Surviving our first TDY & Meeting family

"Temporary Duty Assignment" Why it's TDY and not TDA, I don't know...the military has it's ways with initials is all I can say, lol :p So anywho..back to the topic. We had our first TDY as a couple this past month. To fill those non-military savy people: a TDY is a short term assignment off base...it could be as little as a week to as long as 3 months or so, and is usually within your station of duty country. As everyone knows, Jonathan will be an instructor here at Davis-Monthan, but in order to become one, he had to go to instructor school.

His instructor school was at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls, TX, also where every technical associated career field airman goes after basic; so after basic (about 11yrs. ago) Jonathan lived there for about a year. Anyway, it's just like a college campus to train new airmen and also to train for a new career field, pilot training, and many other types of training.

Ok, so enough background....Jonathan was scheduled to go from January 10-February 17 to instructor school at Sheppard. We were NOT looking forward to being apart for a month and a half :( We decided that since I don't have a job out here yet and don't really know anybody, I would go with him and stay with my family in good ol' Louisiana :) Which I have already blogged about that fun trip :p

It was interesting because it didn't really sink in the whole "being separated for 6wks" part. I was sad to leave him when my parents picked me up, but also super excited to spend that time with my family. And then it hit me that first weekend, and I was sad....there he was all alone in no-man's land in a dorm like "hotel" without me :( I was so sad. We talked all the time and texted a ton...he was even super sweet and sent me a card from my "secret admirer" to make me feel better :)

I had so much fun with my family though. During the day I hung out with my Daddy and watched tv, and we listened to old albums (yes, vinyl albums!) like I remember doing as a kid. We listened to 70s music, both good & bad, good 80s, good R&B. I love listening to albums with him, we talk about it and critique it which is so much fun. My Momma had to work during the week, but we had lots of fun hanging out on the weekend cooking and going shopping. Gabe didn't stick around a lot, but that's ok. Mainly just hanging out with my parents (and Gabe when he was around) was the best thing. It was relaxing and helped me keep my mind busy about not missing Jonathan.

Jonathan meanwhile was in class all day bored to tears, poor thing :p The class was nothing but a glorified speech class where you can talk about any and everything you want as long as it met the time and type of speech requirement. They were even allowed to do speeches that other people had done. It was super easy. However, Jonathan being mister perfectionist (hey, I can't say anything, I'd have done the same thing, lol :p) really outdid himself with awesome slideshows; so he spent most of his time researching and making his slideshows. Like I said, I woulda done the same thing (I am the girl who took a tiny jr. high research paper and turned it into a freakin novellette, lol). There weren't many people in his class, and his teacher talked about nonesense most of the time and let them out early...so, the class could have been cut in half from 6 to 3wks....but anywho...

He said it was funny watching all the little airmen have to walk around in full uniform marching around everywhere. They aren't allowed to use cars, have curfews, and have to walk off base to the convenience store to smoke! Ha, I think I would stop smoking if I did, but that didn't stop any of them. Jonathan's "hotel" was like my dorm in college. It was a tiny room with a small refrigerator and microwave, and the best part...the bathrooms were shared by two rooms! (Harper Hall flashbacks, lol...fyi: that was how it was at my dorm). And he had to be there for 6 weeks! But where else can you get a "hotel" room for like $20 a day?!

He wasn't really complaining about it because all he did was study for his next rank test and research for his speeches. Oh, and a huge accomplishment, he came out of the 6wks not being a better teacher (in the Air Force, all you really got to do is read straight from the book), he solved the Rubic's Cube!!! Lol, he was so proud of himself :p I tried it, and threw it down after like 5 minutes I got so frustrated, lol.

I did get to go see him halfway through though :D I made a huge accomplishment too...I drove the 7hrs by myself in my Daddy's Yukon XL, through DFW!! That was the first time I've driven by myself for more than 2hrs, lol...I know it's stupid, but it was funny to me. It really wasn't a bad trip at all, it was pretty fun to do. Anyway, I was SO excited to see my wonderful hubby :D It was a lot of fun getting to spend the weekend with him. I missed him so much!!

It was such a shock when I got there to see his room, but mainly it was the wind. It was SO Windy!! I seriously got wind burned and my ears hurt the wind was blowing so hard! Oh well...the time with Jonathan was worth it :p We went out to eat sushi the night I got there, and it was the best sushi we've had! That Saturday, we drove up to Oklahoma City, OK which is only like 2hrs. away to see his grandfather. Then Sunday we just hung out while he studied.

Meeting Jonathan's Grandpa Spurgin was so much fun. He's such a great man and funny. We didn't get to spend a lot of time with him when I visited Jonathan over the weekend, but before we left going back to AZ we spent a day with him. We showed him pictures from the wedding and of our life in AZ which he enjoyed since he wasn't able to make it to the wedding. He told us so many great stories about his life in the Navy, how he met Jonathan's grandmother, about his grandfather who was in the OK Land Rush! It was so great to hear all of his stories :)

We also saw some of Jonathan's cousins and their families and his Aunt Genie and Uncle Don. They were all real nice. We knew each other from facebook, but it was great to meet them in person.

While we were apart we had Jonathan's birthday, our 4mo. anniversary, and Valentine's Day (well only part of Valentine's Day). It was so sad to be away from him on his birthday since he's spent so many alone, and we were together last year. I mailed him a funny card though, so maybe that helped :p I celebrated my birthday early with my family with a yummy Italian cream cheese cake and some super cute Easter decorations they gave me :D

My parent's took me back to Wichita Falls on Valentine's Day. On the way there we stopped in Ft. Worth and ate at Pappasito's...YUM! We got into Wichita Falls kinda late, and all of us went to eat and hang out in Jonathan's room for a little while. It was great to be with him again. The next morning we all went to eat at IHOP..YUM!! and say our "goodbyes". It was really hard to say bye to my parents because we don't know when we'll be able to see each other again. It was bittersweet because I was super sad to leave my parents, but Jonathan and I were so happy to be together again.

On the trip back we celebrated my birthday in Albuquerque, NM which was fun, but also sad too because I've never been away from my family on my birthday. Jonathan did a good job though keeping me happy and making it special for me by stopping for a million pictures along the route :)

We missed each other so much. I know it wasn't like a real deployment where he was in a dangerous area and gone for 6mo. or longer. It's hard to be without your spouse, and I'm not going to pretend I know all about deployment. This TDY was just a little taste of being separated by the military...and we survived. It showed us that we will be okay when he starts deploying again, and it will make us stronger as a married couple.

So, we're back in Tucson for a while now....it seems like since we moved here in November, we've only spent a month here (and really only seen each other that much too). We are excited to finally start our life together out here and get settled and start exploring the things to do out here. We survived our first TDY and came out of it closer to each other than we've ever been. It taught us a lot about our relationship and each other. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder, and I'm more in love with Jonathan than when we got married ;)

Here's some pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/greeneblog/SurvivingOurFirstTDY?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHMyoPcg7bC_gE&feat=directlink