Homecoming: The Things He Missed

image via

One of the more comical things we've experienced since Hubs came home a week ago is realizing all the things he totally missed out on while he was gone, for better or worse. The little one and I have been laughing, winking and smiling at each other on the side as we watch Hubs re-discover our world as it is a year after he walked away and headed to the war zone.

Last week we were on base at the NEX and as we walked through the Men's Department, there were several TVs playing Psy's Gangnam Style video. Hubs had no idea what it was. We were totally surprised since it have been everywhere (hello over 1 billion views on YouTube alone!) and I have seen several military/war zone remakes of the video. Hubs stood there totally transfixed, perhaps stunned. He watched the entire video, cracking up and trying to understand, as most people have, how this video became the worldwide craze that it was.

It was hilarious to watch him. The little one stood there giggling that Dad had never seen this before and watching him discovering it for the first time. We've had some good laughs together, she and I, at the humor that homecoming is fraught with at times.

Later the same day the three of us went to the Commissary with the intention to pick up some sushi for Hubs. We got a small cart and intended to pick up a few food items to take back to the hotel room and for Hubs to keep with him while he continues post-deployment training, meetings, medical checks, etc. A half hour later we'd only made it down two aisles. Hubs had to check out everything and everything looked good to him. I was reminded of an important lesson, never take him to the grocery store hungry. Holy smokes!

Forty minutes later, with a cart totally overflowing with snack foods, protein powders, drinks and fruit, we were nowhere near done. In the chips aisle, Little One looked at me and said with a big smile, "Wow, it's like Dad's discovered a whole new world." She laughed. I had to laugh too.

Another 20 or so minutes we were finally at check out. As the bagger packed our things she looked at me and said, "Are you guys staying at the lodge?" A bit surprised, I replied, "Yes, can you tell from all the easy to eat snack food?" She laughed, "Yes!" I had to laugh that she so had our number. But it makes sense, we had absolutely no food staples in our cart, no milk, bread, cheese, cereal, produce or other home necessities. It was Daddy's snack food extravaganza!

The next day as we ate at the NEX Food Court there was a news show about the Boston Marathon bombing on the TVs. I asked him if he'd heard about it and from the basic facts he gave me, I could tell that he had missed the majority of the drama and the stress the country had felt in those days. Trying to give him a  quick recap was basically impossible.

I have learned that trying to explain anything to a recently returned deployed man in more than two sentences is a futile process. How do you encapsulate all that happened in those days down to two sentences? Impossible. So I tried and may have made some progress in four sentences, but I really don't think my explanation covered it or that he followed all of it.

Not only did he miss a ton of stuff on the homefront that we'll never really get him caught up on, but there are silly things and important things in the world that he missed too. It will be interesting to see what else we uncover as we go forward. I am sure some of it will make us laugh and some will make us a little sad too.