She's gone...

...and we're doing just fine.
Another title for this could be "Clerie was here!"
That would be a more cheerful title, but I think right now, I'm just in a bit of shock. It's hard to believe that she was just here and that now...she's gone. It just happened so fast.
She came home two days early, and surprised me while I was doing laundry. In case you've heard, yes, I squealed like a girl when I saw her. And I hugged her and laughed and wouldn't let go.
My folks and Clerie's folks all did a terrific job keeping that one a secret. I had no idea at all. It was great. I told Clerie she's welcome to come home early and surprise me any time she wants.
We had dinner with my dad and Clerie's folks and Kallton that night, before sending them off.
I worked the first two days she was here, but then took some wonderful time off. We had more things to wrap up this time, but we still enjoyed our time together a lot. We went to the Fairview cabin, and had quite an adventure meeting up with Kenzie. She had one crazy day! You'll have to ask her about it some time.
Well the cabin was very nice. It was relaxing to be somewhere where you're so far away from to-do's.
We went to a Ryan Shupe & the Rubber Band concert. That was one of the highlights of our time together. We had this moment where they were playing "Dream Big," Jonathan was cuddling with Clerie, and I had my head on her shoulder. And for both of us, it was a fun moment. For me, it was like "Yes, this is what I really wanted for us when Clerie was here." Clerie described it as "It just doesn't get any better than this."
Clerie had to work Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.
Monday they had a farewell Ceremony at Ft. Douglas. KSL has coverage here, and deseretnews has several captioned photos here. Monday night we went out and bought stuff for her; books and games and things. Then we enjoyed our last evening really home together, since Tuesday night she was staying at a hotel with her detachment.
And Tuesday night we had a few hours to make a home-made dinner of stroganoff, enjoy some chocolate, toast to all the reasons we're so lucky, talk, cry, cuddle, and say goodbye.
I tell you something that's hard: to walk away from your wife, knowing you won't get to hug her again for a long time. It took me two times before I managed to get in that car and drive home.
But we had a good evening together. It was a bittersweet goodbye-for-a-while.
This morning, the alarm went off. I turned it off and reached over to Clerie and thought "Dang. She left. Well, guess that's gotta be okay."
And it's back to work. Jonathan's been cute. He sure makes me laugh. He likes to tease me. Instead of repeating "Jonathan my friend," when I sing it to him, he says "Jonathan, my....fremlee!" So I have to tickle him or groan or scream or something and he just laughs about it.
Thanks everybody for being so good to us. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming up, being available, and being so understanding when we spent all our time with each other. Thanks Clynn & Val for bringing my wife home so she could surprise me, and cheering her up like you guys do. Thanks to Mike & Liz for being so cool and laid back about everything. Both of our families were having a bit of a busy time. Congrats you guys! But now we have 3 family birthdays in two days. Stealin' Jonathan's thunder! Thanks everyone.
Pictures here.