As we hovered around my iPhone to FaceTime Matt, the boys asked him what he was doing.

"I just woke up," he said. "I'm getting ready for work."

They were flabbergasted!

"We are getting ready for bed!" they shouted. "It's already tomorrow there?"

He said yes. It was already tomorrow where he was.

Instant shock set in on their faces.

"Dad is in the future!"

We laughed and made jokes about if there were flying cars where he was. It was a lighthearted moment between the five us. It felt normal. Even if we were talking to someone in the future.

Tasha Lehman is a mother of three boys living in Vermont. Her husband, Matt, is a first lieutenant in the Vermont Air National Guard who recently headed overseas for his first deployment. The “Home Front: Diaries of a Vermont military family” series chronicles their journey. Read more about their story in February’s “Use Your Words” essay.