Friday, July 27, 2007
Flying Under the Radar
Monday, July 16, 2007
Finally Home
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me!
OK…so today is the day I have been dreading for the last year. I am officially 30 today. And you know what…it isn’t so bad. As a matter of fact, I think everything is going to be OK. It will actually be better than OK. I got a reminder why I married my husband today. Shawn is not the best when it comes to picking out gifts for me so I didn’t have high hopes this year with him being so busy before he left for NTC and currently being gone. Recently things have been tense between us due to job stress and not enough time together. But he made me forget all that without hardly trying. He hid my birthday present in his closet before he left for NTC last month. So when he called this morning and gave me the location of my present. I must say I was surprised that he had been able to hid it so well since I never saw anything clear the bank account or the credit card. So I ran home from work and this is what I found hiding in the closet:
He did really well this year! Also, we are running away for a much needed escape from reality this weekend. I am really looking forward to it. Oh and he comes home from NTC tonight…well, 1 AM in the morning…but it is better than nothing. Gotta love Army time!
Reasons I Love Living in a Military Town
That all being said there are some things that I truly love about living in a military town. It isn’t all wonderful but there is a better sense of understanding for the life we lead. If I had to choose between going home during a deployment and staying here away from my family, I would definitely stay here. I am surrounded by people who are either going through or have gone through the same thing I am dealing with. I don’t feel the pity here that I felt at home being the only person most of my friends knew that was dealing with the separation of a deployment. The patriotic spirit in this town is amazing. Everywhere you turn you see “Support Our Troops” signs and American flags. It just makes you proud. I think the Fourth of July celebration on post really helped me to appreciate it more. I mean where else can you see soldiers in uniform holding the flags of all 50 states while Black Hawk helicopters hoover over head and canons fire. It was amazing. Then there are the random sights that just truly make you smile. While waiting in the airport for my flight home two weeks ago, an older gentleman walked up to a soldier getting ready to return to Iraq from R&R and asked him, “Has anyone thanked you for your service today?” Or how about the Korean War Veteran in a local Mom & Pop joint paying for the meal of a couple sitting at the table next to him because he knows the young man is a soldier. These things just make me happy and proud of my husband and his job. It is different for him because it is his job but for me it is the life I chose when I married him. That’s all I have to say about that. Thanks for letting me have my moment.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
The Rest of My Trip
I already posted a blog about my trip to Mobile last weekend. I am happy to report that the rest of my stay was much better than the process of trying to get there. It was so great to see Ronda and her little one as well as Auntie Martha and Suzanna. We stayed busy but we still found time for wine and popcorn as well as a lot of girl talk. I got some much needed perspective on some things I have been dealing with recently. That is the great thing about being around people who really know you. They understand you enough to know how you truly feel about things. I am not going to say I got all the answers I needed but I am at least headed in the right direction now. Baby Scout and I hit it off and became fast friends over the weekend. After all, she takes after her Auntie Ju Ju in so many ways.
I do miss being home and being around all those I love. I will have to plan a trip home again sooner than this one was. Mom and I headed back to the Lone Star state on Sunday afternoon. We were worried that the day was going to turn out much like my trip out there when I received the text message that my flight had been canceled. However, we were able to get on an earlier flight out of Mobile that actually worked to our advantage. Once in Dallas, our departure gate changed 4 times and the flight kept getting delayed but we ended up only being two hours late arriving home. It was so nice to see my own bed. I determined that I didn’t want to spend anytime in an airport again for a long time. I am still trying to figure out if there is a way we can drive to Hawaii next month.