The last time my husband left for a long stretch was back in 2016, when he was on a 15-month hardship tour in Central America. This time, he’ll be somewhere in Europe for 9 months. So, I decided to make Deployment Bucket List: Round 2 to help the girls and I stay busy while he’s gone.
**Note: I’m fully aware that a Europe rotation is not technically a deployment, but the ‘European Rotation Bucket List’ is confusing because it sounds like we’re making a list of things to do in Europe. We’ll just use the term ‘deployment’ instead.**
Our last deployment bucket list gave us lots of things to look forward to and helped us to stay positive. I’m hoping that Round 2 will be just as helpful and fun.
We’ll only have 9 months to complete this one, so I’m only adding 75 items to this list.
Also, many of the list items will be repeats from last time, but that just means they’re worth doing again!
Deployment Bucket List: Round 2
- make a deployment emergency kit
see some Christmas lights- send Heff 9 care packages
- celebrate New Year’s Eve
- plant some flowers
- spend the day in Austin
- celebrate Lainey’s 11th birthday
make a deployment wall- celebrate Valentine’s Day
- finally finish the DuoLingo Spanish lesson
- go to the beach
- save money for a vacation fund
- hike the Dana Peak Park trail
- get involved at church
- read 1 classic piece of literature
- visit a state park that we’ve never been to
- walk 250 miles
make a deployment countdown- watch some fireworks on the 4th of July
- find a show to binge-watch
- watch Lainey’s dance recital
- find a new swimming hole
- go geocaching
- do a Bible study
- have a ‘spa night’ at home
- lose 50 pounds
- go to the movies
- make open-when letters for Heff
- visit a town we’ve never been to before
- plan a vacation for when Heff comes home
adopt a ‘Christmas angel’- make a welcome home sign
- celebrate my 33rd birthday
- visit a museum
- get a tan
- take a road trip (to somewhere other than Florida)
- spend time with Nana
- color Easter eggs
- do 9 random acts of kindness
- find a mural to take a picture with
- learn 3 new songs on the piano
- take a trip to see Angel
- celebrate Lyvi’s 10th birthday
- make a gingerbread house
- try 9 new recipes
- drop Lainey off at her first day of middle school
- grow blog page views by 20%
- do a craft at the Apache arts center
- let the girls have a sleepover
- spend the day in Waco
- take bluebonnet pictures
- visit a cave
- do some spring cleaning
- organize the kitchen
take girls to get their nails done- have a themed movie night
- successfully operate the weed-eater
- go swimming at the springs
- get my Florida real-estate license
- refurbish mom’s buffet
- watch Lainey play softball
- send a hand-written letter to Heff
- finish a project
- make a new wreath
- spend time with Granny
- go on 9 hikes
- cultivate 3 new habits
- take a picture of the world’s largest fire hydrant
- edit & update old blog posts
- organize the hall closets
- plan a welcome home dinner for Heff
- see a movie at the Cove Theater
- do a puzzle
- do an escape room
- see a new waterfall
This is a pretty big list to take on in only 9 months, but I think we can do it!
And even if we don’t finish everything on the list, we’re definitely going to have fun trying.
For me, the point of a deployment bucket list is not to finish it, but to have something to work towards and to find joy in ordinary things while he’s gone.
