Day 12

We got back from PA on a Monday evening. We picked up dinner on the way back to my apartment, and we spent a relaxing night in. I told K we needed to get to bed a bit early since we had an early morning the next day -- and that's all I told him. The next day was the big surprise I'd planned for K for our first anniversary -- the hot air balloon ride.

Our anniversary is Sept. 22, but I scheduled the balloon ride for the 16th so we'd have plenty of time to reschedule in case the weather was bad. The 16th actually wound up being the perfect day for the surprise for a reason I hadn't even thought of: Before K's R&R, the most time we'd spent together consecutively was 11 days. We had always said once we finally hit Day 12, we'd have to do something special to celebrate.

Sept. 16th was Day 12.

I woke up around 5:15 that morning. I had hardly slept because I was worried we'd oversleep and miss our balloon ride. I even had a dream that K's ex-fiance had taken K on a balloon ride, but he had never told me. In the dream, when he realized that was my surprise for him, he told me he had hated the ride and thought it was a waste of time. Needless to say, I was anxious to get on the road and finally have the surprise out in the open.

I let K sleep a little later while I got ready for the day. When he got up, I told him to dress for hiking -- wear tennis shoes, jeans, and layers on top. We left my apartment a little before 6.

We drove and drove, and finally around 6:45, we arrived at our destination: a bakery. I didn't know what to expect when we arrived -- would there be a balloon all ready for us to go, or would we go on to another place to take off?

Well, there was no balloon in the parking lot. There was a van with a large basket on the back of it, but no balloon. I hoped K wouldn't see the basket and figure everything out. Thank goodness, he didn't. (Additional benefit of a sunrise balloon ride: Your clueless passenger is too out of it to piece together what's going on.)

When we walked inside the bakery, a man and woman were standing, drinking coffee. They said my name, and I nodded. K and I went up and introduced ourselves. The woman was wearing a ball cap with a hot air balloon embroidered on it. Her sweatshirt had six hot air balloons on it, and her dangly earrings were actually in the shape of hot air balloons (I had to look at them for a few seconds before I realized what the were). Her husband wore a polo shirt advertising the balloon company.

The woman looked at K. "Are you excited? Are you ready?" she asked. K nodded. "Do you know what you're doing yet?"

"Not a clue," K answered quickly. We all laughed, and the woman started telling me where we'd go from there and what we'd do to set up. Several seconds later, K said, "Aaand now I see the shirts. ... Got it. I'm a little slow -- still not fully awake."

We headed out to the van, and we all rode out to a little airport nearby. The man and woman had explained to us that they were a little light on the crew, since it was a weekday, so they'd need our help preparing the balloon for our ride.

K and I were excited to get to help them prepare the balloon. The man and woman pulled it out of a huge canvas bag. We turned the basket on its side, and we laid the balloon, which was rolled up length-wise, in front of it. The woman told us the balloon was 7 stories tall. (Wow!)






































We started slowly and carefully unrolling the balloon, making sure to pull it from the canvas seams instead of the actual balloon material. Then, we made sure it was completely spread out. The man put a fan at the bottom near the basket. He gave K and me each a pair of gloves and showed us how to step on the bottom part of the balloon and to grab the top so the air from the fan (once it was turned on) could get inside the balloon.

As K and I did our part at the bottom of the balloon, the man and woman went around to the top and continued to spread the balloon out. Pretty quickly, it began to fill with air. It was a cool morning to begin with, so having a huge fan blowing straight at me got a little cold, but it was really neat to watch the balloon fill up.





















































After several minutes, the man came back to the bottom end of the balloon and started using the burners. They had warned us that the burners would seem close, but that we wouldn't be in danger of getting burned by the flames. I had to keep reminding myself that as I stood just a couple feet away from the large flame and could easily feel the heat coming from it.

















Very quickly, the balloon started rising, and the basket started slowly raising along with it. The woman ran to where K and I were standing and told us to put all of our weight against the edge of the basket to keep it in place. Her husband had climbed inside to continue prepping the balloon, so K, the woman and I were all leaning against the balloon as it slowly tipped upright.

All of a sudden, they were telling me to get into the balloon. Quickly and clumsily, I hurled myself into the balloon. K was right behind me. Then, before I knew it, we were several yards into the air and climbing quickly.











































It was then that it occurred to me to be scared. I had realized that we were basically in a giant basket. "You kind of have to have a lot of faith in wicker to do this," I said to our pilot.

He reassured me that we were standing on an actual floor sandwiched between all that wicker -- not to mention the fact there were cables from equipment in the balloon that ran across as well. We were safe, he promised. We weren't tipping or rocking, and the giant basket we stood in came above my waist.

I looked around at the gorgeous view of the sunrise and the open countryside, and I forgot about being scared and began to just enjoy the ride. It was peaceful up there.

















We could see for miles and miles in every direction. There we were, just enjoying the views around us, while the world below us went on about its business.

Around the homes below us, people were taking out trash, taking dogs outside, walking to their cars. Many of them waved at us, and we always waved back. Our pilot told us to be careful what we said in the balloon: "They can try to talk to us up here, but we'll never hear them. But they can hear everything you say up here clear as a bell."

It was funny to see the reactions different animals had to us. Dogs would run and bark, determined to try to find a way to catch us. Cows would look around them, but never up. Horses did look toward us. All the animals, though, tended to try to run from us (maybe the sound of the burner scared them?).

















So much about a balloon ride is dependent upon the weather. The amount of wind determines how far you're able to travel. Several times, our pilot mentioned how perfect the weather was for our ride. It was calm, but there was a light breeze that allowed us to simply float along peacefully. The temperature was comfortable. It was a beautiful, clear day.
















































We got pretty high up a few times, and others, we were gliding along just a few feet above the treetops. We lucked out when we flew over a lake. The pilot lowered us to just above the water so I could get a picture of the balloon's reflection in the pond below us.
















































The ride lasted about an hour. We wound up landing in an area the pilot sometimes uses to take off. Since you can't really know where you'll land when you take off, there's a chase crew that follows the balloon on the ground. Our chase crew was our pilot's wife in the van we rode in. We had a two-way radio in our balloon that the man used to talk to his wife to help her follow us on the ground.

To land the balloon, our pilot did what he called "walking the balloon" so he could get us to a certain area of the field we were landing in. We got very close to the ground and actually touched a few times. In fact, we landed several times before we actually landed. Some of the landings were very smooth -- we simply touched down to the ground for a few seconds -- while others were rough, feeling almost like the balloon would tip over.

Once we were in the general area where our pilot wanted to really land, he put us down for good. This one wasn't as good of a landing, and almost in slow motion, the balloon slowly tipped more and more to the side. I wasn't sure if it was going to balance itself out and fall flat again, but I leaned back and back, trying to keep my arms in the balloon like they'd told us to do in case the balloon landed on its side.

Sure enough, it completely tipped over. Our pilot and his wife had also told us not to climb out of the balloon until they told us to, since it would still be very much inflated, and the only thing keeping it on the ground would be the weight of those of us inside. It was only a few seconds before the pilot told me to get out. I crawled out of the balloon, and K was out behind me a few seconds later. The balloon deflated pretty quickly.





















































K and I helped the pilot and his wife push all the air out of the balloon and roll it back up. I put Velcro straps on it every few feet as our pilot, his wife and K all gathered it back into the humongous canvas bag. They put the basket back onto the back of the van, and we all piled in and headed off to a park for the celebratory champagne toast that traditionally follows a hot air balloon ride. On the way there, our pilot told us we had traveled over 15 miles in the balloon! He and his wife kept talking about how perfect the weather was for a balloon ride.

When we got to the park, we sat down in a gazebo, where our pilot and his wife poured us mimosas in keepsake champagne glasses with "First Flight" and a hot air balloon etched into the glass.

































They told us the history of hot air balloons, and they gave us certificates with our names, balloon number and a photo of the balloon on them. I reminded K that the traditional first anniversary gift is paper, so our little certificates were the perfect way to remember the ride.

















We stayed and talked awhile longer as our pilot and his wife, who have both been balloon pilots for many years, told us all kinds of stories of their own and from friends in ballooning. Some of the stories were (thankfully and purposefully) specifically not told to us until after the balloon ride, but it was nice to just relax, enjoy mimosas and talk about our neat experience while the rest of the city was rushing around to begin the day.

When we got back in my car to head home again, K told me he had actually always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride. We had both loved it. It was definitely a neat way to celebrate our first wedding anniversary -- and it was a memorable, perfect way to celebrate finally reaching Day 12.

I've kept you waiting long enough

So you know K got here on a Friday morning. For his first meal back home, we went out to lunch for a cheeseburger, where K enjoyed his first beer in 9 months. Then, he enjoyed his second beer. We stuffed ourselves with cheese fries and yummy cheeseburgers -- a nice, healthy first meal, but it was just what he wanted.

That night, I figured he might want to go out for Italian food for dinner, but he wasn't quite ready to share me with other people, so he wanted to order pizza and stay in. Not the healthiest first two meals back in the states, but they were nice.

The next few days, we relaxed and just enjoyed spending time together. K spent a lot of time spoiling Piper.






















We went to the gym a couple times and went running, we met up with a friend or two for dinner, and we went to several home stores to get ideas for our registry. His birthday was a few days before he arrived back home, so I took him to the spa where he'd gotten my gift certificate last Christmas. We got a couple's massage, and it was amazing! It was K's first professional massage. He loved it. (Duh!)

In the middle of the week, we headed to Pennsylvania to see K's family. His dad actually had a TV crew there to meet us when we arrived at the airport. They interviewed K and asked me a couple questions. Nothing like spending half a day traveling to find a camera being shoved in your face as soon as you land!

In addition to the TV crew, K's dad had quite a few of K's family and friends there to greet him. That was a really nice surprise. We all headed back to K's house, and his dad had sandwiches, buffalo wings and pizzas waiting for us -- in addition to Yuengl!ng, a really good lager that we always look forward to getting in PA (Yunegl!ng's breweries are in PA and Florida, and you can't get the beer in very many states).

It was neat to see so many of K's friends that first night. We drank beer, stuffed our faces and caught up on what everyone had been doing over the last year since K had last seen them. The next night, we went out to a bar with one of K's closest friends and my brother-in-law.

We went out with a larger group of friends to this interesting Co.yote Ugly-like bar that had just opened up. People could order a shot, and they were brought up onto the bar and taken to one end, where they were told to sit in a chair so the bartender of their choice would pour the shot into their mouth. Then, the person would have to stand up and brace themselves against the chair while the bartender actually beat the crap out of them with a belt. Definitely an interesting bar. (No, none of us did one of those shots.)

I didn't have to worry about driving, so I had plenty of lager and was ALL over that dance floor! I had a blast.





















































The next day, K, the same friend and I went to tour the Yuengl!ng brewery, since I'd never been before. It's America's oldest brewery. We got to go inside the caves where they stored the beer before refrigeration was invented. Even in the summer, it was actually really cool in the caves.





















































































That Friday night, I volunteered to be the DD. A big group of us went out to one really quiet bar, but we eventually found ourselves back at the Co.yote Ugly-like bar. Go figure, the place was even more fun that night. They had a lot more crazy things on a packed Friday night than they had the night before. They had silly string and balloons all over the place. Everyone in our group managed to drink quite a bit -- except for me. It was a fun night, but by the time everyone else was obnoxiously plastered, I was definitely glad to see it coming to an end.
















































































That Saturday, there was an event going on that was dedicated to K's cousin. K's dad had two more reporters there to interview him. Needless to say, he was getting a little annoyed by that point.

That afternoon, there was a surprise welcome home party for K at the rec hall of the private campground where he spent his summers (and then some) with his family growing up. It was K's dad who planned it, and it was him who wanted it to be a surprise. But it was K's dad who really sucks at keeping surprises and basically told K there would be a party. Still, though, K had no idea of the extent of it.

He'd gotten the party catered for 100 or 150 people, and there were kegs of K's two favorite beers. There was a projection screen set up so we avid college football fans could enjoy the party without worrying about missing our games.

Every once in a while, K sends me pictures of him or him and the guys together that I forward on to his family and our friends so they can see for themselves that he's doing OK and is still being his goofy self. Well, my FIL had taken all those pictures and had them blown up to probably 18x24 mini-posters. They were lining the walls of the room.

Also along the walls and ceiling were tons of red, white & blue decorations. FIL had gotten a couple beer banners (M!ller Light and Yuengl!ng, which are K's faves) made that said "Welcome home [K's rank, first name, middle initial, last name]." (I thought it was funny that it had all that info -- including the middle initial -- rather than just his first name or something.)

We were able to get several of K's friends Army friends to come in. Two were friends from K's previous base, and two were from Louisiana. All four have gotten out of the Army, and they happen to live within driving distance of PA. Two of the guys had deployed and come home since we had seen them. We hadn't seen one of the guys since Thanksgiving of 2005. And one of the couples had become parents since we'd last seen them. All that definitely made for a pretty neat reunion.

The whole thing was pretty spectacular, and K was overwhelmed by the level of the surprise. What's funny is K and I hadn't seen a lot of the people there since early in the summer of 2007, which is just before we knew we were going to have to plan the quick September wedding before K deployed. Many people congratulated us but immediately said, "You didn't tell us you were getting married!" Each time, we explained that it was because we didn't know.

We were surprised to see people keep handing K cards. Some were "Welcome home" cards (they really do have cards for everything), but most of them were wedding cards. People kept saying to us, "This is like your wedding reception!" K and I exchanged confused glances and kept telling people how that's coming later, but card after card after card was given to us.

K and I kept trying to make it over to the food line so we could eat, but we kept getting stopped by different people who wanted to hug us, congratulate us and catch up with us. It really did wind up feeling like a wedding reception! Everyone else had finished dessert before we were finally able even to fix our dinner plates -- only to get briefly interrupted again.

It was fun, though, and it was great to see so many people. There was lots of drinking that night, so it was good none of us had to drive anywhere.


































































The next day, we spent a little more time with everyone before they had to head home. We hung out at the campground and rode jet skis for a bit, and then we headed back to K's house.

















We spent the rest of our time in PA relaxing and visiting with a few more people. What's funny is we're always both very ready to come home when it's time to leave PA. K's dad is a sweetheart, but he's just so ... old. He's barely older than my grandparents, but I never realized how "with it" they still are. Sure, they forget things from time to time like anyone, but with K's dad, it's a completely different story.

We spent our last day just trying to have a good sense of humor about all of it. We laughed about K's dad's insistence on constantly feeding us (It's K's mom's family who is Italian, but his dad definitely fits in well on that part). He has this habit of naming off almost everything in the refrigerator to try to find something for us to eat:

"Want some shrimp?"

"No thanks, I'm still full from lunch."

"Do you like tomatoes? I just bought some fresh ones the other day."

"No, I don't like them."

"You don't like tomatoes? Do you think K will want some?"

"Probably not. He doesn't like them either." (We'd just told him that the day before.) "Thanks, though."

"How about olives? You want some olives?"

"No thanks, really. I'm still full."

"OK. Are you sure?"

GAH!

It was definitely good to get back to Dallas and have some time to rest and be alone -- for just a few hours.

So that's the first 10 days of R&R. I'll post about the rest soon. We managed to cram even more into those last 10 than we did into the first 10.

No wonder it went so fast.

The chronicles of K

I got a little mini-catalog in the mail the other day from a retail store, and it had a coat inside that I loved. It's really pretty, and it'll go well with both casual and dressy clothes. I need a dressier coat.

Only this one is $168. I've never owned a coat that expensive. I really really like it, though, and it's a coat I could wear for years to come.

I was looking at a different retail website this afternoon, and I found a cute coat there for $70. Much closer to what I can justify spending on a coat.

But I still really like the expensive one!

So here's what I'm going to do: K and I still don't know where we'll get stationed once he gets back. If we get stationed somewhere cooler, I'll spring for the $168 coat. If we get stationed somewhere a little warmer, I'll go with the $70 coat.

I emailed K this morning and told him my decision. I got this response from him this afternoon:

I am going to wait and see if my br.anch manager sends an email out today. If not, I'm going to shoot him another one to jog his memory. My W!ffle needs to know what coat to buy!!!

*Note: R&R post is in progress. I'm hoping to post it -- with pictures! -- tonight.

Slowly getting back to the grind

A girl can really get behind on things when she disconnects herself from the rest of the world for 20 days. It's amazing what you can do in that length of time, though:

• Visit in-laws in another part of the country
• Go to the movies twice
  
• Eat Italian food many times (each at a different place, even!)
  
• Eat steak a couple times
• Get Pac!ugo ... twice (mmm!)
• Spend three and a half hours working on a wedding registry ... only to realize you've done just the kitchen and dining room (and you're not even finished with the appliances)
  
• Go on a hot air balloon ride
• Eat two whole (well, actually, it was four halves) Spr.inkles cupcakes in one 24-hour period
  
• Visit family in OK
• Tour America's oldest brewery
• Ride a jet ski
• Meet with your wedding photographer
• Meet with your reception coordinator
• Interview two DJs
• Visit an electronics superstore (HAD to get that in!)
• Have an awesome night at the piano bar with fun friends
  

And those are just the things I can think of off the top of my head. It's amazing to think of everything we crammed into the 20 days K was home. We had two big milestones, though:

1. We broke our record of consecutive days spent together. Before, we had hit 11 days on two separate occasions (once in 2005; once in 2006). This time, we made it all the way to 20 days.
   
2. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary. In our entire marriage, we have been on the same continent only 2 months and 25 days -- and those weren't even spent in the same city for a lot of that time. It's definitely not quite how I pictured married life would be when I was little!

Anyway, so obviously 20 days of time off with your husband can leave you with lots of stories and quite a few pictures to share. But it also leaves me with lots of things to catch up on. I've spent my weekday mornings getting up at 5 a.m. so I can be at the gym by 5:30 to whip my butt back into shape after nonstop eating and drinking and very little working out for 20 days straight.

I'm hoping I can give you more details and pictures from R&R tomorrow night. For now, I've got to get to sleep. 5:00 a.m. will be here before I know it ...

Long day back = vegetative evening

Today was my first day back into my little routine. I had half-joked about being afraid that after I was gone so long, when I came back to work, my boss would tell me, "You know, we worked things out really well while you were gone. We don't need you anymore."

Not the case.

I heard more than a few times today, "We're glad to have you back! We really missed you!" And work was insanely hectic. Staying busy was not a problem today.

Which means that I have vegged out tonight instead of loading pictures. Which means that my R&R posts will be delayed another day. But they will come soon. I promise.

An ironic relationship for a girl who doesn't do math

K is gone again. I can't believe how quick his R&R went -- and we even managed to get two more days together than we were supposed to. We had an awesome time, and we did quite a few cool things. We even managed to relax a little.

I'll blog about everything we did over the next few days. I've got pictures to load first, and frankly, I'm too exhausted to do it right now.

I had wondered how today would go with K leaving again. The day he left to begin the deployment was really tough. I didn't know if today would be the same.

The day K got here for his R&R, he told me, "I don't have to be back until noon on the 24th. And that's the last I want to hear of that date until it gets here." It was fine with me, so aside from mentioning the date when other people asked when K had to go back, we didn't talk about it.

Not that it snuck up on us. I started counting down in my head on Sunday night. I didn't ever say anything about it, but I know K was doing the same. Considering our relationship has been pretty much a constant string of countdowns (Five days until we get to see each other, Three hours until he has to start his drive home, Three more weeks until he's out of the field ...), we're both very used to and very aware of the little internal calendars.

Neither of us wanted to get out of bed this morning. I hit the snooze button every 10 minutes for at least an hour and a half this morning before we reluctantly got out of bed. Every once in a while during the snooze time, K or I would sit up, rub our eyes and prepare to get out of bed, only to decide the idea thoroughly sucked and plop back down onto the pillow. I think we knew it was our last morning together for a while, and neither of us was eager for it to end.

We had gotten used to sharing my little one-bedroom apartment over the last 20 days, so we went about each of our little routines to get ready for the day. When we were both ready to go, it was time to head to the airport. It was when we were walking out to my car that I felt myself tearing up for the first time. I put on my sunglasses and moved my bangs to the other side of my face to shield the tears from K. It wasn't very long before he figured it out. He started talking about something to take my mind off of it, and I was tear-free just a few minutes into the drive.

We got to the airport about 15 minutes before K had to be there. We headed to the gate K had been instructed to report to, and I was given a paper that would allow me to go through security with him. We ate lunch together and hung out with another friend who'd had the same R&R schedule as K. We were able to spend another three hours together at the airport.

A little after 3, the soldiers started boarding their flight. K and I hugged and said goodbye. I managed to surprise myself by not crying. As I watched K walk onto the plane, I was thankful I didn't have anyone around to talk to. I had a pretty large lump in my throat, but as long as I could stay quiet, I knew it would stay put and my eyes would stay mostly dry.

The day K had arrived, the volunteers at the US.O told me that on the day he leaves, I should stick around until the plane takes off just in case it was delayed. So I stayed and watched more soldiers load the plane. After a couple minutes of that, I turned to see how many were left to board. It was clear they were all boarding, so I decided to just rip off the Band-Aid and head out.

As I walked through the terminal to head back to my car, I could feel my eyes tearing up again. I picked up my pace, skirted through a baggage claim area, threw on my sunglasses and stepped outside right as my eyes spilled over. I only cried for a minute or two, and I was fine after that.

It was much easier today than it was 10 months ago this Saturday. At least this time, I know I have less than five months to go before K is back for real. That's a countdown that's much easier to handle -- especially when you consider we've got twice that under our belts already.

And the cool thing about this new five-month countdown is that it's almost a countdown to end the countdowns. When this countdown ends, we'll have three months to go before our Dallas wedding. After that exciting event, K and I will be sent to his next base.

The base where we'll get to make our first home together.

And we only have three more countdowns to go!

Maybe I should become a detective

I did quite a bit of detective work this morning (including a phone call to Amer!can A!rlines, where I wound up crying before I finished explaining my dilemma!) to figure out which flight K was on, but I did it.

I was able to get to the gate in plenty of time. In fact, I was an hour early. But better an hour early than even five minutes late!

K's flight arrived at 9 a.m., and he was on a plane full of soldiers headed home for their mid-tour leave. They got a nice welcome from the Dallas Fire Department, which had trucks on either side of the runway dousing the plane as it taxied the runway. K said it was really neat.

The U.SO and Lock.heed Mart!n had groups of people there to welcome the soldiers. It was wonderful of them to do that!

Soon after 9 a.m., they lined all of the families up on either sides of the doorway the soldiers would be coming through. As soon as the war veteran volunteer who was standing in the doorway caught sight of the first person in uniform, he cued someone to turn on patriotic music on a stereo nearby.

Two soldiers came through the door, which instantly brought tears to everyone's eyes. We clapped for them, and they shook the hands of the volunteers, who were holding up signs and waving flags.

















There was a bit of a lull before more soldiers came by. After a few minutes, I caught a glimpse of K coming toward the door.

I had wondered many times if I would cry when I saw him. But the moment I saw him, with the emotion of the music and having so many volunteers there -- not to mention my excitement over seeing my husband for the first time in nine months -- my eyes flooded and spilled over. He had the same reaction. (Honestly, I don't think anyone left there with a dry eye!)

We hugged for the longest time, and then a volunteer offered to take a picture of us. We kissed quickly after the photo, and a few female volunteers ran up and said, "Kiss her again!"






































It's wonderful to have him here again. I didn't know what it would be like for the first day or so (it took about half a day for things to feel normal again when he returned from Afghanistan), but it really feels like he never left, which is amazing.

Now, if you don't mind, I'll leave you with these pictures for a day or two. I'm gonna go spend time with my hubby!

(By the way, Piper TOTALLY remembered K! She was really excited to see him and has been lying by him and enjoying playing with him all day!)

Guess his itinerary left him with no time to call

There's nothing like waking before 5:00 in the morning and realizing that in mere hours, I'll get to see my husband for the first time in over 9 months ...

and then realizing that I have no idea what flight he's on, where the flight is coming from, or which of the five terminals (and umpteen billion gates) I'll need to meet him at.

It's funny how I THOUGHT I was completely ready for him to get here

I got a call from K just after 1:00 this morning. He had gotten his flight info, which told him he was scheduled to arrive in Dallas bright and early Friday morning.

EEEEK!

I haven't slept well since Monday night. Last night was no different, but that news definitely didn't help. I tried to go back to sleep after we hung up, but my mind was reeling over the things I needed to do.

I knew I wouldn't be able to clear my head until I made a to-do list, so I got up and turned on a dim little night light so I could organize my thoughts. It helped a little. It at least made me feel better, although once I finally got back to sleep, I was still stuck in that torturous state between dreamland and being awake thanks to a subconscious that was going over everything from possible things I'd forgotten to add to my to-do list to how Piper will react when she sees K again for the first time in over 9 months.

When I got to work, the coworkers I work closest with had all planned a surprise patriotic party for me! They had decorated the area with miniature American flags, and we had a delicious homemade casserole with sun-dried tomatoes, homemade bread, eggs and who knows what else (it was amazing!). We had mimosas, strawberries and canteloupe ... and brownies! It was a really sweet surprise.

And then my day really began. I had to email all our family and friends and tell them when K is arriving. I had to email anyone who could possibly need to know that my time off work had been bumped up a day. I had to ramp people up on my projects.

And in the middle of the day, I had to go get a Brazilian wax.

(You didn't think that was all I was going to say about that, did you?) For a girl who's never even had her eyebrows waxed, let's just say it was an experience. It was painful at times. It was uncomfortable most of the time. But it's done. (Whew!)

So now it's time for me to leave work. For the last time for almost the rest of the month. Crazy!

Which means it's time for me to go do all those things on my to-do list.

I'll post pictures of the arrival tomorrow. Eee!

How the heck am I supposed to concentrate like this?

I just got a call from K. He left early, early this morning to start heading this way. So far, he's ahead of schedule, but he's got 24 hours until his next flight.

He'll get his itinerary around 11 or 11:30 my time (tonight), so we'll have a better idea of his scheduled arrival time (could be earlier or later, obviously) then.

He's already finished with the first half of the traveling, which is the hardest part because it's the part where you're most likely to encounter random, unforeseen delays and such.

Now, he could be here as early as Friday!

Looks like my "for ultimate freshness" tasks might need to be moved up to tomorrow night!

Xanax, anyone?*

I had such a productive weekend! I was supposed to go to the lake with Heather and Elle, but I had to cancel. I realized that although I was really looking forward to going, it would leave me hardly any time to get things ready for K's arrival.

Saturday morning, I was able to sleep in until around 10. Considering it was the first time since the week before the 15k (that was mid-July, people!) that I'd gotten to sleep in past 5:15 (OK, one time in there I got to sleep until 5:45), I took full advantage of it!

As soon as I woke, I started cleaning. I steam-cleaned my carpet and my couch. I dusted. I did laundry. I cleaned my bathroom.

I took my car to get my tires rotated and balanced. I had my car inspected.

I shredded papers and organized. I cleared off my cluttered kitchen table. I vacuumed twice (once before and once after the carpet cleaning).

AND I managed to watch a little football when I glanced up from my chores from time to time.

Saturday night, I had company. One of our friend's wives is staying in Louisiana while our husbands are deployed. I had talked to her a few times online and over email, but I'd never met her or even really spoken to her. Well, last week, we were getting email after email from the colonel's wife and the family group about hurricane preparations. I sent Krys (the friend) an email telling her she was welcome to stay with me if she wanted to escape the storm.

She called me Thursday night, and the plans were set! She arrived in Dallas Saturday evening, so we met for the first time. My productivity halted once she got to my place, but considering I'd done so much already that day, I didn't mind.

Sunday morning, I drove her to the airport so she could fly home to her parents' house in case she had to wait out repairs from the storm. I think she was worried about her stay extending into K's R&R.

When I got back home from the airport, the productivity continued. I got the oil changed in my car. I organized more papers and straightened up my closet. I did more laundry.

I ran errands and got a pedicure, since I'd managed to stump my toe and lose half a toenail in Saturday's feverish cleaning. (I know, ew, I'm sorry. But it HAD to be done before K gets back!) Then, I met Dan!elle and some other friends for dinner, since they were in town shopping for the day. (The weekend couldn't be all work and no play!)

Monday, I went through all of K's things that were stashed around my apartment. I found his sunglasses, his phone charger, his cologne, his watches (dressy one and the casual one I got him for his birthday the first year we were together) ...

I started rewashing all his laundry. When I realized we'd set aside only one pair of jeans for him (especially since they're loose fit, eek!), I ran to Amer!can Eagle to take advantage of their sale on jeans (fitted boot cut, thank you!) so he wouldn't constantly be wearing the same pair if he wasn't wearing shorts.

I bought a little three-drawer bin for him to use as a dresser while he's here. Eighteen days just isn't enough time for me to go through the impossible hassle of clearing enough room for his things in my dresser and closet! And I'm sure after being in "the sandbox" for over 9 months, he won't mind if his dresser is a plastic bin. Plus, this way, he gets his own space, which I honestly thought would be nicer than squeezing his stuff in with mine.

So aside from buying Miller Light (I'm waiting until Friday night for ultimate freshness!), baking cookies (waiting until Saturday or even Sunday, again for ultimate freshness!) and giving Piper a bath (waiting until Saturday ... you guessed it, for ultimate freshness!), :) I'm all set for K to arrive.

The trouble is, now I'm incredibly anxious. I can't quit thinking about it. It's hard for me to concentrate, and I can't ignore this intense, constant feeling of excitement and urgency!

And I still have five days to go!!!

I'm going to be a total basketcase by Sunday!


*I'm pretty sure the ridiculous amount of parenthesis in this post is further evidence of my extreme anxiety and increasing insanity.

Talking numbers

• Days since K's birthday: 2
• Age K turned on said birthday: 30
• Amount of time passed in K's deployment: 9 months, 1 day

(People, this means babies have been conceived and born since I last saw my husband. Actually, I think I've read about one of them!)

• Amount left in deployment: less than 5 months!

(Take that, baby makers!)

• Days until K's and my first anniversary: 25
• Days until hot air balloon ride: 19

Now for my favorite:

• DAYS LEFT UNTIL I SEE K:

10!!!

I'm not riding my bike again for a long time

The Ho.tter'N Hell Hund.red was last Saturday. (I had a few other things to catch you up on first.) I rode all 102 miles. It's over. Thank goodness.


The starting line. Notice how it's still dark.
















The ride started after the Army band played the national anthem. Then, there was a flyover, and a canon was fired.
















Looking back over downtown W!chita Falls.











One of the early rest stops had flags lining both sides of the road leading up to it. It was really cool. I didn't take this at a very good angle -- the flags looked much closer together from the middle of the road.
















At the rest stop just before what's known as Hell's Gate, this guy was spraying people down with a water hose. It felt awesome!
















The HHH is known for Hell's Gate. In fact, one of the quotes you hear often about the ride is "Hell's G.ate sets the standard." Because of the intense heat that you experience in August in Texas, there's a time limit if you want to complete the 100-mile route. To enforce the time limit, they have Hell's Gate, which falls 60 miles into the ride. It usually closes at 12:30, but they have medical technicians who determine if it needs to be closed earlier due to weather conditions. It can close as early as 11:00. (Those who reach Hell's Gate after it has closed are rerouted to an 80-mile path.)
















It's Hell's Gate! It looks different than I thought it would. :)





















This is the "unofficial rest stop" I'd heard so much about from people I know who'd ridden the HHH before. It used to be just a man and several people handing out beers on the side of the road. I heard it was cheap, warm and just half-a-cup worth, but everyone who told me about it swore it's the best beer you'll ever have.
















The stop usually falls at mile 98. The route was 102 miles this year, so the stop fell at mile 100. That wasn't all that had changed. They had six kegs, each a different kind of beer. They even had hot links and chili!





















AJ and I, both done with the ride. AJ's computer on her bike said that it was 106 degrees during the ride. It factored in road heat, so that was higher than the actual temperature. But considering we definitely feel the road heat, I say it was 106!
















No more getting up at 5:15 on Saturdays for training rides!!! Woohoo!

Done with the drama

I almost forgot to post about my unwelcome surprise. I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still "tomorrow" for me, even if the clock doesn't say so.

The "unwelcome surprise" on my birthday wasn't really that much of a surprise. I didn't know it was coming, but when it was there, it wasn't completely unexpected.

I was at the bar with all the girls, and I was checking my email on my phone to see if I'd heard from K. My phone began downloading a new message, which I was sure was from him.

Wrong! It was from my mom. This was the first time I'd heard from her since the attempt at dress shopping in July. Go figure. I immediately said to the girls, "My mom just sent me an effing email."

I kid you not, every one of them almost simultaneously said, "Don't read it now. Don't let her ruin your birthday." Pretty sad, huh?

I won't bore or disgust you with the full contents of the email, but here are some of the highlights (and by that, I mean low points).


The dramatic beginning

Tomorrow you turn 25 and yet I still remember every detail of your face the first time I saw you as a nurse held you out for me to see. I hope you have a wonderful day.

I’ve struggled these past weeks trying to turn over in my mind what to say to you after our most recent disaster of my trying to come see you. And sadly, I am still at a total loss for words although I have thought about it for countless hours.

Getting to the middle

In a sermon the other day the following question was posed: If you are estranged from someone, for whatever reason, and you get that phone call that says, “I’m calling to tell you that he/she has died”, can you honestly say that you have done everything possible to mend the fence?

I fully acknowledge that there were too many times that I failed as a wife and a mother. I fully acknowledge that I caused severe emotional and physical pain to the people I loved the most in the world. And I sincerely apologize.

You asked me that day I tried to visit you why I have to cry all the time. I am totally mystified as to why after five or six years of this, you don’t cry at all. To answer your question however, the reason I cry is that I miss my children. I miss the smell and feel of your hair as I kiss you hello and goodbye and all the other little, trivial things that happen between a mother and daughter. Most of all, I miss feeling at ease around you.

(For the record, my family does not kiss hello or goodbye. We never have. Just more proof that she lives in her own, false little world.)

[Next, she goes off on some weird, random, pointless story about her mother, who -- guess what? -- she doesn't get along with. At least it runs in the family.]

The even-more-dramatic-than-the-beginning exit

The point that I am trying to make is that I want to be your mother and to try to make up for the times I let you down but until you are ready…ready to forgive and ready to start over, then there is nothing that I can do. I will not be spoken to ever again the way you spoke to me that day and all the other days just like it.

Although I want more than anything in this world to be a part of your life and for you to be part of my mine, I will not sacrifice myself anymore or accept any less than to be treated with respect.

It breaks my heart that all this time has gone by without you in my life but until you want me in your life, I will not expect anything of you. It hurts too much.

I have done everything I know to do.

I will not be responding to this email, since nothing I have to say to her would be kind or respectful. Honestly, I'm done trying for now (guess she's missing the Dallas wedding too). It may sound harsh, but in the end, I think it's best for both of us. I really think it's just what I have to do.

My birthday weekend (only a week late!)

Man, have I been busy lately! And there have been a lot of pictures to post, which always seems to delay my blogging. But things are finally slowing down (for a few days), so hopefully I can catch you up. Here's what happened the weekend before last -- with pictures!

Friday, Aug. 15:
I left work at 2, then went home to clean my apartment from top to bottom. I realized I was starting to sort of nest, but I can't really call it that since I'm not pregnant (it's literally scientifically impossible). I told K about it later, and he called it either QCing (Quality Control) or Preparing for Inspection. Both are so, so appropriate.

Either way, I found myself doing major, obvious things like vacuuming and scrubbing sinks. I did productive but less obvious things like vacuuming my couch. And then I did ridiculous things like shred papers and vacuum walls (stupid dust bunnies form in the texture from the paint).

That night, I went to an early birthday dinner with Brit, then came home to finish cleaning.


Saturday, Aug. 16:
I got up at 5:15 to go to my last training ride for the Ho.tter'N Hell Hundr.ed. We rode 84 miles. I got home a little after 3 (we rode in the middle of nowhere), showered, ate lunch, and then took a 45-minute nap.

I woke up when Rachel and Addy (two of my three college roomies) got here from OK to celebrate my birthday. We talked for a bit, then got cleaned up and headed out to dinner. I wore a comfy green dress with the hot 4-inch heels I got a few months ago but hadn't worn yet (I never wear heels that tall!).






















Heather, Elle, AJ and Shel (my coworker) met Rachel, Addy and me for a girls' night. One of AJ's friends joined us, and it worked out well because everyone had at least one person there that they knew well. We were able to see Michael Phel.ps get his 8th gold medal just before we left the restaurant. Everyone was cheering and shouting as we watched. It was fun.

































My yummy birthday cookie. We all enjoyed this thing!
















I enjoyed it so much that, in a desperate attempt to not leave any in the dish, I managed to get cookie AND ice cream on my dress. On my 25th birthday. (Hey, you're never too old to get that excited over chocolate!)





















Then, it was on to my favorite bar, the piano bar! Shel wasn't able to join us, which was a bummer, but we all had a great, hilarious time.

















Addy, me and Rachel
















Blogger buddies! Heather, me and Elle
















Elle bought me my choice for a birthday shot ...
















... and THEN told me she doesn't like tequila!
















We all started getting silly by the end of the night ...





















... which is how it should be!





















We left the bar around 1:30, and when we got home, I was so exhausted I just crashed on my floor. I have this thing about letting guests sleep in my bed, and I'll take the couch, floor or air mattress (I've done that since I was little). Since I was smoky from the bar, I wouldn't get on my couch, and since I was too tired to care about showering first, I was plenty happy with the floor. And I slept great.


Sunday, Aug. 17: (my 25th birthday)
Despite the late night, I woke up early that morning. Rachel or Addy had put a blanket on me in the night, and I put it under my head to use as a pillow. I was able to doze off again for just a little bit and woke up a little after 9. I knew I was awake for good, so I just laid in my floor running through the previous night again. After about 20 minutes, I thought it was late enough to get up and make some breakfast for the three of us. I baked some cinnamon rolls and took Piper outside.

The girls were still out cold, so I hopped in the shower. Just as I was finished, K called to wish me a happy birthday. We were only able to talk for a few minutes, since it was the middle of the day in Iraq and he had work to do.

Rachel and Addy finally woke up, so we ate cinnamon rolls, hung out for a bit, and then headed out for greasy cheeseburgers and fried goodness (cheese fries, beer-battered onion rings and sweet potato fries).






































After that, we went shopping. I bought a new pair of polarized sunglasses and some workout gear from an outlet mall. Great deal on the workout gear; not so much on the sunglasses, but oh well. It was my birthday. And they're my eyes. They need to be protected!

Soon after shopping, the girls had to head back to OK. As soon as they left, I got in my car and headed to AJ's so we could go downtown and watch some friends of ours whose band was playing. I really just wanted to hang out and go to bed early, but we'd already told the guys we'd be there. Their band was really good, so I'll probably go see them again sometime when I've got a little more energy.

When I got home, I was so exhausted. I needed to shower and wash my sheets, but since I didn't feel like waiting for them to wash and dry, I just set my alarm for a little earlier than usual so I could shower Monday morning.

K called me at about 1:30 that night. I was so out of it in our conversation that the next morning, I wasn't even sure how long we'd talked or that I remembered everything we talked about. Oops!

Rather than give them to me late once he gets here for R&R, K sent me my birthday presents in the mail. He got me the OU bag I wanted and a Son!care toothbrush. He just got a new Son!care himself a few months ago, and he loved it so much he had joked about getting me one for my birthday. I told him I didn't care, that I'd use it and probably like it, so I wasn't really surprised that he sent it. And for the record, that thing is AWESOME! I love it!

He also sent me the best birthday card ever. The card itself was nice, but nothing groundbreaking as far as cards go. K took the liberty of personalizing it, though, which was cute. But then he wrote me a note that took up the whole left side of the card. It was the sweetest thing I've ever read. It made me miss him even more, but it made me really excited that we'll get to see each other soon.

Nothing like a great birthday to make you feel like the luckiest girl on earth.


Tomorrow, I'll blog about another birthday surprise, which was definitely not a welcome one. I bet some of you can guess what it is ...