When I thought about making this post, I had made mental notes of what exactly I wanted to share, what pictures to post, the whole shebang. But it’s 1:40am over here and to be honest, I’m exhausted. I’m currently forcing myself to stay awake because I don’t want to delay another day without making this post! But here it is…finally. The photos of my husbands Air Force graduation. I am apologizing in advance to your feed, because I am going to go there and post a million photos in one entry. I do feel bad, but I’m also way too excited to share! Hope you’re ready for this…

The road trip, and settling in.

The Airman’s run.

I had already posted a preview of the first hug photos, see here. I came up from behind him and saw him standing “at ease”. The new Airmen aren’t allowed to move until a loved one comes up and taps them or touches them. As I walked up, my sis-in-law Jacky was taking the photos. I saw him and I had to take a breather to compose myself. This whole time felt SO surreal. He responded to my touch, and as soon as he saw me, it almost felt like he collapsed into my arms. The look on his face when he saw me for the first time in two months was a look I will NEVER forget. Ever. As he hugged me, he whispered, “Finally.” At that point I nearly broke down, but somehow I didn’t.

Then his official graduation rolled around, and I got to greet him once again.

We spent some time hanging out, then had the privilege of leaving the base. We took him to the Riverwalk, where most of the Airmen went with their families, and had lunch.

Sunday came way too quickly, and after quite a bit of down time at our hotel, it was time for him to pack up and say goodbye to us as he went to his next step of training, Tech School. I kept my cool for most of the weekend except for this part. All the tears I had held in from when I was at home, from watching his graduation, from all this time of us being apart…well, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. It was really hard to have him for a weekend and then have to say goodbye again. I let myself cry freely, but look forward to this new chapter of our lives and anticipate reuniting for the second time.

We had our last kiss and as I snapped photos of him walking away, he looked back at me and smiled his last smile until we are together again.

It’s been almost three weeks now. He’s currently finishing up training, and comes home sometime in March. Then we move to wherever they station us. Neither of us know yet where we’re going…BUT tonight I found out that the list was up with everyones names and their stations, but the line was so long that he decided to wait until tomorrow to find out. Not gonna lie, a bit frustrating haha. But hey, in less than 24 hours we’ll be finding out where we’re going!

I am so proud of him. I’m thankful for this time apart because I feel like we both really grew as individuals, our relationships with God were strengthened, we both gained an independence from each other that we need in order to survive the military life, but at the same time we grew closer to each other which is so amazing. That weekend we got to fall in love all over again. My heart aches at the thought of him deploying (which will eventually happen)…but at least this time around I KNOW I’m strong enough to handle it. I KNOW our marriage and bond is strong enough to make it through. And plus, the wait is so worth it. He is so worth waiting for.