birthday... you know he only gets to come home once each deployment..."

"Oh," he said, "Well... that's jank!"

I don't know what jank means, but I think it's bad.

And that was the end of that conversation, and kind of a buzz kill for the evening. I had no idea that he thought Frank would be home for Christmas. He's missed Christmas every other year for the last 7 years now and I guess it was just an unspoken understanding that he wouldn't be here. Sometimes, no matter how many deployments you've been through, it sneaks up and slaps you in the face. And it's... well... jank.