Saturday, October 30, 2004

Catchin' Up and G.I. Who?

Hello, F.O.T.E.'s! My, my, but it's been a while since I had the chance to post! Let me tell you the nutshell version:
After our "Wunnerful, wunnerful" dinner out with The Ram, he actually got to come home for a night, to gather his gear for mobilization. (He had been at "pre-mobilization" up to that point...I know, it's confusing...:-) After one night here, The Flock and I (sounds like a musical, eh?) took him up to Town Four-Hours-Away for his Mobilization Ceremony and the actual getting-on-the-bus. The first "night" in the hotel started at 2 a.m. when we arrived. We had wanted to leave here that night at 6 p.m. to arrive there at 10. BUT, we kept finding things that had to go, so The Ram would have to partially unpack, repack, reposition, etc. You know, packing those Army things is scientifically formulated, and, No, you can't just throw stuff in there any old way. If you leave Item X out, you've got to unpack down to where Item X's home is in the duffel. LOL So, anyway, we left much later than we meant to. We did make good time, though, as little bladders were sleeping. :-)
The next day, Carnival organized our hotel room, completely unpacking our suitcase and giving everything a home. I was so impressed. I don't generally use those drawers in hotel rooms--I imagine all sorts of unsavory things that could have been in there. But Carnival pointed out that I had brought the Lysol spray (ok, I know you're laughing at me) and that we could spray the drawers well before she put the clothes there. I had no reasonable argument against that AND I want to strongly encourage any little sprout of Organization that pops up, so I let her. You know what? It was soooo nice to have everyone's clothing separated out. Really helped in getting ready in the mornings...much better than digging through a suitcase full of 5 people's clothing. (You're still laughing.)
We enjoyed the evenings with The Ram there at Town Four-Hours-Away. We didn't expect to get to see him much, but we did have the nights with him. It was great. The Flock and I ate breakfast and lunch in the hotel room, then we all went out for dinner each night. Extravagant, yes, but well worth it.
The Ram's Mobilization Ceremony and the bus departure were emotional, but meaningful. Most of the tears had already been shed and it was very buoying to be surrounded with so many well-wishers. The Ram's parents had come to see him off, and it was great to be with them.
We returned home in the middle of the week and are attempting to re-organize life into some sort of routine. We were running errands yesterday, and when 3 p.m. rolled around, I panicked for a minute, thinking, "We've got to get home and get supper started!" Then I remembered The Ram wouldn't be coming at 4:30 and there was no need to rush home. Felt strange.
Now for "G.I. Who?"...During The Ram's packing, he came across a stack of B.D.U's ( some would call them "fatigues" or "cammies"). He carefully packed in each one until...HUH? There was one with someone else's name tape on it. I had just picked them all up from the cleaners and obviously a mistake had been made. We imagined Soldier X coming across a jacket with The Ram's name on it and his doing the same double take we did. So, we set the B.D.U. aside for me to return to the cleaners when we got home. So, I took it back yesterday. The clerk (who'd been somewhat rude with me when I dropped the uniforms off last week) was very apologetic and quick to "make things right." The Ram borrowed a line from Winnie the Pooh and said she was a "more humble Tigger." Soldier X was happy to get his jacket back, I'm sure. :-)
Well, I must close for now. Many, many things are screaming for attention. Keep us in your prayers and I'll pray for you, too.
Y'all keep your wool dry!
The Ewe

2 comments:

Lisa-Anne said...

Hello Darling,
Sending you much love and many prayers!!!!!!!
Hugs and blessings,
Lisa-Anne

Anonymous said...

Praying for you guys!
Love you,
Jessica