It has been over two weeks since I spotted my husband in the crush of travelers and rolling carry-on luggage at the local airport, embraced him in the midst of frazzled folk trying to figure out which baggage carousel would soon spit out their suitcases, and officially kissed Sampson’s last scheduled deployment of this sea tour goodbye. There was no COD flyover this time, no picture-taking, no applause, no shared giddiness with other wives… and not a single thing I would have changed about our quiet reunion.

I tweeted about his return, but for some reason I found my time for blogging vastly diminished. Possibly that had something to do with all the laughter and life that once again filled up the house, the whirlwind overnight visit to both our families to let them see for themselves that Sampson was safe on U.S. soil once more, and the fact that he immediately jumped back into business as usual with home guard — including wake-ups at ungodly hours like 3:45 in the mother-loving morning. Such is life in a COD squadron when there are carriers out.

He’ll have a chance to take his post-deployment leave pretty soon, though, and we’re planning a kick-ass vacation to Lake Tahoe. I’ve been keeping an eye on the temperatures out in those mountains, and they sound positively delicious to us. Highs in the low eighties and lows in the forties? Yes, please, we’ll take it.

We both love our “crazy toe shoes” for a variety of activities, including light hiking on maintained trails, but they’re not great for colder temperatures.

I’m so excited about getting in some hiking, even if I haven’t been able to find the new hiking shoes of my dreams. Why does no one seem to manufacture women’s hiking footwear in wide sizes? I can’t even follow the advice I’ve seen to get men’s boots for a wider toe-box, as I wear a 6W in lady-shoes — that’s like a 4 in men’s, and hardly anyone seems to carry anything below a men’s 7. Grump. I am increasingly tempted to go minimalist even for hiking and pick up a pair of Vibram FiveFingers with a grippier tread than my current KSOs. I love walking in my “barefoot shoes,” but I’d been hoping to find something more traditional that’d work for cold weather. Oh well, I may be out of luck.

In short, Sampson is home, I am thrilled, and we’re going on vacation in the foreseeable future. Life is good.