He's A Solider ... Again

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A week ago my boyfriend was drafted into the Israeli army.  We had been sure that he would be given what Israelis call a “jobnik” basically this means that he would have a desk job where he’d be able to come home every night.  But this was not the case, he was drafted to the Air Force and sent to a base down south in the Negev.  This past week was nearly impossible to get through, this was the first time that I have been in the same country when he was in the army. Last time he was drafted I was working in the US. It was hard but the time difference  and my busy days made it a little easier to get through. Now I am in school for a few hours every day and the rest of the time I have to find what to do to fill the time while he is away.

A few weeks ago we had been talking about our relationship and he had said that I need to work on being more independent. Now I don’t know about most people be just the fact that I moved 6,000 miles away from home and have been living on my own for the past two years should count for something.  But he said that his going away for the next two months for basic training will be good for us.

This week was one of the hardest weeks to get through. It started with Sunday when he went in to the “Bakum” and was sure that it was going to  take too long for them to get everything done so he wouldn’t be going to his base until Monday morning. Which turned out not to be the case, he got to the base at 10 pm Sunday night. Now the week before he had come over to visit on Thursday night after a day at the Bakum, because we weren’t going to be spending the weekend together.  He was scheduled to be in the base from Sunday until the Friday of the following week, basically for 2 weeks on base and then one weekend at home.

I’m sure we are no different than most relationships, we text a lot and call each other all the time.  It was weird that my phone was never going off during the day and on my way home from school I didn’t stop by his house to see him for a little before going home. That has been the hardest part of this week. Then on top of it I had my own dealings with the army that I had to go at alone. (Link to next post) But more about that in a later post.

This week I really realized how much he means to me. That it was more than just someone to do things with but someone who’s opinions I care about and when I have a problem he’s the one that I call. Basically he is my closest friend and I was really not prepared for him to be taken away like that.  We do get to talk on the phone almost every night but he only gets one hour before bed to shower, get ready for bed and make his phone calls so I’m competing for phone time with all the missed calls he has from the day and his parents.

I know that there are a lot of couples that go through this and there are many that make it through and then there are the unfortunate ones who don’t make it. He keeps telling me that I have to be strong for the both of us, because where he is he can’t focus too much on our relationship and that where he is its hard enough.  I really am trying to stay strong but it has been proving to be very difficult. The one thing that has really helped me through this week has been keeping busy.  I watch movies and TV shows to fill the time and as a distraction from watching my phone waiting for a  text or a phone call that isn’t going to come.