Retreat

A few weeks before my husband left for our most recent deployment we had the privelage to attend a marriage retreat in Savannah, GA. The retreat was actually for another squadron in our unit. Last week we received notice that they still had spots available if anyone would like to join them. We found friends to take the children and made all the arrangements to go.

I was nervous about going on this trip. We are close to deployment. It seems that every time we get close to deployment we tend to separate emotionally. I know this is normal. My husband is trying to focus on his mission and the things he needs to do in order to get ready to leave. I am getting ready to be a single parent and carry the household work and children by myself. I didn't want to spend a weekend away from home like this. If we were going away I wanted to connect with my husband.

We arrived in GA very late on Friday, got checked into our room and settled in for the evening. It was so nice to wake up on Saturday with my husband next to me. There weren't any children whispering "mom, can I watch cartoons?" It was just us. We got up and adventrured out to see Savannah for the day. Ted and I just enjoyed being with each other. We were together physcially and emotionally.

The unit had a planned dinner session on Friday and Saturday night. We missed Friday nights session because we arrived so late. God knew what we needed on Saturday. Although we only caught the end of the discussion it helped us answer some questions about deployment and our marriage.

With Ted coming and going so much it makes reconnecting and staying connected hard. It is very easy to fall into a routine of life and not realize that you are only managing the schedule. While we have been aware that we are simply managing the schedule we weren't sure how to get out of that spot. Our weekend away was the answer for us.