Homecoming.
It’s the day you start dreaming of from the time you say goodbye to your deploying loved one at the bus or airport or parking lot. It’s the day you imagine on your very worst days of deployment. It’s the goal. Day Zero (if you count down) or Day [Insert Your Number Here] (if you count up). There’s nothing that is sweeter to think of during deployment… and nothing more elusive.
During John’s deployment, I spent a lot of time thinking about exactly what I wanted homecoming to be. What I wanted to wear. How I wanted to look. Exactly what I thought I was going to say.
If you’ve ever gone through even one deployment, you know that all of your most carefully laid plans can easily go out the window at any minute. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve dreamed of that exact moment. Or how much you’ve prepared, planned, written to-do lists, or gotten on that treadmill. It’s so easy for homecoming to change. Because…military. That’s why.
And that’s okay. I mean, it has to be. Dream all you want about homecoming. Just don’t get too attached to all of the details. They might change.
One way to dream about homecoming is by making a playlist. Remember my very last care package? In that post, I mentioned that I sent John a CD with a homecoming mix on it. It was titled, “Welcome Home, Now Let’s Get Married.” Here are the homecoming-themed songs that I put on it. I’m going to keep the love songs just between John and me, but feel free to enjoy the homecoming songs:
2. Beyond the Sea- Bobby Darrin
3. A** Back Home- Gym Class Heroes
4. Kiss Me When You Come Home – Hanson
5. I’ll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time- The Andrews Sisters
6. I’m Coming Home- Diddy-Dirty Money
