I woke up with a heavy heart. It was the day I had to say goodbye to my husband, Phil, for 3 long months. He is in the Army and is on his third tour of duty in Afghanistan.
Considering it was the longest day, the morning seemed to fly by and Phil was set to leave our home at
1.00 pm to make the journey to his camp.
Well, all I can say is there were tears! It was a very emotional goodbye as you can imagine.
But I am thankful that this time it is only for 3 months and not 5 as in previous tours.
It was so hard for Phil to actually walk out the door and leave behind all that he holds close to him. Me, the girls and also Mylo our dog. Phil and Mylo have a special bond and I could sense that Mylo wasn't himself yesterday and very tuned into our emotions.
I can only imagine how excited Mylo will be when he returns! As it is, he jumps all over Phil, wagging his tale and licking him when he comes through the door on a Friday night after a long week at work.
We said our goodbyes in the door way and as I closed the door I walked to the window and waved as Phil drove away...Oh my heart was so heavy. I had a good old cry!
My eldest daughter suggested we go for a coffee and to the shops for a few things, take our mind off of things.
So, that's what we did. I don't often have one on one time with my girls and I enjoyed Sarah's company.
I am going to miss her when she goes to university in September...oh dear, another goodbye!
Thankfully I had another thing to take my mind off of missing Phil yesterday too.
In the evening, my twin sister, Donna and I did 'The Walk to Remember' to raise money for St Mary's Hospice.
They rely solely on fund raising and so they arrange lots of events to help do this. You may remember Mylo did 'Paws for thought' a charity dog walk in April to raise money. He has now done two charity events because he walked 11km with my sister and I last night!
It was a beautiful evening. We couldn't have asked for better weather. My sister had done it last year in the rain and got rather wet!
The sun shone and there must have been a good few hundred walkers. All ladies as it is a women only event but as it is 25 years since the hospice opened, they also ran a 25km event which men could enter too. They set off earlier than us and took another route.
Ready for the walk!
Donna and Mylo
Me and Mylo
The walkers, not long after setting off
We were fairly near the front as the claxon sounded to start the walk but Mylo decided to do his business 5 minutes after setting off and so we ended up somewhere in the middle. He also decided to go a couple more times throughout the duration of the walk. Mylo is a Cockapoo...and we don't call him Mylo 'Cocka-2-poos' for nothing! But even though we had to stop a few times for him, he walked really well and it only took 2 hours to complete the walk at a fairly leisurely pace.
Some walkers had written the name of a family member or friend that they wanted to 'remember' throughout the walk on their walker number pinned to their back. It was quite touching to see the names of loved ones they had lost. It helped me to put my earlier 'goodbye' into perspective. God willing, Phil will be home in 3 months but some of these ladies had said their final goodbyes to those they were remembering...
The evening was a great success and I am sure the Hospice will have raised thousands. My sister and I managed to raise £255! Thanks to all those who donated to this very worthy cause!
At the end of the evening, Donna came back to mine and we opened a bottle of Prosecco...we reckon we'd earned it! I am so thankful for my twin sister. We got through the longest day together...The 'day after the longest day' had arrived by the time we went to bed!
I am sure it will have been a very long day for Phil too. But each day we are apart is a day closer to being together again and the time will pass quickly, hopefully!
How was your 'longest day'? I hope it was a great day for you all!
