Day 170

Day 170 and I'm approaching the 83rd mile! Still numb to the fact it's been nearly 6 months...longest EVER that I've been away from Dorothy in nearly 19 years of marriage. Yes, I spent 10 years on active duty in the Navy but my assignments never put me on a complete sea tour. Who would've thought this sailor would get that tour without seeing one drop of ocean? Not me!

Last night, I was wide awake around 2 or 3am. I actually had fallen asleep with the NASCAR race on and when I woke up, I noticed there were only about 45 laps to go so I stayed up until the finish then went back to sleep. Tony "Smoke" Stewart is one of the drivers I'm a fan of so it was good to see him get his 2nd win in the past 2 weeks. The morning that arrived quickly was like every other Monday morning. Slow, quiet, and not much happening as America sleeps. It did get busy as a massive power generation order came in..the biggest I've accepted since I arrived here. That required a few hours of work to get it ready to send it Stateside. Oh what a gift I delivered to them when they arrived to work today! Well, that's not what they thought, I'm sure, but hey...it's my job! I did get to talk to Tin Man and Scarecrow and catch up on their weekend and talk about the week ahead at school. A package I mailed to them 2 weeks ago still hasn't arrived. It has gifts for both of them and for Dorothy. I sure do hope it arrives today.

Oh yea, while I was watching the final laps of the race, I did register Dorothy and I for a half-marathon within about 48 hours of me arriving HOME. It's held at a winery and after the race (which doesn't even start until a rare 2pm), they'll have a post-race party and all entrants get two glasses of wine. Now how often do you hear of a race like THAT?! A perfect way to celebrate returning home! Pretty romantic, too, I'd say. Maybe that will be my last blog post here. I'll have to end this at some point. I could end it the day before I get home...but that would be mean. :-) Or, I could let it go just a few days after my return then end it. We'll see. One date I will tell you in the future is Veterans Day. I will be home by then. I just finalized plans to spend that morning in Tin Man and Scarecrow's elementary school where I'll talk to K-2nd grade at once then 3rd-5th grades together. I've accumulated over 800 photos now so I'm going to gather the best of the best then spend about 30-45 minutes in front of the kids talking about my entire journey...to Oz and back. That'll probably be the last day I ever wear this Army uniform. I gotta say...it puts a smile on my face to talk about HOME. Slowly but surely it's going to get here. For now, my relief started combat training this morning which is a very good thing. "Enjoy those Army drill sergeants, brother!" hehehe... He's also past drinking his last sip of alcohol. That was last night for him. He can't have any until he does his tour and returns to the States. Something about having possession of a firearm and alcohol that doesn't mix. Hmmm.... Only 4 more days....till October. OCTOBER!

Goodnight, everyone.