Vitals

51 weeks left
3 pounds lost
49 pounds left
18(ish) months until the wedding

It’s Sunday , and Sundays are the days that I will be reporting the vitals of this little year-long project we’re calling deployment, as it is the day that J left for all this crazy business. The start of a new week and the start of a new week’s countdown.

J has completed his first week. I will not count the days he’s gone, but countdown instead the weeks until he comes back. It’s a smaller number and counts down to something that I’m looking forward to instead of the part I’m trudging through. We were able to talk several times yesterday via phone and email. We’ve figured out how to make texting work, which seems a small miracle. We’ve both now got international phone calling down (though, let’s talk about what kind of RACQUET that is…my cell phone plan wants to charge me $1.99 a minute. I can talk for FREE if he calls me, or for $.34 a minute from my computer. What’s the fastest way to get me to drop my cell phone carrier? Charge me $1.99 a minute for international calls. Seriously.)

He sounds like he’s doing just fine for the most part, other than a quality head cold he’s picked up. While he’s finally in the place that he’ll be in for the next year, some of the particulars are still being worked out- who sits where, in what office, with which computer, on what days. I think that he’ll be happier when all that is worked out. He, like me, is a creature of habit who appreciates routines. He can operate in any situation if he has to, but much prefers knowing what his days will look like. I’m the same way.

The one routine we’ve set up with some consistency is the phone call time of day between us. On his way to work each morning (around 22:30my time) we hit each other up with about a 2 minute phone call just to check in, hear one another’s voices, and say I love you. (Yes…it’s true. I’ve started really trying to use the 24 hour military clock. It’s still not second nature for me yet, but just like when you learn a new language for the first time, you have to just start USING it, until eventually it makes sense to you. That said, if you see me using my fingers to count something, it’s likely figuring out the time difference between me and J, and then the conversion to Army time.)

For me, I’m quite pleased the diet and exercise routine are starting off positively. It’s been a good week for that. Three pounds is far more than I expected (though I always lose weight in the beginning pretty fast.) It’s gonna be week…um…35(?) long about Thanksgiving that that number starts slipping the other direction. But we’ll not think that far ahead yet. One day at a time. I made it to the gym four days this week (which would have been 5 had I not had a mandatory after work thing one evening) and so I can’t complain. Baby steps, right?

As for the wedding planning. Hmph. That will be the subject of a post later this week. I had a bit of a run in with some folks in that department. We’re in a bit of a negotiation stand-off at the moment. Ah, but I will save those details for another time.

Folks keep telling me I’m handling things “so well”. I’m not totally sure what that means. Because I’m not breaking down crying every time someone mentions J’s name? Because I’m trucking on through each day like nothing’s going on? Because I’m keeping myself busy which means I’m out and about and trying to be social? Ok. If that’s the definition, I’ll buy that. I’m doing all those things. But secretly, each morning when I get an email or a text confirming that J’s there at the other end and safe….each night when we do our 2 minute phone call check in…I feel like those are the only times all day long that I truly exhale, that the knot in my stomach loosens up briefly, and that a tear (just one) escapes my eye in relief. And then we hang up, the knot tightens once more, I put on the brave face, and another week begins.