Day One & Two

Sunday, December 19th 2010 - Day One. 
This day was filled with me packing to take a trip home for the holidays, and driving 10 hours across the country!
I actually teetered back and forth a bit about leaving this day. A part of me didn't want to leave all his stuff.. it was a piece of him and made me feel closer to him, being surrounded by it I suppose.
But, I was too anxious to sit around and be alone and I knew I eventually was going to have to leave and go home to visit family, and so I marched onward!
It took forever to pack and then I forgot I should probably clean out the fridge, and then do dishes and take out trash, and unplug everything and turn down the heat.. I was tired before I ever got out the door!!!

I finally loaded up my car, like everything I could possibly need in a 2 week time period...games, movies, about 6 pair of shoes, a CROCK-POT for Pete's sake!!! (But it IS the holidays and you never know when you will need to make wassail! And if you've never had it, you should!)

I left around 1:00pm, and arrived "back home" around 11:30pm (my time) So all in all it took about 10 1/2 hrs, with only a few glitches along the way.  I was a tad worried about my car, as it smelled a bit sweet like it was over heating, however it wasn't. I will be getting it checked out before I head back.

Now on to the interesting part of this day! I visited with my mom for a while once I got in and unloaded.

Monday, December 20th 2010 - Day Two.
My cell phone rang at about 1:19am on Monday morning! I knew who it had to be and I was SO excited.
I honestly didn't think I would hear from him for a couple days due to traveling.
It was so nice to hear his voice!  He informed me that they were already in Kuwait! I couldn't believe it! 
The delay was pretty bad from when he would say something, and I would hear it and try to respond, but he might already be starting to say something else, so it was a little difficult to have a flow to the conversation.  He said I didn't sound to bad though, so maybe it was only on my end. The USO there had free 20 minute phone calls for them, which I am so thankful for!! That was such a great surprise!!

Apparently they flew directly from the U.S. to Germany, which I figured they would have a lay over or something in D.C. since he was leaving from Kansas! So he got to see two sunrises in one day and had about 2 hours of sleep.  His head was "wishy-washy" he said and he felt drunk from being sleep deprived.
There were a couple times he didn't really make a ton of sense, poor thing!

Twenty minutes flew by and I wasn't ready to get off the phone, but we really didn't have much else to talk about. My day had only been driving and trying to keep alert and focused on the road. His day(s) were all blended together and he wasn't really sure which way was up.

It's so strange that he is that far away. I think that is ONE of the most difficult parts to this puzzle. There is no fast way to get to each other. There is a lot of land, and ocean, more land, and a freaking desert to go through in order to be with him at this point. Before, when he was at AIT (advanced individual training) it was only a half-day of flying and wah-lah!  I even flew down to Virginia a couple times over the weekend.  It was exhausting, but it was always worth it.

I can't remember the time difference. I think they are 8 or 9 hours ahead. He said once they get to Iraq, it might be less. But when I go home, it'll  be an extra hour anyway. It's all quite confusing!  I keep counting all day to myself... "Okay, so it's 2pm here, so it's gotta be...3,4,5...10pm there!" And then I wonder what he is doing at that moment, halfway across the world.

I have been pretty emotional all day today. It has finally sunk in. I was missing our apartment, and missing him, and wishing we were both back there together.  I have been trying so hard to "stay strong" like he asks me to, for him.  I think a person can still be a strong person, and also at the same time have a day where our skin just isn't as tough as it usually is.  I think that just means you're human.

So it sounded like they were going to be headed to Iraq in a couple days, so either today or tomorrow they'll be heading there, or possibly arriving there.  They had some kind of training to do this morning at 0600, but that's about all he knew of at that time.
He said the only "plumbing" facilities were port-o-pots, which I find hard to believe and really gross!
The desert was just that.. a desert. No trees, just sand, and everything tan and flat. The weather was in the high 60's. Lucky for him he is there in the winter time!

I'm not sure when I'll get to talk to him next.  I actually sent him 2 emails today... just can't help myself!
If I feel like I need to chat or don't want to forget to tell him something... I gotta get it to him somehow.  Text isn't an option right now, so he better be checking his inbox! I'm not even sure how often he will get a chance to use the internet, but we'll hopefully figure this out soon and get some kind of schedule going.
We shall see.  I will be happy with whatever I can get right now!!

Well, until tomorrow.. good night!