Washington Weekend (part 1)

I have internet. I have coffee. I have a sleeping baby. I am thrice blessed. And so, Washington.

While I was in Florida, Dave called and asked if he got a 4-day pass if I could come out to Washington (state) to see him. I said I would love to. So we got reservations made, made arrangements for Ben to stay with Shultz's for a few days and Grandma & Grandpa Nelson for a few days, Missy to stay with Shultz's, and eight days after getting home from Florida, I was back on a plane to Seattle.


I arrived, I picked up the rental car and I drove to Ft Lewis, about 45 minutes south of the airport. We had lunch and hung around post until his Chief Warrant 2 promotion ceremony. I got to put the new rank onto his uniform. That was very neat. I wish that I had been able to get his hat back on a little better though.

Once leave started, we headed to Poulsbo to The Green Cat Guest House. What a beautiful place. I can't say enough good things about the property and Ken, one of the owners. We absolutely loved it there. I would have loved to stay there longer, and see more of Poulsbo. Hopefully some day we can go back.



I still have internet, and I still have coffee... but my other blessing is awake and ready for some attention. More later...

He's Off...

Yesterday Dave got his orders, and after a whirlwind night of packing, dinner out, and pre-training test taking, I finally was able to fall into restless sleep a little after 1:00... and woke up at 3:50 to get ready to take him to the airport. He flew out on a 6:00 flight to Ft. Rucker, AL.

He'll be home from July 25-31, and then he's off to Ft. Gordon, GA, for more training until the deployment.

It's finally here, and it's a little like getting a bad medical diagnosis... The knowing and going through it is scary and sad and awful, but the waiting and wondering was already painful, so now it can just be faced.

Never a Dull Moment

This...


means that Dave was accepted as a Warrant Officer Candidate. I'm so proud of him. And now, he's going to go for training. Next week. He'll be home again at the end of July, until it's time for the next training, sometime in August. He'll (hopefully!!) make a stop home for a few days when his baby is born, hopefully get some time off at Christmas, then back to training until January-ish. And then, finally, once all of the training is done, he will come home so that he can get ready... to deploy again. (Probably.)

When he finally comes home to us(winter 2010), We're going to keep him!

So Proud of Him

A Nice Break

Dave flew home Saturday morning, and flew back to Georgia on Tuesday afternoon. We had a good weekend. We relaxed, had nice dinners, saw friends, and he fixed my laptop (now virus free!). Before he left yesterday, we had a photo shoot with the fabulous Minda.

Now, back to work, back to life. I think Dave gave me a cold. Hard to believe it's almost June!

Yaaay!

Well, I'm not going camping in Wisconsin this weekend with Dave's family. And I'm not going camping up near Alexandria with my parents. Instead, I'm going to stay home, with my HUSBAND! Yes, he'll be home from Saturday until Tuesday.

Home?

WARNING: The following post contains whiny and unappreciative content. Viewer discretion advised.

My brain still hasn't fully adjusted to the fact that Dave is "here" instead of "there". I think the thing I notice most is that I can call him, instead of having to wait for him to call me. And it's exciting to look at the calendar and see that Easter is only 2 1/2 weeks away, the next time he may come home. It's an entire hemisphere better than being in Iraq.

But he's not home.

A friend said to me last night, "oh, I'm so happy that he's home now!". She, in fact, repeated that throughout the evening. And actually I've heard that so many times in the last week, I've lost track.

Really? If your spouse or loved one was 1280 miles away from you, would you say he or she was home?

If the only thing that matters is the time that they spend in Iraq, then what was the time spent at Camp Shelby? Didn't we miss our loved ones then? Didn't we feel gaping hole in our hearts then? Camp Shelby was only 1120 miles away. Almost home, right?

Yes, Iraq is a war zone. Yes, Iraq is dangerous. A lot of really bad stuff happens there every day. People are trying to kill our soldiers every day. That is true. And Georgia is better than Iraq. But it's not home.

36 Hours

Dave didn't get back in time to attend the funeral. He arrived at Ft. McCoy on Monday evening. Tuesday morning, he called me and asked if I could come to La Crosse and see him. He thought he would probably have free time Tuesday and Wednesday before he needed to leave. So I made some calls, rearranged my schedule a bit, and headed to Too to pull the items I need for my page kits. Once I finished that, I was totally free until work on Wednesday afternoon. Then I thought, maybe it might be difficult to make it back in time for work, so I started calling around to see if somebody could cover for me at the store.

My phone rang, it was Dave. Change of plans. They approved him, and another guy, Mike, to drive to Georgia. So instead of staying in La Crosse, I was now going to pick him up so that they could drive me back to the cities and then leave for Georgia. It sounded like they had to leave immediately. I was mad.

As I headed to La Crosse, I got a clarification on the plans. Although they were "leaving for Georgia", they actually were going to stay in the Cities for a bit. Whew. We got back to Rosemount at about 9, changed clothes and went to Rudy's. Good stuff. The waitress gave us (Dave)free appetizers when she heard that he had just come back from Iraq.

Wednesday, DH spent a long time (too much time!) fixing my laptop. It's not 100% yet, but it's on the mend. I really appreciate all of the time he put into it. Then we went to Herkimer pub with Scott, Minda & Andrew. We had a really great time. I'm glad it worked out for them to meet each other. After we left the pub, we stopped into a little bike shop a few doors down. Dave got himself a nice hybrid bike. Although he has his truck to take him to school in Georgia, since it's 2 miles between school and home, he's looking forward to taking his bike a lot of the time.

This morning, he packed up his truck and the boat, filled with military gear, civilian clothes, camping equipment, fishing equipment, a bike and golf clubs. I wonder if he will have time to miss me. ;) We said goodbye and he was on his way. He was only home for 36 hours, but it was wonderful.


P.S.
Sincere thank yous to the following people: Leigh B. and Sue T. for the time off, and all of the great people (Susan!) who covered for me; Scott & Minda, thank you for dinner, and Andrew, thank you for the picture and the jealous affection; and Col. Elicerio, thank you for (begrudgingly) sending Dave back.

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.

NEWS!

OK, Here it is:

Wednesday March 7 at 5 AM Minnesota time, Dave will be leaving Iraq.

He'll spend a few days in Kuwait and then he's off to Georgia by way of Wisconsin for a couple of days. He'll be in Georgia until August. He will finish the deployment at a school at Fort Gordon.

With any luck, I'll be able to see him before he goes to Georgia. Right now, it's one of those many unknown things.

Amen, Brother!

I appreciated The Coconut Commando's post about the recent media circus....

Look at this!

All modesty aside, because this is my blog and it's all about me...
.




Dave found an Iraqi artist through one of the translators, and he commissioned these paintings. They're from the photo shoot I had done for Dave last summer.

Tomorrow I'm going to a spa with a friend, and then Friday night I'm off to California!!

Official Word

I talked to Dave and finally got the official word, not just rumors and speculation. The deployment has been extended until August 1. For now, all schools are cancelled.

I laughed so hard!

This morning, Tom sent me a picture. He's been great about that, since he knows I'm working on a scrapbook. I expected, of course, a picture of Tom.

I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. (the bottom says, "Tom loves you too, just different".) What a fun thing on a Friday morning.

I also finally got around to looking at the Iraq slideshow on YouTube that I jotted down.. oh probably a month ago. Good stuff. Made me happy and sad to watch it. Check it out.

Christmas Parade in Iraq

I got a couple of pictures from the Desert Bulls website of the Christmas parade. It was held on Dec 31. Enjoy!

This Week

It's Thursday already... 10 days until Christmas. I'm doing much better now that I have gotten over most of the bug I picked up last week. I really appreciated all of the kind words from so many people asking if I was feeling better.

Monday night, Karlene & I went to see The Nativity movie. I enjoyed it. Just recently I've been in on a lot of discussions about who Mary was, and I liked seeing the visual image. I think my favorite thing was seeing the journey from Nazareth to Bethelehem. Some of the aspects at the end did seem a little hokey, but I don't know how it could have been done differently. As usual, the movie was good, the book is better.

Tuesday night after working at Too, I went over and hung out with the family. We laughed so hard... I got to bed a smidge later than usual. Dave scolded me for not getting enough sleep, but I told him it was worth it.

Last night I worked at Too again. We had cake! It's a good thing that I run around the store a lot to burn off a few of the calories from the various holiday parties.

And saving the best for last, the news about Dave: he will be leaving Iraq sooner than expected! He has about 2 months left there. When he comes back to the US, he will be sent to Pennsylvania until May or so.

Dave's Christmas Corner!

I couldn't agree more

Check out The Patriette's blog for today (Oct 20). I've never had anyone say anything purposely hurtful about the deployment, but some comments hurt nonetheless.

State General's Coin

From Dave:
That is the TAG, The Adjutant General, the Highest ranking General in Minnesota, Reports to the Gov of Minn.He awarded me a state generals coin for good work, somebody some where recommended me...

Roo's News

Rufus had a pretty good weekend, thanks to a stylin' red dog bootie that Sadie's mom brought over. He's pretty much accepted the fact that he's stuck with the bootie, so he actually spent most of the weekend without the cone. When he's home alone, I'll put it on him though... I don't trust him that much. He also has been surprisingly patient when I put a sandwich baggie over his foot so he can go out in the rain.

As for me, I had a pretty quiet weekend, but good. It's hard to believe that Dave and I got engaged one year ago on Labor Day, and then had to say goodbye. Hitting the one year mark is a big milestone. It means that the deployment is two-thirds over.

Hambly Transparencies

Minda made some marvelous store samples for Too using some Hambly Transparencies. I wasn't nearly as creative, but I just loved how this page turned out.
((Chie, what was this place called?))

Dave went back to the doctor and got a clean bill of health. They're going to keep him on Prilosec for a while.