Hey all! Here are a couple of more recent pictures. Brenda, Dylan and Cameron at the Trunk-or-Treat Saturday night, and Nate with Cameron right after all of our household goods arrived from Washington. Fun days... we're still not all the way unpacked.

To Pull, or Not to Pull (My Hair Out)

Not only is the Military infamous for the "hurry up and wait" way of working, they are also utterly inseparable from needless paperwork. For example, the Leave form for Christmas "Exodus" as it's known here at POM, is made up of three copies of the same leave paper, along with one form (29-B) which is used for the complete travel itinerary, including the model and license number of whatever car we'll be using to get to the airport.

I've also battled unofficial "regulations" for the past two weeks with regards to moving off post to be with Bren and the kids. They wanted to make me wait three weeks before even GIVING ME THE PAPERWORK (this one is two pages, one for a letter of recommendation and the second comprised of a long checklist of things I can only do during lunch breaks) so I can start the process of moving off post to Fort Ord. Hello again red tape, haven't seen this much of you since MEPS. In shah allah I'll be able to make it home in a week, give or take a couple of days.

On a different note, I can now say phrases in Arabic like "The weather in Monterey is moderate all year.", "I'm a soldier in the Air Force and I live in the barracks.", and "I want a chicken. Do you have a chicken? Your mother is a very large chicken." Gotta get those necessary things down first, you know.

What Really Matters in Life

Ha! I bet y'all thought this was going to be some sort of preachy, condescending read. Well I'm just full of surprises. With Brenda and the boys on their way to California, I thought I would share a few experiences that were passed on to me through nightly phone conversations after the duty day was done.

Mom Jones' arrival home from work usually meant that dinner would shortly follow for Dylan. One afternoon, mom was a bit late getting home from work (errands, whatever), and Dylan took notice. Heaven knows how he learned this, but he was wandering around the house saying, "Where's my dinner? Where's my dinner?"

Ever since the graduation ceremonies in Texas, Dylan had been pulling the pictures of his Dad off the shelf and asking when he would see daddy. And, of course, the countdown was already on for when our family would be together again. Who could have thought that 2 months would go by so slowly? Just a few days ago at this writing, after dinner was over and he was going through the standard cleanup procedures before de-highchairing, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "DADDY! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Brenda said, "I don't know, where is daddy?"
Dylan thought for a few seconds, and said, "At work. See in 6 days."

Kids are so fantastic! Not a day goes by but that I think about how much my family means to me, and how glad I am that we can all be together forever.