I am going home in just a few days, the process however is not as simple. It will be long days of flights and paperwork, sporadic sleep and time changes that will for sure make me walk around like a zombie. Up until this point I never believed I would be going home. I knew at some point I had to but I never made plans or even allowed myself to get too happy. The sarcastic side of me was just waiting for something to go wrong. My other, more positive side was hoping for the best.
Now I feel like I'm awaking from anesthesia after surgery. The numbness is starting to subside, you can tell by my posts, you can see the change of frequency and tone of my posts. Fortunately I ended up in a very good place, the American Embassy. The living conditions are great but nothing beats being home with my loved ones. I have worked non-stop for almost a year now, 10-12 hour days, seven days a week. Some of us have compared pictures of when we first left and we certainly look tired now. I met someone who I hadn't seen in months and he looked so tired!
With the wedding being just over a month from now I am finally starting to feel alive and excited, not that I wasn't before but now that I am going home I know this is for real! I miss Mr. E so much but I've been too tired to dwell on it. Now that I am going home I am starting to get excited about seeing him again. I miss him so much! My family finally made their travel reservations for the wedding, my dress arrived around Thanksgiving, my jewelry is almost done. This is so real!
I am a very girly girl and fortunately there is a beauty salon where I can splurge on little things like a manicure and pedicure. I have not worn civilian clothes in something like 42 weeks (I didn't count the mid-tour vacation) and I can't wait to get back in my jeans.
I will miss a few things:
The people (well, some of them)
Free food and water
Free gym
Free laundry services
Free first class mail
Free uniforms
Being relatively bill free
I will not miss:
THE DUST
Lack of colors, flowers, trees, etc
Violence
Lack of cell phone
Lack of civilian clothes
Inability to drink (not that I really drink)
Being away from family and friends
The time difference
Thank you so much for sticking around during the last year, I trully appreciate you! Now, I need ideas on how to keep my mind occupied while we travel. Any ideas?
5 comments:
Yea!! Welcome home!
Thank you JoJo!!
Welcome back! I know coming back can be good and hard at the same time!
Arriving home is the BEST. I love the scene at the airport with the USO (and their fruit bags). That part of the waiting (at the airport) seems to take the longest though. We just welcomed a coworker back to Baltimore Airport a few weeks ago.
Thanks everyone! I'm finally stateside but my body is still in the middle east, I'll feel better as soon as I can have a good nights rest.
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