Monday, May 13, 2013

The Day After Tomorrow . . .

. . . and no, I'm not referencing the movie.

Have you noticed the countdown on my sidebar?  Sometime today it will turn over to one day and a few hours.  My boy will be home on Wednesday.

Remember when his countdown chart looked like this?
Well, this is what it looks like today.

Each dot lovingly applied by me every day for 728 days now.  Seven HUNDRED twenty-eight days.  Two years.  How could it have been that long?
Now there are only two spaces left.

We received a package on Saturday from NYC.  It is a battered box, inscribed by many different hands whose labels have all been scratched out so that the post office could get this special box to me. It barely survived its three-thousand-mile journey intact--splitting tape, torn cardboard, illegible address.

Inside it are books.  Books my missionary son has carted around with him for two years.  Reference books like Jesus the Christ and Preach My Gospel.  Spanish books like a conversion dictionary and word conjugation lists.  Notebooks (I had forgotten how much he loves spiral notebooks) filled with his words and his thoughts and his schedules.

These books have been part of my son every day for the last two years--when I couldn't be with him.  As I opened the box and carefully lifted out his precious books, I could almost feel him in the room next to me, part of his mission coming alive to me through his penned words on sheets of paper.

Evie and Hyrum removed the three small photo albums from the top of the opened box and they have carried them around for the past two days, laughing at the pictures and asking me what we were doing when each picture had been taken.

You see, every six months or so, I would go through my pictures and send fifty or so to Tucker, just so he could keep up a little on what we were doing at home.  Looking through the pictures, I see how much of our lives he's missed.

And that just reminds me how much of his life I've missed in return.

Wednesday May 15.  2:30 pm.

The end.  I can't believe it's over.

19 comments:

  1. ACK. My son leaves in 9 days. Freaking out.

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  2. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S ALMOST TIME

    can't wait to see you hugging his neck...

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  3. We want another hug picture!!
    I Can't put into words how excited I am for you and your family!

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  4. Two days. That is wonderful!
    My missionary is at her 1/2 way mark.
    What a joy it is to hold our kids in our arms again after their missions!!
    Hope you can sleep these next 48 hours!

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  5. I know it probably didn't feel that way to you, but I can't believe two years have gone by!

    Love that he sent his books ahead!

    Yeah!

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  6. I am so excited for you and for him. My kids and I were watching homecomings on YouTube the other day and I couldn't stop crying because I have been there. Enjoy him!

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  7. He's coming home! I'm so happy and so excited for you!

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  8. Holy smokes! I was about to say that went by fast, but it actually didn't, did it? Post pictures on Wednesday!

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  9. Not possible. It's time for him to come home already?! How very excited you ALL must be! The time has flown (for me, anyway) and I'm astonished that the homecoming is down to a day and a few hours. Of course you'll give us all the details. Congrats to the family for cheering him on, and congrats to Elder Denton for a job well done!

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  10. Oh! This is so exciting! I swear we do not "know" each other. I love to follow your blog. It is real. This is how it is real. Truly I am so excited. I do not even know Tucker but blog's have made the world "smaller" and this is important. Thank you for sharing.

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  11. You must be so happy. I am happy for you.

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  12. Jealous doesn't begin to describe how I feel. Oh you lucky lucky mom!

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  13. Sooooo very excited for you I have tears in my eyes. I remember this day for our only son to complete his mission. I ached every single moment he was gone.

    So very excited for you.

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  14. I will think of you tomorrow. What a journey for your son, and what a wonderful example for the younger children. Joy!

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  15. Well done, thou good and faithful servant....You have earned the Savior's gentle words, "Well done."

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  16. Tucker's great grandpa Olsen ALWAYS had a small notebook in his pocket and when he died we found many of them. It was great fun to read his thoughts and other things he thought were important enough to write down. Maybe that is in Tucker's genes.

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  17. You must be over the moon right now. It took all the strength I had in me to say good bye to my daughter (first child) when she left for BYU in April. I don't know how I'll ever be able to say good bye to my boys when they go on missions.

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  18. already? He JUST left. ;)

    I am excited for you. big time

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  19. I wish I could experience one of those mission homecoming days just one more time.

    There is NOTHING sweeter than that first glimpse, first hug, first whiff, first listen.

    Nothing. Better high than childbirth!

    Enjoy it Jen!!

    =D

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