Prior to my first navy homecoming, I had no idea what to expect. I was excited and nervous. But I had so many questions. I thought I would share some things with y’all that I wish I had known before hand.

Things I wish I knew before my first Navy Homecoming:

🇺🇸 Its an emotional day (duh this might seem obvious). I knew I was excited but I didn’t expect all the other emotions. I was relieved, scared, excited, sad, nervous…. the list goes on. When I first woke up I was so nervous that I had to go for a run, it meant I 

🇺🇸 Its a long day. There will be a lot of waiting (like most events in the military!) 

🇺🇸 Your service member is going to be exhausted. I expected for Phil to be tired but not that tired. He fell asleep while trying to eat lunch at the table. He just passed out.

🇺🇸 Bring water! (and snacks). I was so focused on getting out the door that I didn’t even process the idea of bring food or water. But about two hours in a bottle of water sounded amazing! 

🇺🇸 Its okay to not want any other family or friends there. Everyone is excited for your service member to be home and everyone wants to hug them and welcome them back. Its great to have family and friends at homecoming but its also okay if you need some alone time with your person. And its completely okay to make that known! 

🇺🇸 Bring comfortable shoes and maybe a change of cloths. This sounds funny but it was so hot at our homecoming and I had to wait for four hours.

🇺🇸 Hire your homecoming photographer early. I got lucky and was able to have my friend take our photos. But I quickly learned that many other spouses hired their photographer before deployment even began, so most photographers where booked!