Christian returns to the good earth, i.e. South Carolina soil, in 13 days and a few hours. When he left, the countdown was somewhere around 170 days. About three weeks after he left, we began reading the Psalms backwards such that we would be reading Psalm 1 on the day he was flying back. And so, today the Psalm of the day was Psalm 14. Hard to believe.
I don’t know that I’m at the point where I could accurately sum up what this past half-of-a-year has been for me. It has certainly been a time of growth. I also got to travel out of the country in order to see him, which was the first time I’d ever been anywhere “cool.” The six months he has been gone also mark 2/5ths of our relationship, as our 15-month anniversary was yesterday. And so only 60% of the time we have been together has been spent in the same country. And of those 9 months in the same country, we’ve spent only 2-3 of them total in the presence of each other.
It’s not your typical relationship, then. In fact, it’s almost completely atypical, especially when you consider how we met (a post for another day). Today he called me from the town of Heilbronn, at the place where he’s been the last week or so, and we were able to talk for about 40 minutes. That’s the longest we’ve talked on the phone since he left. In fact, we’ve probably talked on the phone less than 10 times the entire time he’s been gone. When he was in the US, talking on the phone was our main source of communication, so this has been a big change. And yet, those 40 minutes of talking were some of the most precious moments we’ve had in his time away. I felt free to bring up some things I’ve been worried about, and could hear his response not only in his words but in his tone of voice. When we’re talking online, I’m quick to interpret things like “It’s OK” as though he’s not listening or doesn’t care. But when he said those words on the phone today, it was in a spirit of love and gentleness, doing his best to comfort me from 4000 miles away.
These last 13 days will, I think, seem like the last mile of a long run – harder than all the previous combined. And while I know that July 21st will be here sooner than I feel like it will be, it will not be too soon. I’m thankful I have something to do the evening of the night he gets back – otherwise I think I would be camping out the airport all day. 😉
ps34 
Leave a comment