To expect or not to expect

I never expected to be so overwhelmed with emotion when the curtains opened and the cavalry horse led in the troops.  You can hear the crowd yell with surprise and excitement.  I think this is a moment in my life I will never forget feeling.  It was one of the most patriotic moments I have experienced.  This was Brady's sending ceremony.  He is in the very back row on the left side in the middle.  If you watch closely, you will catch a peek of him.  I never expected that my youngest son would capture this moment on my camera.  And I was thrilled to find it a couple of days after the ceremony and relive it.  Brady has only been gone a couple of weeks.  My expectations are that time will pass quickly.  I hope my expectations don't let me down. 

I've been told that my expectations are usually too high.  Some things you just expect.  I expect to be paid on payday.  That's easy.  I expect my children to always do their best.  That ones tricky because my idea of their best is usually different from theirs.  I expect people to do or call when they say they will.  That one gets me in trouble a lot.  But for the first time in my life I set myself up with no expectations.  And actually that's an expecation in itself.  That expectation was wrong.

Eric has spent the last three weeks traveling with their cargo.  He has had quite an amazing journey on a very large plane.  I can't really describe everything because I don't know everything.  But I expected that once he left I wouldn't hear from him at all.  But we've had continuous contact almost the entire time.  He flew from Indiana to North Carolina to Delaware and then on to Spain for a short stop.  From Spain he quickly found himself in Iraq where he reports temps of 130 degrees.  He was there for a couple of days and then he moved on.  He spent a week at least on an air force base before heading to his last location before the FOB.  I am happy to report that he has made it to his final destination!  I'm sure his expectations were just fine through all of this but I never expected it to take as long as it did. 

We are expecting Brady will leave his current location sometime mid-September and then he will return to it before shipping.  But until it is after the fact there is nothing to really expect.  He is very busy and doing fine. 

Feel free to send either one of them an email.  They will reply if they can.  Most importantly it is good for them to receive support from family, friends, and well-wishers.  I have addresses for both of them.  If interested, you will have to contact me by email, phone, or in person.

So I'm learning daily.  I'm putting my expectations aside...even my no expectations.  Because I expect they will both have lots of stories to tell when they return. 

Prayer requests:
1) Praise for safe travels.
2) Continued prayers for safety.
3) Praise for just settling in and accepting life as it is with surprises each day brings.

Love,
Monica