Does Absence Truly Make The Heart Grow Fonder?

It feels as if there is a wake that has been trailing behind me over the past few months.  A wake filled with friends and family that I have had to leave behind as Cecil and I made our way to Fort Bragg, NC.  As I traveled back to Indiana this week, I have yet again, left another wake back in Southern Pines, NC.  Only this time, I have left Cecil in its path.

Being the independent and motivated person that I have always been (Cecil may beg to differ with the first claim in that sentence), I never realized how much I was going to miss those that I have left behind.  When changes incur in your life and distance becomes the newest obstacle you have to face in a relationship, the best of intentions are always present in the beginning.  Both parties have a conversation filled with, "I promise to write", "we will see each other all the time", "We are too close to let the distance come between us".  Anyone that has been in a long-distance relationship or whose best friends and family are now hundreds of miles away, has had a conversation like this.  How has that worked out for you?



My beautiful Mom and Dad



For me, not so great, but I have learned a valuable lesson, those that are true and lifelong friends are like soap operas!  You can go months without seeing a single episode, but when you finally get a chance to see that one episode, you are caught up without pause.  I have missed my friends dearly and the problem with being great friends with independent, successful women, they too have little to no time to have that weekly or monthly chat to catch up.  Yet, one dinner while visiting home and we are once again living an episode of "The Days of Our Lives".

As I previously mentioned, in order to make this trip, I had to leave someone special back home.  Cecil is thick into his intensive training cycles as he prepares to deploy to Afghanistan next February and we have little to no time to spend together.  The day I left for Indiana, Cecil returned home from a 9 day stint playing Billy Bad-Ass in the training fields at Fort Bragg.  His next four days at home would be quiet and wife-less......I thought he would enjoy the peace and quiet, yet to my disbelief, he actually was saddened by my departure and lack of presence.  I was trying to figure out if it was truly me he was going to miss or the wife that takes out the trash every Friday to the curb, does his laundry, shops for his food, cooks his dinner, organizes and folds his clothes everyday and has a glass of Orange Gatorade ready and awaiting his arrival.  I was surprised when I realized, it was just me that he was missing.  It melted my heart to hear him actually say, before I had a chance to ask, "I miss you, Gianna, when are you coming home?".  Now granted, he did not take the trash out to the curb last Friday, even though I reminded him..... I am sure my washer and dryer are going to need an emergency service call and that he has destroyed his side of the walk-in closet...but I will be so happy to hear him say how glad he is to have me home (wink, wink)!  

So does distance truly make the heart grow fonder?  Are you kidding me, I have missed my Indianapolis friends and family to the point of depression and now my husband has truly made me feel missed and appreciated.  So, to answer that question, Hell-YES!