Welcome Home Dad...

Here is how the day unfolded...We had Nana and Papa, Sarah and the boys, and the Boyles over to play and eat dinner before we went to the airport. It was bizarre and I honestly don't really remember that day....it went by in a haze...same as the day he left...it was all just too much...Anyways, the Tuckers met us all there and John B took pics for us and so did my mom...

 the kids did really well even though it was 8:30pm...about 2 hrs past their normal bedtime(yes, 6:30)...

And....

...... just like *that*(snap your fingers for more of a dramatic effect)......the kids are in their beds and our nightly routine is over; my last one, solo for this year. I wasn't prepared at all for when I walked into Josh's room and he was already asleep on his bed. I was in Sam's room for a little bit longer than usual tonight. She fell off our swing earlier(which is an entirely different post) and I was trying to heal my 'mom guilt' by staying longer with her. Anyways, normally this past year, if I were to walk into Josh's room and he was asleep already...I'd take a big deep breath and think we made it through this day! Hooray!  Uh, tonight....not so much. It hit me that I wasn't going to have another one of our nights...our routine in his room...when it's been just us...It felt so final....something had ended without my permission....so, then, feeling that way totally threw me. People keep asking me how I'm doing or how excited am I for Eric to be coming home tomorrow, for good. My answer has been pretty consistent, "just fine." I've realized looking back that every day, or hour, or incident where I think to myself "hmmmm, if Eric were here...." there has been a brick added to this wall around me. This wall that has been built in self-defense, for survival. I haven't had time or mental energy at the end of the day to really take a good look at it......tonight, I had no choice because after I gave Josh a kiss goodnight, I walked into my room, and sat down on my bed.....this time, when I took a deep breath...there were bricks falling and crumbling down off of the wall....
It's around 7pm here as I'm writing this post. It is 10am in Osan which means Eric, hopefully, is boarding a bus to take him up to Seoul for his flight home. I know Eric is obviously excited to be coming back, but I also know that he's been incredibly blessed this past year with awesome friends and a great working environment. It is somewhat bittersweet for him.
 I feel like this would be a good part in a movie to have some sort of cheesy dramatic music playing and the camera films Eric boarding the bus, then cuts away to our house with his kids sleeping anxiously awaiting tomorrow night, then cuts to my sister Sarah's house and then my parents house and also to Eric's parents' house. Then it'd end with six little boxes on the screen showing what we are all doing at the exact same time....hmmm...CUT!!!!!