Where did the summer go?!

Redeployment blues,…
Well, Corey left for Afghanistan yesterday, at the absolute butt crack of dawn.  We live 2+ hours from the airport so we left home at 0230.  That meant, for me, getting up at 0130.  That, well, SUCKED!  We went to bed early, so early that neither of us were able to fall asleep until it was almost pointless.  So, I got a whole hour or so of sleep before getting up!  YAY!  NOT!!  I thought Corey was nuts, wanting to leave at 0230, since his flight wasn’t until 0630, but, as it turns out, the man was right to leave so early.  Getting to the airport wasn’t the problem.  The fun began once we were there.  Suprisingly, the place was busy as hell, even at that hour of the morning, but they are high speed, low drag, and we got through the line fairly quickly, especially since he only had to check his ruck sack as baggage.  So we headed upstairs to go through security.  We got there and realized we had forgotten to ask for a guest pass for me to go to the gate with him.  So, back downstairs we went, back into the same lines we had just left.  AARRGG!  But it was quick and back upstairs we went.  Then the real fun began.  I went through without a problem.  It was the soldier that had to go through hell, all for the dubious honor of going back to Afghanistan!!  He emptied his pockets and took off his belt.  Lucky for him, his boots aren’t fitted with metal shanks so they let him keep those on.  But the machine didn’t like him.  That was when he realized he had forgotten to remove his dog tags.  Fine, another attempt.  No good.  They reset it and had him go again.  Still no good.  So they stuck him in this little glass enclosure for another scan, making him look like he was in a cell!  No good.  They took him out, used the wand all over his legs and it kept going off in places where there was NOTHING!  It went nuts on his arm and that was when he realized he had forgotten a tiny piece of shrapnel in his pocket, a souvenir from a too-close rocket hit a few months ago.  But, even with that out, he still set it off.  They frisked him so thoroughly that I think he should have been bought dinner first!  It is an experience to watch your man be so thoroughly felt up by a team of people!!  They never did find a thing, and he was finally let through,… after almost an hour of intimate touching!  They definately earned their money that day!

So he is gone now, somewhere between Germany and Kuwait by now, I assume.  I came home, an adventure in itself as tired as I was, and took Ka’lani to his middle school orientation.  I tried so hard to stay functional, but by about 1345, I realized I was losing the battle.  Other than a few spurts of consciousness, I was toast until the alarm went off this morning!!  I was so tired that I could barely say my own name!

The end of summer already?
I can’t believe summer is over already.  It feels like it just started but the kids go back to school on Thursday.  I can’t believe Donovan is going to be a flippin’ SENIOR!!  How is it possible that I am old enough for that?!  Ka’lani will be starting 7th grade, Scott in 3rd, and Ty in 1st.  Where does the time go?!  And Donovan’s 17th birthday is next Friday, too.  17!!!  How did THAThappen?!

This summer has definately been one of change and unexpected things.  There have definately been a lot of ups and downs, many of which are still going on with me.  But the ups have made the downs easier to deal with.  Corey was home for the last two weeks, which was WONDERFUL and came at the perfect time.  The kids and I did some fun things this summer which was a great break from some serious amounts of stress.  Somehow, I have reconnected, AND been friendly with my ex-husband, which has definately been an awkward thing in many ways, but still a positive thing.  I am reconnecting with his sister and mother, too, which was DEFINATELY unexpected.  I always liked his mom, though.  Weirder things have happened, I supposed, but none come to mind!!