To kind of set up the story, about a month ago Patxi called me to ask if I was planning on coming down for a 4 day pass he was granted for the beginning of November. At the time, we had just moved to La Grande and I was dealing with that stress and the apartment mess. Plus, I was stick and my kids looked like they were getting it to, so the idea of me traveling alone with my two kids under the age of two made me cringe. Plus, he said, if I were to go, he wouldn't buy my earlier argument about not wanting to drag my young kids all over Europe. (For Patxi's mid tour leave he wanted to spend those two weeks in Europe) So, needless to say, I said no, we wouldn't go down, even though I wanted to be with Patxi more than anything, I hated to imagine him alone in his barracks while everyone else was with their families. He reassured me that it was okay because they were planning on taking trips with others whose families wouldn't be coming. So I didn't feel too bad.
Then, Sunday the 7th- the first day of his pass, during our usual phone conversation, Patxi tells me that his trips had been cancelled because there wasn't enough people. I could tell he was bummed. And that picture of him reading a book in an empty barracks entered my mind again. That picture and the desire to be with Patxi ate at me for the rest of the day until I found myself looking online for plane tickets. I was still torn between the wanting to go and knowing that it was going to be a huge hassle. Finally after a phone call from my sister, Jen, I pushed the "book tickets" button, and went crazy with the preparation. My mom came over and we stay up til 2 getting everything ready. With the help of my friend, Jamie Law, I felt pretty confident about the plane rides, but not about Patxi's reaction. If you know Patxi then you know that he shuns hassle like the plague and doesn't appreciate anything spontaneous or expensive. And as you can imagine, this decision was a huge hassle, rash, and pulling from our savings. But I was bringing his kids to him, right? He was sure to forgive me. Late into the night, after I swear I was getting an ulcer, I continued to repeat to myself, "The tickets are non-refundable, there's nothing I can do now but choose to make the most of it." I texted that to Patxi and hope he would do that too.
So soon, I find myself, numb from only 3 hours of sleep, driving to the Pasco, WA airport, not knowing the way because the printed directions fell out of my pocket. I franticly call my dad and find it. We race to check in, then back to the car because i forgot Valin's car-seat, and then through security (which was a huge ordeal, even with the help of three different officers). I had just enough time to text my mom that we made it before they started to board the plane. The ride was nice because Valin was quiet and observant since it was a new experience.
We landed in Salt Lake were Jen was meeting us. It turned out that we barley had enough time and I would have missed my connection if a pilot hadn't helped me to the gate. We landed in Menphis and by then Valin was so tired that as we were walking to our next connection, he triped and wouldn't get back up. There I was with a 3 month old in a front pack, with a huge backpack, and holding on to the leash/backpack that was on the back of an almost 2 year old who would only crawl. Finally a personnel came over with a wheelchair and Valin got to be pushed to out next gate; there was no way that I could have held him.
After a shot of sugar, Valin was his normal self and he would have crashed if his dad wasn't at the other end of the terminal when we landed in Mississippi. I really can't describe how wonderful it was to see Patxi's brilliant smile, to be hugged and kissed by him, and see the smile he brought to our children. We were all so happy to be together, that we stay up til 1 that night. The next day, we mostly stayed in the hotel, napping and trying to get a rental car. We had dinner at Red Lobbter which was fun.
Then the next day we decided to go the the gulf coast which was about an hour from Hattiesburg (town
we were staying at just outside Camp Shelby).
These are pictures of us on while on the road. Once we got to Gulfport, Valin had fallen asleep, so we decided to drive to Alabama for lunch which was about an hour from there. Then from there we thought, "well, why not, let's go to Louisiana." On our way back we stopped to wade in the ocean. The weather was amazing and the beach was great except for the garbage. On our rode trip, we saw these small restaurants called, Waffle House, about every 8 minutes. They were more abundant than Mc Donald and Walmart! The people of the south must love their waffles.
Then we got so hungry that we stopped at the first restaurant we found. It was the saddest mexican restaurant we've every visited. But as we changed our direction and got back on the interstate, we saw tons of wonderful places we should have eaten at. As we drove back to Camp Shelby to drop Patxi off, we heard the song, "I'm Already There" by Lonstar and it touched me so much that I cried on Patxi's arm. I missed him already. We sadly said our good-byes and drove back to our hotel.
It was a long trip home. We got back to Pasco at 10:30 pm and I still had 2 hours to drive. During that drive I got to thinking. I felt, deeply, almost to the over-powering of my body, that I loved Patxi. I realized that I had gone on autopilot with my married, and wasn't striving to deeply love my husband like I should or had in the past. But after this reflection, I truly felt that I deeply, passionately loved him. Since I went though "emotional" fire so that he could see his children and so I could be with him, I was able to realized how much I really loved him and was willing to sacrifice anything for him. Was it worth all of the hassle just to say good-bye again...? Heck yes! I would never take back those long, expensive, and wonderful four days. Thanks to everyone who helped. But I'm most grateful for my Heavenly Father who had blessed me with the ability to make this trip and the reflection I had afterward.
