Your love, your love, your love. Is my drug.

WHERE ARE YOU, CAMERA CORD?! My life is incomplete without your presence and I haven't a clue as to where you could be lurking. Show yourself!

Umm. I think you're in North Carolina but I'm not entirely sure about that. I did a brief search there prior to vacating the area and traveling to Colorado but you were nowhere to be found. Upon my arrival to this miserable, dry state, I tore the house apart in a crazy search to locate you but to no avail. Here's to hoping you're hiding somewhere clever in NC and that I will find you promptly after my return tomorrow.

A couple of months ago, I received the absolutely amazing and indescribably awesome news that Phil was returning from his deployment two and a half months earlier than originally planned. There were no words to depict how elated I was and how much I was anticipating his arrival. He had no specific date, we just knew that it would be sometime at the end of February/beginning of March that he would be on his way back to the U.S. As the date grew closer, he had more and more details about his trip home but still couldn't provide me with many specifics. The evening of March 5th, I received a text from Phil stating that he was in Germany and would be flying into Atlanta around 6am the next morning. At that time, I was visiting Phil's family for the week and I shared the news with them. A couple of hours later, Vanessa approached me and asked if I wanted to drive down to Georgia and go find my love. Umm, duh.

An hour and a half later, Tasch, Ness, Josh and I were loaded into the Jeep and on our way to the Atlanta airport on a mission to locate the hubs with no more information regarding his flight than discussed above. A six hour car ride brought us to our destination at 2:15am, approximately 3 and 1/2 hours prior to when Phil's flight was scheduled to arrive. We set out, asking airport security, airline employees, and anyone who looked like they might be able to help us find him. No one could tell us anything. We had been afraid of that before leaving North Carolina but we were family on a mission and we were going to find our soldier.

After multiple coffees, cookies, muffins, and breakfast sandwiches later, several hours had passed but it wasn't quite 6am yet. We wandered toward a central part of the airport, hoping that someone at security would be able to assist us. Off to the right, I spied baggage claim and several men wearing ACU's (which we had seen all morning) gathering their luggage. Ness, Tasch, and Josh veered to the left to talk to someone at security. I shouted over to them that I wanted to go check out this area to the right that we had yet to explore. Two seconds later, I hear Ness say, "Is that my brother?!" Lurking behind a luggage carousel, I spy the most delicious looking man ever (who is not in uniform, btw) and I went sprinting across the airport to tackle him. Best day EVER. He was completely taken by surprise, thinking he was in the Fayetteville airport and shocked when he realized we drove down to Atlanta to see him for that hour. So, so unbelievable that we even found him in the maze that is the ATL airport. Thankful. Grateful.

Knowing that Phil wasn't going to be back in North Carolina until the end of March, I knew I had to fly out to Colorado and see him again. Having him in the country again and passing up the opportunity to spend quality time together kind of needed to not happen. So. I internet dealed it up, prayed that the dates would work, and purchased a plane ticket to Colorado Springs. I've been here for eight days and it's been wonderful. We haven't done anything crazy, out of the ordinary since we've been reunited but honestly? Simply being together, doing what we always do has been nothing short of glorious. Falling back into the normal swing of things with him? Best ever. I will never take these moments together for granted.

Tomorrow, I head back to North Carolina. Phil will be flying into Fayetteville on Saturday and I will be there that afternoon to stay for who knows how long. In between now and then? Cristin and I have plans to Star Wars it up in style, complete with C3PO fruity + alcohol infused beverages. Good times will be had.

Also. Our coffee pot tragically bit the dust a mere three days before I made it back to Colorado. Thank you, Target. The $9.24 black coffee pot that now resides in our kitchen is all sorts of wonderous and I feel good about spending less than ten bucks on a machine that I use on the daily. Target = love. I also own a $4.00 neon green iron, another clearance item from the same store. Not only is it beautiful, it steams like a dream. 'Tis love.