Or, what they won’t tell you about any situation where you have to spend extended periods of time away from your spouse, really.

Here it is: there comes a point where it’s easier not to visit them.

And it’s not because you love them any less, or that something is wrong with your relationship. It’s just that as exciting as it is to see your Cadet after so long apart, it gets harder and harder to leave them again. Each time I’ve gone out to visit, the pre-visit excitement period gets shorter, and the dreading-leaving-again period starts earlier, usually before I even fly out to see him.

For my Cadet, coming out of the Depot bubble into the real world was a nice break, but going back to depot was harder each time. I found that it took me a few days to adjust back to my life, and my Cadet found the same thing.

We ended up not booking my final trip out in favour of sucking up the last eight weeks until graduation. If you had told me we would make that choice back in January when he left, I never would have believed it, but it was the right thing to do.

On the upside, we’re only three weeks away now!