Day 22

I was up without an alarm today at 6:30am and decided I had slept enough so I made it to breakfast after 7am. It was a cool, beautiful morning and brilliant sunrise over the base chapel. The morning service was at 9am so after some cleaning up after breakfast back at the barracks, I headed on over. There was a larger crowd today with the National Guard being on base which was nice. Great sermon by the Navy chaplain, too. So much better than the cue card reader at last week's Easter service.

Just before lunch, I took the bus to the main gate yet again and made a 1.8mi beeline for Starbucks, with my iPad in hand. It was a beautiful day for a walk and I smelled lots of honeysuckle along the way. :-) I got my staple drink, a grande, soy, cinnamon dulce iced coffee and grabbed my comfy chair. Some movie watching, some game playing, and even video-conferenced with Dorothy and the girls back in Kansas.  As time wore on, I decided enough time had been milked at 'Bux and a movie was in order. I grabbed some Chipotle for a late lunch and grabbed the mid-afternoon showing of "Fast Five"...the latest installment of the Fast and the Furious movie franchise. It was really good and a teaser at the end set up a sixth installment. Be sure to stay through the first set of credits at the end to see the teaser. After the flick, I took a quick jaunt through Wal-Mart, made a few calls to family back in Kansas and headed on back to pick up a ride back to my barracks.

Folks, that's really about it for today. I wanted a day unto myself today. Alone. I got it and couldn't be happier with it. This next week will be quite the ride, I presume. It'll start out with briefs on our convoy evolution coming up and I am guessing Tuesday and/or Wednesday will be the days we execute that evolution.

As I smelled the honeysuckle a few days ago and was reminded of home, today I noticed a cluster of 3 dandelions along the road en route to Starbucks and thought of Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow. I do love and miss them so much. I am thankful for technology that allows us to see each other and talk so often.

Goodnight, friends.