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