I love traveling and going on vacations. Getting away from it all, relaxing, and experiencing new things are among my favorite things to do. But, hands down, the part I enjoy the most is coming home. There’s just something about our house, our bed, our routine, that I crave. Always, on the last day of any vacation, I will wake up in the morning and say “Today we get to go home!”
Last week, I had to attend a conference in Long Beach for work. Since Roger had some time off, we decided to make a little vacation out of it. We drove down to LA on Saturday morning and stopped in Valencia to visit Stacy. Sunday, we drove to Sunset Beach where we did some shopping and found the best little Greek food stand that made baklava milkshakes! Yum! Monday, we headed a few miles north to Long Beach, went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and discovered another Greek restaurant with the most delicious food I’ve ever eaten. The conference started on Tuesday, so while I was attending briefings, Roger and Kaelyn were able to go shopping and hang out at the beach. The weather wasn’t the best, but they had a good time. They even discovered a bookstore where everything was $1. We were able to get several children’s books and cookbooks. Thursday late afternoon, after the conference, we headed back home. And of course, by that time, I was really looking forward to it. We got home around 11:30pm and all of us pretty much passed out. Kaelyn slept the best she had all week that night.
Our time home was short lived…about 12 hours max. Friday morning, we got up early and started packing for our annual rafting trip. Roger had a quick repair job that morning, so most of the prep work was up to me. Luckily, Kaelyn slept in and even went down for her morning nap at the regular time, making it much easier for me to pack our things. We spent the next three days camping. The weather was perfect, but the river was low. I rafted for half a day and managed to get thrown out of the boat when we hit a rock too hard. Again, Sunday afternoon, when we packed up to leave, I was more than happy. I had Monday off too, so Alan and Jennifer were able to stop by for the day and hang out. They’ll be back next weekend too, which I’m really looking forward to.
Now, things are back to normal. Kae is on her regular routine, which means all of us are resting easier. Our front courtyard is done and it’s beautiful! So, not only do we get to enjoy being home, but we have a new project completed to enjoy on top of it. It couldn’t be better!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
There I Was
“There I was” is a kind of game that Air Force fighter pilots play. One of them will stand up and tell some sort of story and then everyone joins in for a good laugh, a cheer, and some alcohol. Of all the times I’ve been in presence of this little ritual, I can’t say that I’ve ever listened to an entire story. I just don’t have the attention span…not to mention that the parts I do listen to don’t seem as great as the other pilots make them out to be. I guess it’s one of those things that if you’re not “in”, then you’ll never get it. And that’s just fine with me.
But last night, I was reminded of it. Not because of fighter pilots, but because last night was one of those moments in life that I’ll always remember. I was playing cards with my husband. Kaelyn had been asleep for almost an hour. It was one of those rare moments that I actually lost (and didn’t care). We were trying to decide if we would keep going on our current game, or just give Roger the win and start a new one. My cell phone was on the coffee table and I grabbed it. I just wanted to check up on a friend on Facebook. But, I never got to it. The first statuses that greeted me were mostly from old West Point friends, talking about military operations and victories. I’m sort of used to seeing posts like that from those guys and didn’t pay much attention for the first five seconds. Then it hit me. “Something happened.” That’s what I told Roger. He looked at me puzzled. Then, just another quick look at my feed and I got the answer. “Bin Laden is dead!” We turned on the tv and watched the news for the next few hours. A simple card game, emblazed in my memory forever.
There are a few times in history that I remember like this. When the Challenger exploded…I was in fifth grade. My teacher sent me and a boy (a trouble maker) to the library to run some errand. The tv was on and the librarian let us stay for a few minutes to watch the shuttle take off. Then it exploded. I wasn’t even sure what I was seeing. But, I knew something was wrong. We went back to our classroom and the boy told our teacher what happened. He was talking fast and excitedly. Our teacher said that it wasn’t funny. He shouldn’t say things like that. Then I said “It’s true.” Silence. The principal made an announcement, we had a moment of silence, and then we were sent home for the day.
I remember the day Princess Diana died. I was visiting a friend from West Point at Fort Knox. I was already a student at Purdue and it was a short drive down. He and I went to the movies and saw “Event Horizon”. The movie freaked me out and I didn’t want it to be the last thing I did that night so we went back to his apartment and turned on Saturday Night live…because it’s light hearted and funny. Then the show was interrupted with the news. But, I didn’t realize it at first. I thought I was still watching the show, and I told my friend “This isn’t funny at all! What a sick joke!” We changed the channel and saw that it was real.
On September 11, I was living in Japan, so it was already night time when it happened. There was a typhoon that night and our command centers were up prepping for the storm damage. I had the night off, and attended a dinner over at a friend’s house. It was raining pretty hard and I had just moved there, not familiar with the area. One of the guys said that if the roads were too flooded for me to drive back to my house, he’d call and tell me to stay. I was tired and after half an hour decided to leave and take my chances. Then the phone rang. My friends called for me to wait…because it was him. All I heard was “a plane crashed into the World Trade Center? Was it an accident or terrorists?” The house I was in didn’t have a television, so we attempted to log on the internet and get the news. By that time, the second plane had hit, and then we knew. We woke the guy next door up and told him we needed to watch his tv. He was confused, but let us in. Then we saw the images of the Pentagon. At that moment, I knew things would never be the same.
There are other things I remember…when we captured Hussein, when I first heard Roger’s name, where I was standing the moment I first heard that my favorite aunt had unexpectedly passed away.
And last night was another one of those moments. One of those times that something totally routine and innocuous becomes a memory. Moments that would otherwise be forgotten…a fifth grade trip to the library, a Saturday Night Live Show, a dinner, a card game…become important. They turn into a story I will tell Kaelyn…”Eight years before you were born, a tragedy occurred…then when you weren’t even two yet, while you were sleeping peacefully in your crib, a victory!”
But last night, I was reminded of it. Not because of fighter pilots, but because last night was one of those moments in life that I’ll always remember. I was playing cards with my husband. Kaelyn had been asleep for almost an hour. It was one of those rare moments that I actually lost (and didn’t care). We were trying to decide if we would keep going on our current game, or just give Roger the win and start a new one. My cell phone was on the coffee table and I grabbed it. I just wanted to check up on a friend on Facebook. But, I never got to it. The first statuses that greeted me were mostly from old West Point friends, talking about military operations and victories. I’m sort of used to seeing posts like that from those guys and didn’t pay much attention for the first five seconds. Then it hit me. “Something happened.” That’s what I told Roger. He looked at me puzzled. Then, just another quick look at my feed and I got the answer. “Bin Laden is dead!” We turned on the tv and watched the news for the next few hours. A simple card game, emblazed in my memory forever.
There are a few times in history that I remember like this. When the Challenger exploded…I was in fifth grade. My teacher sent me and a boy (a trouble maker) to the library to run some errand. The tv was on and the librarian let us stay for a few minutes to watch the shuttle take off. Then it exploded. I wasn’t even sure what I was seeing. But, I knew something was wrong. We went back to our classroom and the boy told our teacher what happened. He was talking fast and excitedly. Our teacher said that it wasn’t funny. He shouldn’t say things like that. Then I said “It’s true.” Silence. The principal made an announcement, we had a moment of silence, and then we were sent home for the day.
I remember the day Princess Diana died. I was visiting a friend from West Point at Fort Knox. I was already a student at Purdue and it was a short drive down. He and I went to the movies and saw “Event Horizon”. The movie freaked me out and I didn’t want it to be the last thing I did that night so we went back to his apartment and turned on Saturday Night live…because it’s light hearted and funny. Then the show was interrupted with the news. But, I didn’t realize it at first. I thought I was still watching the show, and I told my friend “This isn’t funny at all! What a sick joke!” We changed the channel and saw that it was real.
On September 11, I was living in Japan, so it was already night time when it happened. There was a typhoon that night and our command centers were up prepping for the storm damage. I had the night off, and attended a dinner over at a friend’s house. It was raining pretty hard and I had just moved there, not familiar with the area. One of the guys said that if the roads were too flooded for me to drive back to my house, he’d call and tell me to stay. I was tired and after half an hour decided to leave and take my chances. Then the phone rang. My friends called for me to wait…because it was him. All I heard was “a plane crashed into the World Trade Center? Was it an accident or terrorists?” The house I was in didn’t have a television, so we attempted to log on the internet and get the news. By that time, the second plane had hit, and then we knew. We woke the guy next door up and told him we needed to watch his tv. He was confused, but let us in. Then we saw the images of the Pentagon. At that moment, I knew things would never be the same.
There are other things I remember…when we captured Hussein, when I first heard Roger’s name, where I was standing the moment I first heard that my favorite aunt had unexpectedly passed away.
And last night was another one of those moments. One of those times that something totally routine and innocuous becomes a memory. Moments that would otherwise be forgotten…a fifth grade trip to the library, a Saturday Night Live Show, a dinner, a card game…become important. They turn into a story I will tell Kaelyn…”Eight years before you were born, a tragedy occurred…then when you weren’t even two yet, while you were sleeping peacefully in your crib, a victory!”
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