Day 122

24 hours ago, I was standing on the flight line waiting for the Fallen Comrade Ceremony to begin. Tonight? I'm in my CHU...showered...relaxed. A repeat of the Pirates/Giants baseball game is playing in the background (I know...weird...but it "sounds" like home with baseball on in the background...make sense?!) and I'm downloading today's release of Steven Curtis Chapman's Re-Creation. I've been a fan for years and met him once, too. This new album is a combination of new work and re-creations of his favorites and my favorites. With the snail's pace of download in my room, I'm sure I'll go to sleep tonight and it won't be done yet.

While the Fallen arrived at Dover Air Force Base today, back here in Oz, things returned to normal. At 8am this morning, I was in a brief with the brigade who ran it all last night. The commander was very proud of his people and passed on thanks and job-well-done to them but reminded them to get their head back in the game and return to work. After all, he said, it's our job. The rest of the day was busy, productive, and mostly uneventful. As the lunch hour broke, I escaped early to avoid eating with everyone else. I wanted time to myself today. I grabbed a salad for lunch then headed over to Green Beans Coffee to redeem a gift card I was sent for $22.00. Now I have a credit for java!!! WOOT! Today, I got their incredibly good Mocha Frappe and did some reading and writing outside. After about an hour, I wandered on back to the office where they had all left and already returned from lunch. I got back to work and waited for Dorothy to wake up a few hours later. We got on the phone and had a great conversation for quite awhile. She was up early to head out for a run then to work. Afterwards, I stayed around long enough for another conference call with folks back Stateside then headed out for the night.

Back in my room after dinner, I Skype'd with Tin Man and Scarecrow for awhile then wound down for the night. That's really about it...and boy, am I thankful for that. Today was a relaxing day. I'm going to try and get to bed a bit early tonight because I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night to try and Skype in to my church's Men's Bible Study and then a conference call with fellow Supply Officers. I'm on a regional board and I'm really trying to stay involved with them, especially as they are planning for our 2012 symposium next year. I'm going to try the free Skype 800 number service. So with that, everyone...Day 122 is a rap. As a FYI: I am starting to "feel" my time winding down. While still a ways out, I am certainly on the downward slope towards getting back on the Yellow Brick Road. I'm creating little landmarks on the calendar in any way I can. Little victories help move time along, I've found.

Goodnight, everyone.