BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN...

Hello everyone. Yes, I am still here… very much so as a matter of fact. I understand that I have been remiss in my duties as a blogger/deployment stenographer to the tune of some two months now. As you may have guessed in a span of two months a lot can happen. Indeed, so much has passed that I am now writing you a changed man. I am changed forever the way that a lump of steel changes when drop forged or when a forest fire changes the landscape of a once serene valley. I, of course, am referring to my 96+ hours of travel getting to and back from the US. This torturous time period has left its mark on me forever, reducing my buttocks to flat numb pancakes of flesh and effectively redefining the “natural” curve of my lower spine. However, no matter how horrific and torturous those hours were it was certainly all well worth the price for the 15 days I got to spend with my wife and all of you! I couldn’t have had a better time, really. I want to send my heartfelt thanks to all of you who made my vacation such a perfect and wonderful time. Everyone was so generous with their time and love and everything! I want to give special thanks to Dr. & Mrs. P who truly made our vacation dreams come true and another round of thanks to the H’s and my folks (Dad & B) for hosting two raucous parties that turned Cinco de Mayo into “Primo Weekend-o de Mayo”. Many other people put themselves out for J and I again and again as well, too numerous to mention here. But now that I am back in Iraq and find myself pondering my vacation. The more I think about it the more overwhelmed I am with just how lucky I am to have all of you as my friends and family. In fact, while the return trip could have aroused Marquis de Sade, thinking on all of this I actually found myself in somewhat of an upbeat mood. Unfortunately this didn’t agree with my downtrodden travel mates and I had to keep my enthusiasm to myself. Also during my many many hours confined to my approximately 8 cubic foot of space my musings led me to another realization that further lifted my spirits. What could it be you ask? I’ll explain it to you like I told my wife. Up until this point in the deployment I have had my eyes fixed on getting to my vacation. Well, now that the vacation is behind me my eyes are now fixed on the end! Yes! The End! Oh how great that is going to feel! So really for the first time since I left the states, I can actually catch a glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel. Next thing I know, I’ll be headed back home for good! Hot Damn! J

So now that I am back in Iraq what’s going on you ask? Have you ever seen the Twilight Zone? Yeah… it is a bit strange being back. It’s like time stood still while I was away and absolutely nothing changed. It’s this strange sort of feeling like someone actually could have cut and spliced that vacation into the middle of this deployment like a movie clip or something. Actually one thing did change… the weather. Within the first couple of days that I was back I noticed the days getting a bit warmer… and by a bit I mean like the earths crust had just busted open and exposed the swirling molten mantle below. Seriously… I mean, what season is it? Late spring or late in the apocalypse? And this is supposedly the promised land? What was the promise? I promise to slowly cook all of you and your crops and animals in the noon day sun? Good lord. I have an idea. Why don’t we come up with alternative energy sources and then everyone can forget this furnace of a region even exists! Oh well. Don’t let me throw you. I’m not all that bitter. After all in another couple months this will all be behind me and I’ll be back doing my thing and I’ll be better for having lived through this. Besides, there is still some work to be done over here, and we’re doing it the best we can. C’est la Vie!

Until next time…

Lots of love

F