What day is it?

For the record, goodbyes SUCK! I can't imagine anything that compares to the emptiness of telling the ones you love the most you won't see me for 6 months.  Do you ever get used to the absence?  

For what it's worth, I had an awesome weekend with my boys and was grateful for the time we had before our final farewell

My 3.5 hr drive to Baltimore turned into 5 hrs but hey I still made it on time.  Barely, but on time.  As usual, I was a complete Dorkasaurus Rex as I struggled to carry my bags from the rental car facility to the shuttle to the terminal.  I politely refused offers to assist me because in my mind I felt like I had to prove to myself that I could handle my own luggage.  Who am I kidding?! My 40 lb rucksack alone is a struggle, so the 70+ lb suitcase and 30+ lb weapons only make matters worse.  Thank God for smart people who advised e to ship the remainder of my gear.

The flight:

Prior to boarding I freaked and ran to the only eatery still open and bought a muffin and a Naked smoothie.  I had no idea what type of aircraft I'd be on and was suddenly like"OMG, there won't be meal service!" Surely my muffin and smoothie would be filling enough for the trans-continental voyage -_- Don't judge me, remember I'm new at this deployment thing.   I'm happy to report that I wasn't strapped in on a C-130 but an actual commercial aircraft that featured movies, snacks, dinner, and a continental breakfast.  They even gave us those fancy  little warm [scorching hot] hand towels, twice!  Sometimes I feel a little uncouth, but everyone is entitled to a moment or two of unknowingness.  i just followed the lead of the Colonel sitting beside me :-)  Oh, and there was the most annoying soldier sitting behind me that kept getting items from the seat back.  Go Army.

My bladder has made me proud, and I have not had to "go"...at least so far.  I've had a fear of airplane restrooms since 2004ish.  Something occurred dealing with turbulence en route to Denver.  I've practically flushed the incident from my memory-no pun intended, really.

Well folks, planes about to land shortly.  Just know that all is well and I will follow this post with a Part II of my travels.  I'm still trying to figure out how to post pics on here.  Alternatively, I have been using Facebook.

Ciao!