What to say....

I know a few people have been checking here for news about Dave. But there is not much to say on that front... he's still in Kuwait. And that shouldn't really surprise me, because the original plan was for him to leave Kuwait sometime on Sunday.

But since my last post, Dave's grandpa passed away. We knew that the end was coming, so Dave had asked if the Red Cross would allow him to get a flight to the US sooner to try to attend the funeral. His commander said yes. So I contacted the Red Cross, and waited to hear from Dave. Unfortunately, his commander was incorrect. Grandparents do not qualify for relief flight status.

Before grandpa passed, Dave's dad had called and told me that grandma wanted Dave to be a pallbearer. I thought, that's very nice, but they shouldn't count on Dave getting there. Fast forward a day, and multiple phone calls, now it sounds like Dave will arrive in La Crosse around 9 AM, need to go to Ft. McCoy for processing, and then somehow get to the funeral, 170 miles away. Funeral mass is at Noon. Doesn't sound realistic, does it? Then Dave's dad tells me he's thinking of driving down (3 hours) and back (3 hours) to bring Dave to the funeral. Wow. With that plan, not only is it likely that Dave will miss it, Dave's dad will miss it too. I can only say that he is grieving, and maybe not thinking so clearly.

Yesterday I heard from Dave again, and now his flight is pushed back an additional 18 hours. At this point, they may not even go to Ft. McCoy, they may go directly to Ft. Gordon. He has to be there no later than Friday morning. But he didn't know for certain. (It's the army, there isn't much that is for certain when it comes to making plans.)

This afternoon, I'm riding with Dave's older brother and his wife & kids to the visitation today and the funeral tomorrow. I'm going to stick with them, since I'm going stag.... I'm not all that big on funerals, and I'd never met Dave's grandparents. But oh well. It's family.

Dave met my parents (and my extended family) for the first time at my uncle's funeral... But that's another story.