Speaking of hail, indulge me in a "woe is me" for a moment if you will. Romo didn't end up going to OH last week; instead, he's heading to Colorado Springs to work a recent hail storm. He got the call at around 6:00 tonight and has to be there at 10:00 Sunday morning, so he is leaving tomorrow to start the ~19 hour drive.
Two things:
1. This weekend we were supposed to go to SC for Charlotte's christening. I know that doesn't mean anything to a large majority of this thread, but it's been planned for months and we (along with family and friends) have been looking forward to the weekend for a good while now. As it stands now, my mom is going to call the church to see if we can postpone it (even though the church bulletins went out in the mail earlier this week). We'll try to move it to a weekend when we know he'll be around... say, around the time of the birth of his son in early August.
But wait.
2. I learned tonight that his deployment and all future deployments are 100% open-ended, versus the set 30 or 60 day ones he's been on while training. Sure, they'll let him come home for the birth of his son if he gives them enough warning, but there will be no "I need to be home starting late July to be sure I'm there for the birth of my child." If we schedule the birth, he's sure to be home. If I go into labor a couple of weeks early, there is a chance he won't be here. It's premature to be anxious about it, but knowing that there is even a possibility makes me... just... God, I don't even know what.
And before anyone weighs in with "he should be a man and tell his company what's what" or "family should come first" type stuff, just know that he's been practically in tears tonight. Our daughter - his EVERYTHING - is days from taking her first steps and he'll miss that, along with her first day of daycare, etc. But even if this is only a 30-day deployment, it will basically get us out of our nagging remaining credit card debt, pay for the car we have to buy, and allow some breathing room (until his next deployment) so that I don't have to go back to work. It will kill him to be so far but he's doing it for the family.
I'm sad. And pissed. And scared. And frankly, already exhausted by the prospect of finishing this pregnancy alone with an active 11-month-old. Thoughts, prayers, wishes and booze (if you can sneak it past flysack) are welcome.