Hi all...sorry I haven't posted in a while, but it's only because there really hasn't been a whole lot to post about. Adam has frequently been going on extended and/or overnight training operations, which means that his sleep schedule is completely off. It also means he hasn't had a lot of time to use the phone or the internet. From what he says, more and more soldiers arrive in Kuwait daily, and the base is completely overloaded. Right now, he shares a giant tent with about 50 other guys, so he says he's looking forward to getting to their base in Iraq where it should just be two guys to a room in barracks-style living. Other things that have happened due to the huge influx of soldiers this past week involve waiting in line for everything and a completely jammed internet system. The only place on the whole base where he can use the internet is in the Starbucks, which he has to stand in line for about an hour and a half just to get into. This has led to a shortage of communication on his end (although he said he finds it amusing to sit down and read a few days' worth of emails from me in a row because he gets to watch my emotions change depending on the circumstances of the day), which has been a little frustrating for me. It's not that I'm worried about his safety, per se, I just miss him terribly and even a few lines of an email are enough to brighten my whole week. It's also tough because many people who are deployed are getting to use the internet to video chat and whatnot every day, and right now he can't even send me a picture or anything because it's such a slow connection. We're hoping that maybe once they get to Iraq he will have better internet so we can be in touch more often.
On my end of things, my internship winds down this week, and I'm really sad to see it end. I've enjoyed my time in the Office of Student Engagement very much, and hope to continue working with them over the next year. Next week is my last week of my ACE practicum as well, and then it's back to work in the Career Center for the next year. I can't wait to get back to all of my CC peeps and start thinking about GARP (eek...already?!?!). In other news, my camera finally came today from Amazon, so hopefully I'll be able to start posting some pictures of Brady, the house, etc. for those who don't live in Columbia and would like to see more about these things.
Anyway, hope everyone is having a great week. Enjoy your hump day tomorrow!
D
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Snip snip
Well, it's really hot in Columbia and the wedding has been over for more than two months sooooo...eight inches later, I am a whole lot "lighter" :-)
I didn't realize how long my hair had gotten (because I wear it up every day) until the stylist brushed it out and it was halfway down my back. I also didn't realize how much I missed having short hair until I had it back again. Btw, I go to Erin at 7 Doors Salon on Sumter, and she was recommended to me last summer by Heather. She is fabulous, and also did great color for me over the winter. If you live in Cola, definitely consider seeing her for a great haircut/style/color/etc.
Hope everyone is having a great day. I haven't heard from Adam for a few days, but I'll make sure to update when I do!
D
Monday, July 13, 2009
Made it to Kuwait
Over the weekend, Adam dropped me an email to let me know that he has officially made it to the base in Kuwait. They had a total flying time of about 14 hours, with more than 10 hours of layovers. Obviously, their sleep schedules are all messed up, but they're being given about five days to get back on track, and have been told that their main responsibilities right now are to drink water, rest, and regain their strength. A large portion of Adam's unit is sick right now, and that includes him :-( It's a cold-type thing, stuffy nose, cough, all that fun stuff. He thinks it's a combination of climate change, travel, weird sleep schedule, and close quarters.
Adam reports that the food from the chow hall is really good, and is actually provided by an outside vendor (that explains a lot). The base where they are is the base that almost all troops entering the Middle East stop at to do their "climitization" time, so it's pretty well built up. He said that they have a Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks. Tough life, eh?! His barracks are air conditioned, so he's been staying inside a lot, but the theme of the email really seemed to be "It's unbearably hot." His ankle is still healing (from where he sprained it the first week of July), but he's now able to walk wearing his regular boots and the doctor says that he should regain total mobility over the next week or two. He said that the range of motion is still limited, but the pain is almost gone--please keep his overall health in your prayers, along with his safety, as he's technically both sick AND injured right now. Of course he's being all Mr. Tough Guy about it, but he promises me he's taking care of himself, taking Vitamin C for the cold, following the doctor's orders for the ankle, etc.
Adam's unit will be in Kuwait through the last week in July. After that, they will be heading into Iraq, although there is still no certainty as to where he's going to end up. He's hoping for the northern part, because it's cooler, but I'm just hoping for the SAFEST part. On Saturday, he was able to call and talk to me for a few minutes for my birthday!!! This was quite a luxury, and I certainly wasn't expecting it, but it totally made my birthday so special. It's looking like he'll probably call about once a week once he gets settled in at his post in Iraq, but really who knows. He has bought some pre-paid internet minutes, which is how he's been able to email, but he said the connection is awful--slower than dial-up and kicks him off every few minutes, so video or IM is out right now. We're really hoping that maybe it will be better in Iraq so that we can do some video chatting every few days. In the meantime, I'll take anything I can get!
I feel like my life is boring in comparison, but here's a little update on me. This week I'm working on pulling together a big mailing for the National Student Exchange at my internship. It's been a great project to work on because I have planned and executed it from start to finish, and it's given me a real sense of ownership and professionalism. I continue to coach students on academic success strategies at the Academic Centers for Excellence on Mondays and Fridays, and I find real fulfillment in working with them one-on-one. As I mentioned before, I went to Charleston on Saturday for my birthday, and as soon as I can get the pictures from Heather, I'll post a blog about that experience (sneak peak: it was AWESOME!!!). Most of my friends in the program are finishing up their internships in the next week or so, and so they'll be returning to Columbia soon. Honestly, I can't wait...I think it will really help me get life back to as normal as possible. I'm even looking forward to classes starting in the fall. I just want to keep as busy as possible to help this year fly by :-) Hope all is well out there, and thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!
D
Adam reports that the food from the chow hall is really good, and is actually provided by an outside vendor (that explains a lot). The base where they are is the base that almost all troops entering the Middle East stop at to do their "climitization" time, so it's pretty well built up. He said that they have a Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks. Tough life, eh?! His barracks are air conditioned, so he's been staying inside a lot, but the theme of the email really seemed to be "It's unbearably hot." His ankle is still healing (from where he sprained it the first week of July), but he's now able to walk wearing his regular boots and the doctor says that he should regain total mobility over the next week or two. He said that the range of motion is still limited, but the pain is almost gone--please keep his overall health in your prayers, along with his safety, as he's technically both sick AND injured right now. Of course he's being all Mr. Tough Guy about it, but he promises me he's taking care of himself, taking Vitamin C for the cold, following the doctor's orders for the ankle, etc.
Adam's unit will be in Kuwait through the last week in July. After that, they will be heading into Iraq, although there is still no certainty as to where he's going to end up. He's hoping for the northern part, because it's cooler, but I'm just hoping for the SAFEST part. On Saturday, he was able to call and talk to me for a few minutes for my birthday!!! This was quite a luxury, and I certainly wasn't expecting it, but it totally made my birthday so special. It's looking like he'll probably call about once a week once he gets settled in at his post in Iraq, but really who knows. He has bought some pre-paid internet minutes, which is how he's been able to email, but he said the connection is awful--slower than dial-up and kicks him off every few minutes, so video or IM is out right now. We're really hoping that maybe it will be better in Iraq so that we can do some video chatting every few days. In the meantime, I'll take anything I can get!
I feel like my life is boring in comparison, but here's a little update on me. This week I'm working on pulling together a big mailing for the National Student Exchange at my internship. It's been a great project to work on because I have planned and executed it from start to finish, and it's given me a real sense of ownership and professionalism. I continue to coach students on academic success strategies at the Academic Centers for Excellence on Mondays and Fridays, and I find real fulfillment in working with them one-on-one. As I mentioned before, I went to Charleston on Saturday for my birthday, and as soon as I can get the pictures from Heather, I'll post a blog about that experience (sneak peak: it was AWESOME!!!). Most of my friends in the program are finishing up their internships in the next week or so, and so they'll be returning to Columbia soon. Honestly, I can't wait...I think it will really help me get life back to as normal as possible. I'm even looking forward to classes starting in the fall. I just want to keep as busy as possible to help this year fly by :-) Hope all is well out there, and thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers!
D
Friday, July 10, 2009
Adam has left the...country?!
Just wanted to post a quick update on Adam's travel. He left in the middle of the night last night and arrived in Ireland this morning for his layover. The airport had free WiFi so he was able to email me a quick update...turns out that their layover was going to end up being about 9 hours. The total process was going to take at least 18 hours (although I am unclear whether it's 18 hours in the air or 18 total). He should arrive in Kuwait sometime in the next couple of days, where he will be staying for two weeks before traveling to Iraq. Adam said that the whole purpose of staying in Kuwait will be to do "climatization," which he said basically involves drinking a lot of water and exercising to get your body used to the severe climate change. Once their bodies adjust, they will travel to a base in Iraq, although at this point they have no clue which base or even which part of the country. They are not told these things for security reasons and also because things are changing very rapidly over there right now, so they really may end up some place entirely different than what was originally intended.
On my end of things...I'm doing ok. I certainly would prefer that Adam be here with me, but I'm keeping myself busy with internship and Prac II and Brady and whatnot. Saturday is my birthday, and I'm going to be heading down to Charleston for the day with my friend Heather. I'm looking forward to seeing Charleston, as I've never been there before and have heard great things about it. It was one of the cities on my "must visit" list when I moved here, and I'm glad that I'm going to get to experience it with a Charleston veteran like Heather :-) Internship is about 2/3 done, and it's actually making me sad. I've really been enjoying working for the Office of Student Engagement, and especially love my supervisors there and the amount of autonomy I have. I really feel like a professional staff member and not just a grad student. I wish I was getting a bit more of a tan, but I'm inside from 9-5 most days, and it seems to always rain on the weekends haha Oh well, I'm sure that my skin will thank me in 20 years!
Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. I'm heading to bed...have a great Friday!
On my end of things...I'm doing ok. I certainly would prefer that Adam be here with me, but I'm keeping myself busy with internship and Prac II and Brady and whatnot. Saturday is my birthday, and I'm going to be heading down to Charleston for the day with my friend Heather. I'm looking forward to seeing Charleston, as I've never been there before and have heard great things about it. It was one of the cities on my "must visit" list when I moved here, and I'm glad that I'm going to get to experience it with a Charleston veteran like Heather :-) Internship is about 2/3 done, and it's actually making me sad. I've really been enjoying working for the Office of Student Engagement, and especially love my supervisors there and the amount of autonomy I have. I really feel like a professional staff member and not just a grad student. I wish I was getting a bit more of a tan, but I'm inside from 9-5 most days, and it seems to always rain on the weekends haha Oh well, I'm sure that my skin will thank me in 20 years!
Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. I'm heading to bed...have a great Friday!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Amazing weekend
So I wanted to post a little about Adam and my wonderful weekend in West Virginia. I arrived on Friday afternoon after spending the night in Charlotte with the always-lovely Jess Whalen. Her apartment is super cute, folks...reminded me of Carrie Bradshaw meets Martha Stewart. She also took me to this awesome little Mexican restaurant that is famous for its fish tacos, so I tried one not knowing if I would like it. It was DELICIOUS. I don't know if theirs are something special, but wow, I might be giving up the chicken and beef for fish tacos from now on.
Anyway, I left Charlotte on Friday morning and arrived in Morgantown just before 3pm. Adam stayed with Elroy on Thursday night (since he doesn't have an apartment anymore) and as I was driving up the street to the house, I actually started crying. I'm not really sure why, I think I was just overcome with all of the emotion of thinking I wasn't going to see him again for so long, and then the surprise of getting to see him, and the exhaustion of not being able to sleep the night before followed by the long ride. As soon as he came out of the house, there I was, boo-hooing all over his shoulder and snotting on his shirt. Of course he just laughed...that's Adam. And I just kept saying "But I'm HAPPY, I don't know why I'm crying."
That afternoon we went and picked up his diplomas since he wasn't able to attend graduation, and had lunch/dinner at the Boston Beanery. I let Adam pick pretty much every place we ate because he kept saying how much he missed certain places in Morgantown. After BB, we went to check in to our hotel and found out that his friend's brother (who is a valet there) had booked us a room on the "Private Access Floor" for only $70 a night! We got valet parking, a king suite, AND a Sleep Number bed, which I proceeded to play with for 20 minutes after we got into the room. Also, we had our own conceirge and a private "concerige lounge" where we were served breakfast each morning and could get snacks like soda, chips, and fruit all day. They also put out things every afternoon like mini quiches, pasta salads, and cookies. The room had a river view and a big TV, and a bathroom big enough for BOTH of us to get ready at one time (which we don't have here at the house). Overall, this hotel experience was so much more than we possibly could have expected.
We ate at Casa D'Amici, Black Bear, and the Regatta Bar and Grille. We had dinner at Oliverio's and got a couple's massage to celebrate our birthdays (mine coming up in July, his in August). We had martinis at the Vintage Room and walked along the river on the Rail Trail, holding hands and talking about how great it was to just be together again. We ordered dessert from room service on our last night there to just revel in each other and this amazing experience for a few minutes more. I can't begin to explain how good this time was for our marriage--it reminded us all over again of just how much we love each other, and how blessed we are to have found each other. It also gave us something very special to look forward to when Adam returns from Iraq.
The saddest part of the trip, obviously, was leaving. I had to drop Adam at the Clarksburg Airport, and, as I drove up, I was overwhelmed at the sight of all of the military families milling around outside. When I went in to use the bathroom, women were in there crying, wiping off smudged eyeliner and blowing their noses. In the terminal, kids hung onto their dads' legs and cried, as moms tried to explain that it was ok. Standing there, I had a moment that I was certainly not expecting: I was humbled. Ever since we received the news about Adam being deployed, I've had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Yes, I've accepted that this is part of his/our life, and I'm doing the best I can to keep living a normal life. However, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that this just isn't fair, that Adam and I DESERVE more than this, we deserve to get to live together the way that married people do, especially after so many years of living apart. But standing there in the airport, I realized all of a sudden that we are just one of many military family stories. We don't deserve this any more or any less than the guy we saw whose wife had a baby last week, or the couple who just found out they're pregnant, or the mother who was saying goodbye to her only child. In that moment it felt like I had been punched in the gut for being so self-centered.
As the next year plays out, I think the image of all of those families saying goodbye will come back to me when I begin to focus on how much it sucks to have Adam gone. It sucks for everyone involved, and feeling sorry for myself/us will not make it any easier. I am not saying that we're not allowed to have tough days, but it's hard to feel as bitter as I was feeling when you suddenly realize that you're one of many.
D
Anyway, I left Charlotte on Friday morning and arrived in Morgantown just before 3pm. Adam stayed with Elroy on Thursday night (since he doesn't have an apartment anymore) and as I was driving up the street to the house, I actually started crying. I'm not really sure why, I think I was just overcome with all of the emotion of thinking I wasn't going to see him again for so long, and then the surprise of getting to see him, and the exhaustion of not being able to sleep the night before followed by the long ride. As soon as he came out of the house, there I was, boo-hooing all over his shoulder and snotting on his shirt. Of course he just laughed...that's Adam. And I just kept saying "But I'm HAPPY, I don't know why I'm crying."
That afternoon we went and picked up his diplomas since he wasn't able to attend graduation, and had lunch/dinner at the Boston Beanery. I let Adam pick pretty much every place we ate because he kept saying how much he missed certain places in Morgantown. After BB, we went to check in to our hotel and found out that his friend's brother (who is a valet there) had booked us a room on the "Private Access Floor" for only $70 a night! We got valet parking, a king suite, AND a Sleep Number bed, which I proceeded to play with for 20 minutes after we got into the room. Also, we had our own conceirge and a private "concerige lounge" where we were served breakfast each morning and could get snacks like soda, chips, and fruit all day. They also put out things every afternoon like mini quiches, pasta salads, and cookies. The room had a river view and a big TV, and a bathroom big enough for BOTH of us to get ready at one time (which we don't have here at the house). Overall, this hotel experience was so much more than we possibly could have expected.
We ate at Casa D'Amici, Black Bear, and the Regatta Bar and Grille. We had dinner at Oliverio's and got a couple's massage to celebrate our birthdays (mine coming up in July, his in August). We had martinis at the Vintage Room and walked along the river on the Rail Trail, holding hands and talking about how great it was to just be together again. We ordered dessert from room service on our last night there to just revel in each other and this amazing experience for a few minutes more. I can't begin to explain how good this time was for our marriage--it reminded us all over again of just how much we love each other, and how blessed we are to have found each other. It also gave us something very special to look forward to when Adam returns from Iraq.
The saddest part of the trip, obviously, was leaving. I had to drop Adam at the Clarksburg Airport, and, as I drove up, I was overwhelmed at the sight of all of the military families milling around outside. When I went in to use the bathroom, women were in there crying, wiping off smudged eyeliner and blowing their noses. In the terminal, kids hung onto their dads' legs and cried, as moms tried to explain that it was ok. Standing there, I had a moment that I was certainly not expecting: I was humbled. Ever since we received the news about Adam being deployed, I've had a bit of a chip on my shoulder. Yes, I've accepted that this is part of his/our life, and I'm doing the best I can to keep living a normal life. However, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that this just isn't fair, that Adam and I DESERVE more than this, we deserve to get to live together the way that married people do, especially after so many years of living apart. But standing there in the airport, I realized all of a sudden that we are just one of many military family stories. We don't deserve this any more or any less than the guy we saw whose wife had a baby last week, or the couple who just found out they're pregnant, or the mother who was saying goodbye to her only child. In that moment it felt like I had been punched in the gut for being so self-centered.
As the next year plays out, I think the image of all of those families saying goodbye will come back to me when I begin to focus on how much it sucks to have Adam gone. It sucks for everyone involved, and feeling sorry for myself/us will not make it any easier. I am not saying that we're not allowed to have tough days, but it's hard to feel as bitter as I was feeling when you suddenly realize that you're one of many.
D
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