Just Say Julie

I got one of those calls today that you are never expecting and dread once you know what they are about. An old friend of mine was found dead in his apartment Monday night. Stephen and I met in high school when I was dating his best friend but continued to be friends even after Jason and I broke up. As a matter of fact, we went to his prom together junior year. Imagine my shock when Mom called me at work to tell me that she had heard on the news last night that he had died. Of course the circumstances of his death are unclear. He died from a single gunshot wound and was found by his roommate. Stephen was a police officer in Daphne, AL. My hope is that it was an accident because I don’t believe that Stephen was the type of person to commit suicide. While we hadn’t been close in years, Stephen was always a happy person. I just can’t imagine him being in such a pit of dispair and wanting to take his own life. But then you never know. I haven’t seen Stephen since my wedding thr...

Shawn and I went to see The Nutcracker yesterday. Those of you who know me well enough not only know my passion for dancing but also know that I performed in The Nutcracker twice in college. I take this ballet very seriously and it is a major part of my Christmas tradition. That being said I should have paid more attention to who was performing the version we went to see. I purchased the tickets from the local community theatre who was hosting the performance believing that one of the major ballet companies in the state would be coming here to put on the ballet. It wasn’t until I picked up the tickets that I spotted the sign that said it was being performed by one of the local dance schools. That should have been my first clue that this would be a performance I wouldn’t want to see. In Mobile, this wouldn’t have been a big deal because the Mobile Ballet always brings in professionals for the major roles and the company there is really good. Here you are dealing with girls who a...

OK…so for all of those people who think I have fallen off the face of the earth, I wanted to let you know that I am alive and well and busy as all get out. In the pre-MTCI days, I am the time to MySpace all day and still get crap done around the house. Now that I am working again the last thing I want to do when I come home is sit in front of the computer some more. For those of you who don’t know, I am the accounts receivable manager for a government contracting firm now. In other words, I make all the money for the company. Some might say big deal but it is. Thanks to me the company makes over 1 million in revenue every month. Anyway, on top of my job, I have also taken over as FRG Advisor for Shawn’s squadron since the real advisor deployed to Iraq two weeks ago. As if I didn’t have enough with work, I add something else to my plate that I am totally unprepared for and have no clue what I am doing. I think it will be interesting but I am wondering more and more what I g...

TO: GOD FROM: THE DOG Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another? Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story? Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the Chrysler Eagle the Chrysler Beagle? Dear God: If a dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad dog? Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please. Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, do I still have to apologize? Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good dog. 1 . I will not eat the cat’s food before they eat it or after they throw it up. 2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell. 3....

I received an email from Shawn Friday that they had gotten their orders to return home. Finally this ordeal is coming to an end for a second time. I am happy to report that Shawn will be back on or around July 25th. My life can return to normal again. No more will I be the only one to deal with the major malfunctions life throws at me from the gate breaking on our fence to chasing Maverick around the living room with whatever trinket he has decided to pick up this time. How I am looking forward to having another set of hands at my house. Oh don’t get me wrong. There are many other reasons I am happy to have Shawn coming home. I just don’t think I need to go into detail about those. They are obvious. The deployments wear on you after a while. We have a picture in our office that was taken at the Auburn/Arkansas game in 2002. It amazes me to see how much we have aged in the nearly 5 years we have known each other. I would say that 2 deployments in less than 3 years would do ...

So it is a Monday night during the summer and nothing good is on TV. I hate that break in television scheduling when all the regular season shows are on hiatus or reruns and the summer shows haven’t started yet. I was going to watch the Apprentice finale after I let Maverick play in the yard for a bit but it hadn’t started yet. Deal or No Deal was still on. I think I must be the only person in the world who is not a fan of that show. I don’t know what it is but it just doesn’t do it for me. My day was uneventful at most. I woke up and headed to the office to check my email and myspace only to witness the sprinkler company truck arriving. Finally I am getting my sprinkler system so my grass won’t look like crap anymore. After only an hour, their machine broke so they have to come back tomorrow. More delays! Great! So, I went shopping. I drove to Georgetown to get the rest of the napkin rings to match my patriotic summer decor from Kohl’s. So what if I got a few more things...

Well, I have had a lot of people ask so I figured I would give an update on R & R. Shawn got into Killeen around 4 on Monday afternoon. The greatest thing for me was getting the phone call while in the Harker Heights Walmart (because we all know the on in Killeen is scary!) that Shawn was in fact sitting in the Dallas airport waiting for his flight to leave. The first weekend was spent in Arkansas visiting Shawn’s family. The majority of the rest of our time was working on the very long honey-do list that had piled up over nearly 8 months of me living alone in our new house. A quick trip to the village of Salado highlighted the second weekend Shawn was home. The best part of the two weeks was feeling like a family again, just me, Shawn and Maverick. After Shawn boarded his plane on Wednesday to head back, I resumed my depression shopping. However, my unemployment and the vast amount of home improvements and traveling expenses incurred during Shawn’s brief stay have seriousl...