26 Days from an Open Window

Well helllllllllllloooooooooo there. Things are going splendidly here at The 'Deid, and it is super crazy that Jason and I are less than 30 days out from returning home. I can't say that the past three months has gone by fast, because it hasn't at all, but at the same time - looking back, I don't remember most of it! It is bizarre that when all is said and done I will have spent a third of this year away from my normal life - I feel like when I return to the States I won't recognize anything and everybody will be buzzing around on jet packs! Truly, though, it is an odd phenomenon - this deployment thing.

When everyone returns home from deployment, they have to go through a process called "reintegration" - where you talk about your experiences and you are given coping techniques to help with the adjustment back into your personal and professional life. When I left, I didn't think I would need this process at all and that I would probably breeze right through it when I go, but now I am thinking I actually have some things to talk about! It hasn't been the long extended vacation that I thought it was going to be - it has been a lot harder than I thought, but even weirder is the fact that now as I approach the time to go home, I am nervous about returning home and back to my regular life for many reasons. Needless to say, there will be a readjustment period for me personally/professionaly as well. Hopefully these nerves will go away soon - I am ready to get excited about going home!

Tonight I am going to something called "Right Finish" - which is a big presentation for people who are within 30 days of departing the base. They talk to you about outprocessing the base, several agencies come in and brief you on how to cope with returning home, and you learn about everything that the base has accomplished since you've been here. It's a big milestone because it means I'm going home soon. Heather, Jason, and I are all going tonight and we are STOKED. I've started working on my outprocessing checklist, too. It is all becoming real.

Last week I had the most exciting experience I have had here so far - I was able to go to the CAOC (Combined Air and Space Operations Center) to provide a briefing and got to tour the facility while I was there. I saw some really cool stuff. Unfortunately, I am bound from writing about it here due to operational security reasons but I hope to tell you about it when next we meet. It was COOL. Totally. It got me excited about being here and reminded me that, despite the swimming pool and the three beers a day and the comfy air-conditioned offices we are blessed with, we are indeed in the middle of two major wars right now. Additionally, things in Afghanistan are getting rougher. On the not-so-exciting side of things, yesterday alone we had the remains of seven soldiers come through our base. All seems to be somewhat quiet now on the Iraqi front, but all of the energy that was circling that place has now moved East to the big A.

My former roommate and very good friend, Tamara, lost her mother this week. I had been receiving word from my sister that Mrs. Starnes had been ill over the past couple of weeks but her passing was still too quick and very unexpected. It killed me that I was unable to be home to give Tamara the hugs that I wanted to, to sit beside her and drink a glass of wine and talk about it, and to attend Mrs. Starnes' memorial service in NC. Though she knows I am thinking about her, it continues to be difficult to be so far away when things such as this happen.

Meggers STILL has not had that little bugger baby, and her record is stuck on "any day now." We thought for sure she was going to go last week, but no such luck. So she waits, and waits, and waits...

I got the funniest video over e-mail a couple of days ago. Apparently on 3 July when several members of my family were hanging out, my sweet neice Maris gained control of a video camera and taped all kinds of "interesting things" for me to view, and Jamie edited them all together and sent it along. She is freaking hilarious! I got to see her singing the "Star Spangled Banner," eating potato chips, getting a closeup of Jim's weird toe (there were lots of feet in the video actually), and I even caught a fleeting glimpse of a very pregnant Megan who looked beautiful. I have watched the video about 10 times so far, and I crack up laughing every time. It is just so silly but at the same time it captures the energy of my family perfectly.

July 4th was a great time - our center was closed on that day so that we could help staff the big Freedom Fest that our squadron was sponsoring for the base. It started out (for me) with a homemade sailboat regatta in our pool, which was hilarious to watch - people got so creative with their boats - sometimes too creative. :-) Then we had free pizza and watched a bunch of different silly games go on . Then I took a nap - radical. Then I worked to help set up for the huge BBQ we had. Then I ate a hot dog. Then I went for an evening swim in our pool - it was my first time at the pool and I have to say, when you are there you completely forget for just a little bit that you are deployed. It is that good. The water is surprisingly cool despite being exposed to the boiling heat all day (I think they have a cooling mechanism in the pool). Then we had Dairy Queen sundaes and went to have our 3 drinks (Stella Artois for me). Then we watched a movie and ate popcorn and Twizzlers. It was a fun day and I barely did a lick of work at all.

The next day we went to a super duper upscale spa in downtown Doha, because we deserved it. I went with my friends Heather and Chief. This spa was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - it was enormous and was decorated with ornate stonework and rich wood and fountains and flowy linens abounded. For starters, I had a Dead Sea mud wrap. I had to strip down to my birthday suit and they coated me in this thick (and stinky) mud and then wrapped me in cellophane, laid me down on a table, and covered me with a heavy blanket. While I laid there, a massage therapist massaged my face with honey. Once that was done, I showered and headed over for my Hot Stone massage. Holy moly was this awesome. If you have never had a hot stone massage, you have absolutely got to have one. This place thought of everything...even when I was laying face down on the massage table and looking through the hole towards the floor, there was a bowl of water on the floor directly underneath with fresh blossoms floating to look at. Ahhhhhhhhhh, I never ever ever wanted it to end. But unfortunately, it did. After that I went and laid down on one of the beds for a while, drank green tea, and dazed until it was time for my facial. The facial was awesome, too! Once it was all done, I returned to the beds, drank more green tea, and listened to the sounds of the fountain and the soothing music until Heather and Chief were done. The damage was less than $300 bucks, and it was totally worth the escape from reality for a while. After the spa we headed to a delicious Thai restaurant, then to Krispy Kreme to pick up some original glazed for the office, then to Marble Slab for some yummy ice cream. There are TWO Krispy Kremes in Doha, ain't it amazing? Amazing.

People, I actually had almost a full WEEKEND for the first time in three months! And it was amazing!!! Can't wait for more of those when I get home.

The past three days I have been suffering from ear infections again in both ears - not sure what it is about this place that my ears hate but I have been laying low and sleeping lots. Today I am actually starting to feel like myself again, and am getting geared up for a couple of busy weeks to come. My replacement will get here sometime close to 30 July, so I'm trying to get things organized and ready for him.

I guess that's it for now, hope this finds you all well and I am looking forward to seeing many of you in under a MONTH!

Love! xo

I am a Snack

If you are wondering of his whereabouts - Eminem works at the BX in the Blatchford-Preston Complex on Al Udeid Air Force Base. Yeah, I didn't know either. Yesterday I was doing some shopping in the greeting card section of the BX, and there he was, restocking the cards! I was like "woah!" Most of the third country nationals that staff any of our facilities on base that provide any type of customer service wear nametags. And many of them (though not all) have names that we couldn't begin to pronounce - so they choose their own names. It can be pretty funny. Most of them choose names like "John" or "Barbara," but every once in a while you will see a funny one like Eminem. There are also people who have easier given names, who wear them proudly on their nametags. For instance, Siddhartha works at Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts. (That's the Buddha's given name, if you aren't familiar). It is always an *enlighening* experience when I go in for a scoop of froyo. (har har har) Krishna works at the laundry facility (he is also a Buddhist legend). There are a few guys at the DFAC that have our normal requests memorized (they don't wear nametags, though...hmmm...). For instance, on days that they have the "good chicken" - I will make a salad to bring back to the office with me for dinner. Every time I start walking near this one line, the guy (who calls me "Meeeeeeeees Steeeeeeeeeeweeeeeeeert") pulls out a styrofoam container and has it waiting for me. And then when I'm done making my salad, I walk back and he already has the "good chicken" cocked and ready to place on top of my salad (to the side, not on top of the cheese please). They are so friendly and just make your day. I want to give them each a bag of money and tell them to go do something FUN with it - because these guys, they make no money at all.

Today I got three care packages!! There were two on my desk when I came in this morning from Mom's AHT friends - got some yummy snackies and magazines. And then I got another care package from the Valdosta crew!!! You guys are outdoing yourselves! First of all, the letter was just too sweet and I feel the *same* about all of you. I wouldn't have made it through 2.5 years in the VLD without you. May the love I found on Cranford Ave and 4H Club Road always live on. You guys make me weepy!! And then I got through the first layer of cushiony TP (thanks Mama Landis) and I just kept pulling out more and more yummy oatmeal and snacky goodies and games and books and Maria Bamford? Are you kidding me??? You guys know me too well - I can't wait to listen to it! Thanks to you ALL.

Meggers is getting closer and closer to delivery day and I can't wait. I'm so excited that I have started looking for jobs in Charleston (for fun, for now) so that I can be closer to baby Javery! I just don't want to miss out on a minute of her precious little life, as I was so blessed to spend so much time with Maris in her younger days. I can't wait to run into Megan and Jamie's house (quietly, of course) and scoop up that tiny little bundle of loveliness and just hold her for hours.

I have been listening to a lot of Dave Matthews Band recently and reminiscing about my college days. Thinking a lot of family and friends that I shared such awesome memories with. This place has made me nostalgic as hell!

Still reeling about the death of Michael Jackson. Time Magazine wrote an article called "The Death of Peter Pan" and the beginning of it spoke so true about how you just want to erase every bad or uncomfortable thing you ever knew about the man because he was such an integral part of our youth - I think that MJ just never got to live the childhood of a normal kid and somehow reverted back to it in his elder years. I am sad that we never got to see him do his comeback tour, which I think could have erased some of the badness and replaced it with how amazing he was. Some friends and I were discussing him last week, about how ahead of his time he was and how we couldn't wait to see him get back on stage again. I remember listening to his Thriller and Bad albums as a kid - we always had some kind of music playing in our house and Michael Jackson was a permanent fixture in the 80s. And then Ed McMahon, I just can't take it - what about Star Search??? I kept waiting for it come back on! My childhood is perishing before my eyes.

Next weekend on our day off, some friends and I are going to a REALLY upscale spa downtown for some awesome treatments. I can't wait!!! I have never done a day at the spa before, I've been in and out for a massage or whatever, but we're going to do it up right and I am stoked.

We are having a big 4th of July celebration here on base - our center is closed and we are having stuff like a homemade boat regatta in our swimming pool, lots of sports events, and bands playing all day. It is going to be hot as BALLS, but it should still be fun. The only thing missing will be fireworks, but I am sure you understand why we wouldn't shoot them off here. Plus, the Qataris don't like it when we make noise - they don't even let us use our loudspeaker on base.

I am getting closer to breaking that 30-day mark - crazy how time just flies by. Pretty soon I'll be complaining about a whole other set of problems like "I have nowhere to live" and "My boss is still crazy" and "Megan won't FedEx her baby to DC" and such. Ah, the good life. I miss it.

Love you guys.

xo

43 Days Until My Window Opens (or, Happy Father's Day)

Soooooooo...where to begin?

Today I received a package from my friend Cynthia (aka Tutu and/or C-note) who cracked me up by thinking of me while on her trip to California and sending me SIX t-shirts from Redondo Beach, LA, and Hollywood. You are such a trip, C. And thanks - as I have increased my workouts I am going through t-shirts like crazy and these will help a lot!!

I also got a package from my Dad - he went bananas on Bill O'Reilly's website and sent me two books, a t-shirt, and some shopping bags. Thanks, Dad! I promise I will read the books with an open mind, and even if I don't eventually switch over from the "dark side" your efforts will never be lost on me. I am always interested in learning more about all sides of the political conundrum.

My sister, Tracy, has been sending me cards on a regular basis and they really cheer me up - it is something we both have always loved to do (make each other laugh out loud with our Hallmark purchases). One of them had a story that Maris had concocted transcribed on the back, with a little plastic Christmas tree she had created with her little tiny plasticky ball joining contraption that she got over the holidays. It got me in the mood for a splendid holiday this December to come.

Meggers is closer and closer to being a Mama - the process has begun and even though she's not in labor just yet, we know it will be soon. It is ridiculously exciting.

So Kehinde is leaving early tomorrow morning. For those of you who know the back story on this, you know this is a very good thing. A very very good thing. Luckily still, AFPC was able to rally into action and get her replacement here this evening. They could not get military airflow for her, so they popped her on a commercial flight and Jason is picking her up at the airport tonight. This is SUCH good news for us because we were worried that she wouldn't be here until next week! So she will be spun up and hopefully fully functioning by mid-week and we should have a full staff again. :-)

It is so strange how immune you become to numbers and statistics when you are separated from the warzone, and how affected you become by those same numbers when you are so close. This morning when I woke up, I read on MSNBC that two US warriors were killed when militants fired rockets into Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Let me first say that this is scary because the perimeters of one of our bases was compromised, a base that has a HUGE military presence including many Air Force members (some of whom I know)...so this has many people startled in the military community, although it has been feared with the increase of attacks in Afghanistan. But anyway, so when I read this article I knew that these two warriors would be coming through Al Udeid on their way back to the states. And they are indeed here now. But the part that is even worse is that one of the members who perished was deployed with his wife (also military), and she travelled here with his remains. Basically, they shared a room at Bagram and while she was at work a rocket hit their room while he slept. Can you imagine? So the plane is on the ground now, and our squadron is working to ensure she is well taken care of while she is here. Tomorrow morning she will get on a plane back to her home station in Alabama, and he will continue on to Dover AFB in Delaware. So it has been a very sensitive day here. We have had two other transfers this week and the British had three, but every case is different. And this one has really struck the heartstrings of us all. While we on this base are strategically separated from the two war zones and are relatively physically safe ourselves, we cannot escape the mission and its consequences on a daily basis. Just another account of the reality of war from across the world.

If anybody is sending anything this way anytime soon, I could really use some Bandaid Blister Cushions - they come in a silver box. Can't get them here and use them frequently to get through PT sessions with these sucky tennie-pumps I have.

Okay, I'm outtie for now.

Love to all.

xo Kelly

50 Days to Go

Hello my faithful followers! Not much to report since my last posting except for a couple of mentions:

I got an AWESOME box today from my crew down in Valdosta, GA - thanks to Cliff for putting it all together and sending me some incredible art supplies (can't wait to break these in!!), his Mama Landis for making me a huge batch of some YUMMY chex mix and picking up some of my favorite low sugar oatmeal (4 boxes!), and Jen for the assortment of Kashi nibbles. I can't believe how huge this box is and I am absolutely in love with you guys as usual. I am munching on the chex mix now and can't wait to break in the oatmeal tomorrow - I have missed it so much!!!!! Gotta to send some additional love out to Adam, Jer, and Arwen for tossing some love in there. I miss and love you guys so much - this meant the world to me. Cliff, you make the best gay Stateside boyfriend a girl could ever have.

The mail continues to flow in from my mom's AHT group - I am getting several cards a week from her friends and have even received packages from them containing things like magazines, DVDs, spa goodies, drink mixes, peanuts and such. It is just so cool that perfect strangers are reaching out like that - they tell me about themselves and their lives - one of them is a 3 time cancer survivor writing ME a letter to give ME strength. Wow, how humbling. Another woman sent me letters from many of the patients at the nursing home that she works at. I still cannot even THINK about that without getting weepy.

My Chief from base has been sending me regular cards and keeping me posted on what's happening at Andrews. I also got a card from my friend Amanda who found the time after recently travelling to India, adopting a sweet baby Gayatri, and returning home to a major home reorganization project to write me a sweet letter. Thanks, A. Got a shower invitation to my friend Steph's baby shower (which is next month so I will unfortunately miss) - it is the year of babies and absentee shower attendance I suppose.

Mollie sent me several pictures of the dogs this week - they were so cute!! A couple of them were the two sleeping together on the couch, and I just can't wait to snuggle up to those babies. MAN do I miss those babies!!!

We had an exercise this week - where we pretend that there are missles striking our base and we have to take cover and wear the gas masks - you may remember me telling you about this before. Anyway, it was really pleasant today becasue it only lasted about 10 minutes even though we thought it was going to last all day long. So we did it and it was over and then we had big smiles on our faces because we could resume our normal lives. People really hate when we are in exercise mode because you can't go to the bathroom or the shower without being in full uniform with your gas mask and canteen belted to your waist. So people just hide in their rooms and wait it out. So now we can galavant around like field mice without the restraints of our gear to slow us down in our micey ways.

I am completely and 100% addicted to RIPITs.

I am a recent convert to Shape magazine. Love it. Can't wait for every new issue to come out.

One of my coworkers, Kehinde, will be leaving next Sunday. She originally should have left on 3 June but agreed to extend becase her replacement was medically disqualified from coming. We are still not sure exactly when her new replacement will get here, but we know it will be after Kehinde leaves. So Jason and I will be working 7 days a week for the forseeable future, while we await our new staffer, get her rested and trained, and on board. It is about to get harder, but we'll get through it.

My little sister Megan is due to have her first baby in less than 30 days, and it is becoming so surreal. We have been working to try to figure out how we will communicate while she is in labor, so that I can be a part of it as much as I can. The hospital doesn't have great wifi, so we are going to probably do speakerphone supplemented by pictures and videos as much as possible. The great thing is that everyone here knows what is going on and fully supports my desire to be present for the whole labor, so I'll have the freedom to do so. I am so excited, and I know she is, too.

I guess that's it for now. Stay tuned...

Love xo

Now All I Need is a Bathtub

Today I got another big batch of mail from my mom's friends in the dog-breeding world, including a box of spa goodies for me and my girly-friends over here. How cool is it that such a large group of people that I don't have never even met took the time to write me letters and show me some TLC - I am completely overwhelmed right now. Completely misty-eyed and overwhelmed. I even got a letter from a DOG!

Day 3 of "OSB" - our challenge - is going well. I really struggled at the gym this morning as 0500 came way too early and I was still blistered and tired from yesterday. But I got up and made it through (most of) my workout, and I am proud of myself. As I told Heather, I can't tell anything on the outside, but I can feel a difference in my body - everything's tighter and just more energized. But a tired kind of energized, if that makes sense. These blisters are a real nuisance, although the ones on my heels are completely ok right now because I bought some Band-Aid "blister cushions" from drugstore.com and I tried them out today - honestly can't feel a thing!!! Now, if they only made them small enough to go on the blisters between my toesies - ouch. I hate those. One of the big things we try to do is get a good balance of carbs, protein, and fat - and I never can seem to get enough fat in my diet. We are aiming for a breakdown of 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat - and that is hard to do! You are having to constantly think about everything that goes into your body and how it will shift your breakdown...lots of thinking going on about food. But hey, that's how we roll here at Camp Cupcake. Mmmmmm...a cupcake would be really good right now. Meggers, break out the lemon. I need to hush now.

I listened to this really cool podcast this morning on the treadmill of RadioLab, one of my favorite shows on NPR. They were talking about laughter and how it is perceived that humans are the only ones who laugh but do you know that chimpanzees laugh? And rats as well? Very interesting. But when I heard them talking about baby laughter - which, FYI, usually starts around the 90th day after birth - I got so freaking excited about going home and meeting my little baby neice. She's going to be sooooooooooooo cute and I can't wait to meet her and hear all of her gurgly sounds and cries and coos. Megan's shower is this weekend at Magnolia's in Charleston and I SO wish I could be there. But I am glad I was able to give her her gift before I left and see her face when she saw it, so I kind of had my own little private party with her and Jamie. Can't wait to see her new house, too!

Tracy and Jason got all moved into their new house - well, their old house but it's new to them since it was completely destroyed (this word is an understatement) by their last renter and had to be completely refloored, repainted, deodorized and fumigated - and now it's a better house that they are excited to live in again. It has been a busy summer for the fam and I am glad that things are starting to settle down a bit.

It seems like the closer I get to my departure date, the more homesick I get. When I get back to the States, I am going to crawl into a bed with those dogs of mine and snuggle for days and days when I get home. Snuggle snuggle snuggle.

Hard to believe that tomorrow my 60 day countdown begins. I am so freaking excited.

Love. xo Kelly

Furry Friends

Well I guess things are increasing in the warzone because we had another casualty detail yesterday and today we have four more coming in. You can't help but be stunned each time you hear that someone is coming in, however it does become somewhat more routine each time you say it. My heart breaks each time, but we can't really acknowledge that at all, because this is one of the unfortunate realities of war and we in two really ugly wars right now. What does make it somewhat better is this group of guys that go out there each time and remove them with dignity, salute them wearing their white gloves, and the care that is taken with each of them. Our general goes out and greets every one and sees every one off. I don't know, today I am struggling with it a bit - trying to wrap my head around the increasing numbers of casualties, and from Afghanistan too. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31048587/) It's gonna get a lot worse before it gets better...

I am in day 2 of the physical/nutritional challenge Heather and I have started, and it has been so cool! Everyone keeps asking how we're doing, lending us advice and support, and generally cheering us on. So rock on. The gym the past two days has been tough but totally manageable, and it will increase in difficulty once we get past this beginner phase. Feeling, great, though, and I am sure I will continue to. But MAN do I miss my Brooks tennis shoes. I would order another pair if I knew what kind I had before. These crummy new balance just do a number on my feet. Amazing what a good shoe will do for your performance, eh? Can't wait to get home and slip those bad boys on.

My mom did this really cool thing - she knew I wasn't getting any mail and was pretty bummed about it, so she had some of her friends write me letters. I have started getting them this week and they are so sweet. People that I don't even know are taking the time to send their support - it is a really cool thing. I have enjoyed reading their letters and learning all about their lives - they even sent pictures of their dogs! Thanks Mom - that has been a real treat.

Jell-o is a waste of space and whoever invented it (Bill Cosby?) should be maimed.

I feel good. I knew that I would.

I wish these customers would get out of here so I could do some push-ups. Dang.

xo