Less than a week before we moved to Minot, we found out that Mason would be deploying with his new squadron. Gasp! What??? We were not planning this to be part of the course of events this year.
We knew this would be a year of adventures when it started, but this particular adventure was unforeseen. Mason was gone on a short TDY in January to Minot for a change of command ceremony, and he was also gone for a two week TDY to Nellis AFB while his Barksdale Squadon participated in a Red Flag Exercise. Next we were prepared to head to Minot as our great February adventure.
Mason applied back in November for a training school that would be from July-December 2013 (if he got in this first time, if not, he would apply again). We're still waiting to hear if he got in, but we expect to be hearing any day now. So, this was/is on our radar for a possibility of time that he would be away from home.
His commander at Barksdale was trying to get Mason as set-up career wise as possible, so the idea of Mason attending a different, two-month training (SOS) in Alabama was also tossed around. At first it was suggested that Mason attend the March course, but if he did get selected for the training program in July, he wouldn't be able to get all of his prerequisite flying hours in if he attended SOS for two months. So, with some more juggling, it looks like Mason was scheduled to go in May to SOS. This way, if he didn't get into the July training, he'd go to SOS, if he did get in, he'd go to SOS at a later time.
Then the deployment came up- trumping SOS (which we found out a few weeks later)- so then we were dealing with the possibility that Mason could be gone for approximately the rest of the year, if he deployed and got into the training program (they'd send him home for it). For a few weeks, the same weeks we'd been moving and settling in, this was an added stress to our lives. It meant Mason had to quickly in-process and start working towards deployment and get all of his ducks in a row.
So, there came Theo! Theo had a hard time when Mason was away in January. He didn't understand why Daddy didn't come home after a day or two, and he was constantly asking for Mason. We were able to Skype once or twice with Mason, and Theo sort of understood it, but then he thought that Mason just lived in the computer or my phone. Sometimes because Mason's schedule was so busy, he wouldn't get to call while Theo was awake, so I'd just call his voicemail so Theo could hear his voice. I wasn't preparing for Theo to have such a difficulty with it, but afterwards, it made me really think about preparation for the next time Mason was gone.
When we got news Mason was deploying, I went an got a (free) Sesame Street DVD staring Elmo who talks about deployments. All bases have an A&FRC that is a really great resource center, but especially for deployment. I also ordered Theo a Daddy Doll, and was setting up for Mason to record some movies where he was reading a book to Theo or just chatting away, so that Theo could feel like Mason was there. I also wanted to get some recordable books for Mason to set-up before he left.
In the course of the past two weeks, and in true military style, Mason's been taken off the deployment list. Now, he is a back-up crew member, and the lineup could change at anytime, but for now, it looks like he'll be staying home a few extra months! We're still really hoping to hear positive news that he gets into the July training class, which will bring on another level of chaos (you know, the whole having a baby in August thing), but we will cross that bridge when we get there.
So, it seemed a little silly when Theo's Daddy Doll came in the mail, and Theo was confused about it at first, but now he sleeps with it all time time and talks to it just like it's Daddy, so that's kind of cool. Since Daddy is still around though, I'm contemplating getting him a Mommy doll now, so he can sleep with both of us, since I don't think he'll let me hide his Daddy doll!
Hope this wasn't too confusing of a post, there's a lot of detail that can't be posted online, so I tried to remain vague but informational. :)
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