"Off he goes with his perfectly unkept hope... and there he goes..."

I just started this blog all about Sarai and what's been going on with her for the past few weeks, and then realized that you're all probably wondering more about Adam, so I'm switching gears here.

Adam left two weeks ago.  It was a very long weekend of saying goodbye over, and over... and over. 

Mom, Bill, Katie, Steve and Luke came down for the weekend.  We attended a couple ceremonies, went out to dinner, and got to spend more time with Adam than I thought we would. 

I went to the deployment ceremony at Stewart Air Base by myself to send him off.  Thank goodness I did.  It wasn't easy (as I'm sure you could imagine).  Here we are saying goodbye to about 450 soldiers, kids crying to be with their parents, and there's a USO Quartet singing "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy" and all I can think is, "I feel like I'm watching the Titanic go down with the orchestra still playing."  We had breakfast there, chatted for a while, I got to get into this giant plane...

I met a couple nice people.  As they all marched out the speakers blared, "And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free!  And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me!" 

Yep, they went there.  It was just awful.  One lady I met earlier saw me upset and alone and came up to me and said, "You're Tirado's wife, right?  He'll be ok.  He's a good guy."  I said to her, "Of course he's a good guy!  This wouldn't be so hard if he wasn't!"  We shared a little giggle.

(Can you see Adam?  He's waving the red pillow.)

 

I did a lot of crying, and a lot of eye rolling (like when they patted themselves on the back for all the "support" they provide military families by hosting Yellow Ribbon Events, I have yet to see ANY support from the military in any form, and the Yellow Ribbon Event I attended was a complete cluster).

He's still in the states for the next couple weeks, and he'll be heading out sometime in September.  We've been texting a lot, talking every other night or so.  A lot of people have asked if he'll be home for Christmas... I don't think he'll be home at all.

The kids are doing pretty good, a little out of sorts I guess.  I'm about ready to kill him trying to be supportive.  My mom's been coming down about every weekend to help out.  We recently found someone who will be helping us during the week and one weekend day each week, and my friend Lauren (Sarai's former speech therapist) comes to help out on Thursdays.  So we're pretty covered. 

Although the military has been a joke in the area of support, my network of family has come through BIG TIME!!  Am I surprised??  Not really, I've known I have the best family EVER for a really long time.  But I'm absolutely speechless at their thoughtfulness and generosity in this situation.  My whole family has gotten together and has arranged for us to get a house cleaning service every other week for the entire year!!  There is just no way I could ever say how grateful I am for this gift!!  You all know who you are.  You're amazing.

Adam's been really trying to make this up to me.  He sent Katie and me to see Rock of Ages last weekend for our anniversary (and it was totally awesome!).  His sisters and mother and nieces and nephew came up and spent the day with the kids.  It was a fun day.

Oh, and there was that little trip to Cabo... how wonderful!

 

So after, quite possibly, the worst summer ever (except for Mexico!), I'm just trying to move on, get this school year going, get back into routines and hope that time flies.  Thank you guys all for YOUR support and prayers and offers of help.  You're all the best!  xoxo