“Back in the Saddle Again”

Oops… I think my age is showing! Oh well, I’ve tried to hide it too long, it’s time to admit I’m not in my 30’s anymore. DON’T expect me to admit to anything more than that though!

So, on with the show: Here I am in Victory. My lead picked me up at BIAP when I arrived on Thursday, we got back to Victory, got me into a trailer (yep… right away!) close to the palace and just across from the DFAC. I was told to take Friday off and start work Saturday. So far no roommate.

Saturday I worked a full 12 hour day. I had asked one of my friends to sign me up for Jackal Wireless and I got an email from them saying to come pick up my SU. (Subscriber Unit)

Sunday I worked all day then a friend came to see me and welcome me back, we talked a lot and listened to music, it was so good to see him. He took my SU with him when he left and is going to mount it on a pole. He said he will put it up for me when he has time.

Tuesday March 11th was the first day I was able to actually walk the entire distance from the palace to the trailer without having to stop to rest or stretch… it wasn’t the last time, it was just the first time.

Wednesday morning I got to see another friend that I have been communicating with. We were both happy to have run into each other, I gave him a big hug and we talked for a little while. Hopefully I’ll be able to see him again soon.

Thursday March 13^th… RAIN!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Please don’t be a trend… just a few sprinkles will be OK, but not a few days. YUCK. But it wasn’t bad after all, just maybe a half day of light rain that made things wet, and a little muddy, not terrible and not slippery if you were being careful (and you can believe I was being careful!)

My lead left for his vacation to Dublin after spending the weekend getting me re-acquainted with the shop. Then I got word that we were to have NO more overtime at all… So I will go back to my trailer today after my co-worker gets here because I have to ask her to work tomorrow, then we can follow a regular schedule after that. Hopefully she will be all right with that. Well… maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. I had to call the site lead and tell him that since we are short handed here at the moment, until the guys finish school and get here, and until our shop lead gets back, we will still have a couple days of overtime. He understood after I explained to him what our schedule was like right now and agreed to approve just those few more days.

My friend came back over to hook up my internet Monday morning, but nothing we did would make it work. I’ll have to get in touch with Jackal and see what they say.

I have to go shopping at the PX to get some stuff I need that I forgot to get till now. There are certain things that you always want to have in your trailer when you don’t have access to things you normally have in your home. Since we don’t have a sink, I like to have “Wet Ones” with aloe, to help keep my face and hands clean and sometimes I’ll wipe my arms and legs to help keep them moisturized and cool. Oh yeah, since I had my knees replaced, it is sort of hard to stand in the shower to shave my legs, and the Wet Ones are great for that too. They have the aloe in them and I just wipe an area and zip a razor over it and it works like using shaving cream and water. Then a nice quick clean up with another towelette and throw away the razor. I will use the cheap razors for that. My Venus is too expensive to be using the blades just once and throwing them out. My daughter got me that razor while I was out here before. It is the best I have ever used. Now if you think that was too much information I’m sorry, but I’m living in a different world out here and if anyone is looking at following, this might be something to help out.

I did quite well working 9 days in a row. Well… until Friday, the walk home was a little painful. So Saturday I started using my cane as a little extra support and it made such a world of difference that I am still using it all the time. Sometimes I just carry it under my arm, other times I use it, but try not to lean on it much, except for balance. But then there are times, especially with steps that I really depend on it. Everyone has been wonderful. Some people ask me why I am using a cane, what happened to me? Others just open doors for me or smile big and say hello.

So now, here it is, I just started my fourth week back at work and I’m back in the groove. Mostly. It was sort of nice to come back to find that I had been talked about a lot while I was gone, but that it was all good things (they say), and I was put in charge while our lead was gone on vacation. Nothing like getting an ego boost after leaving home feeling lost and alone. I’ve seen a lot of people I know. One of the girls I am close to just got back from her vacation and she brings me lunch when we are both working, if she doesn’t one of the guys I work with will bring me food. And someone we used to work with when I first got here keeps insisting he must come pick me up after work to give me a ride to my trailer. It isn’t really far, and I can walk it, but I love the option to ride, and I have started keeping up a pretty good schedule of working out and stretching in my room to help with balance and strength.. So if you think I’m being a pansy… well... go ahead and think it. I am not worried. I will continue healing and working and handling the things I need to handle. And my home-front will continue to support me and keep me in line.

Getting back to Iraq

Saying my goodbyes wasn't quite as hard as I expected it to be, mostly. Hugging and kissing the boys before they left for school was hell. I still cry just thinking about them. I'm gonna miss them so terribly much. I went to breakfast with my son and his wife, then we dropped her off so she could get some sleep, I went in to use the bathroom, and then hugged her goodbye, but made it fast so I wouldn't have time to let it sink in too much. Then at the airport I had my son drop me off at the departure doors and I hurried to get my stuff together and hug him and run before I broke down. Actually, I didn't quite make it. I was in tears as I went to the flight desk. OK, so it was harder than I expected it to be. I left half of my heart behind when I walked through those automatic doors into the airport.

The flight to Kuwait was agonizingly long. First I had to go through security and with two brand new titanium knees. I set off all the alarms. So I had to be "wanded" then patted down. Then they opened and went through everything in my backpack, they checked my shoes and laptop for explosives residue, they checked my pockets and put my cane through the x-ray machine. After they determined I was not a threat, they let me put my shoes and coat back on and I put my back pack back together and took my cane and moved on down to my gate.

I had asked for a wheelchair between flights because I had been under the impression that the airports were very big and the arrival gates were quite a distance from the departure gates. In Chicago, they called for a wheelchair at the last minute, and when I got off of the ramp, I found out the departure gate was just two gates away from where we arrived, so I figured I would walk to it. It would have been ridiculous to have to get a ride that far. As I was walking I saw someone bringing a wheelchair, I asked him if he was for Gate C2 for me, he said that he was, I told him I was sorry, but just found out that I was only walking a few steps and thanked him, he very gruffly said "I was on my way!" I replied, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was so close to the other gate." He huffed and then turned around and walked back the way he came. I didn't really think much of it, maybe he was having a bad day. Then we arrived in Washington and someone was waiting on the ramp for me with a wheelchair and told me it was a long way to the next gate. It was. She informed me that the airport used to have the moving sidewalks but they got rid of them, and there were ramps everywhere, she was huffing by the time we got to the gate. I got out of the chair and thanked her profusely telling her I would never have made the walk. She kind of hung around for a minute. I figured she was making sure I was OK. OOPS!! She started to turn away and very disgustedly said "I thought I would get a tip!" Oh!! Great!! I never thought of a tip. So THAT is why the other guy was so upset! I HATE when people act that way. I admit I never thought about tipping her because I assumed it was a service provided by the airlines, she hadn't been the most pleasant person to begin with, and even if I had a clue it was the kind of service you tipped I probably wouldn't have wanted to give her much at all. But I was guilt tripped into opening my purse, which I knew was not going to produce much of anything. I found a single dollar and about another dollar and forty cents change. I told her it was all I had. Again the huff, and retrieval. Glad I won't be needing services like that anymore. I still want to get in touch with the airlines and ask about the policy on tipping for wheelchairs. Do I sound spiteful?? I never knew that it was appropriate to leave a tip for the housekeepers at hotels until my daughter was a housekeeper for a while and told me that some people were nice and left good tips, she was never too upset about the ones who didn't because she realized most people never gave it a thought. Since then I have left tips for the housekeepers.

Well, anyway… I made my flight from Washington to Kuwait. It was a long flight and in Kuwait I had to get in line and wait for my VISA, then I had to go through customs and they made me open my suitcase because there was a glass bottle inside. It was one of my supplement bottles, I never thought about it being glass, everything is plastic these days. I thought. As I opened my suitcase I found that one of my other bottles must have broken because there were little pink "footballs" all over my clothes. I couldn't locate the offending bottle immediately, but it didn't seem to be a problem any longer, they told me "OK. You go now."

One of the guys I knew from my company was waiting for me and we made our way out to the car and got through traffic and to the Villa in decent time. He told me we just made it, in another half hour the festivities would be starting for their Independence Day celebration, oh yeah! I remember that from before! I was so excited to be sharing the experience with them since we helped them attain it. As things get wound up the traffic gets almost impassable due to some street closings and everyone coming out to participate.

I was shown to my room and had it all to myself for the night. I found the bottle that all the little pink "footballs" had come out of, it was a cap that snapped open accidentally, nothing was broken, however my mouthwash leaked, and even though I had put it into a plastic bag it got my pant legs wet on a pair of my new jeans. Good thing we have a washer and dryer here.

After settling in and sending some emails, I went to sleep. I slept like I was drugged. For two whole hours. Ever hear of blind chickens? That's what we have next door. Or maybe roosters. Whatever they are they crow at all hours of the night and day. JOY. Then when I got to sleep, I woke up about three times dreaming that I was wiping my grandson's dripping, snotty nose. Then I dreamed that the villa I'm in was a gigantic mansion that somehow I got lost in. Problem being, I was naked. I was so very lost. The mansion was so very big and winding and I couldn't find my way back to my room for love or money. No one seemed to notice me. I was in a total panic. I woke up sweating. But very happy that I knew where I was. Then when I realized I was happy to know where I was, I also realized that happened to be Kuwait, and that happened to hit me pretty hard. Here I go again. As I said in the title: Round Two!

So next morning about 10 people showed up for HR in-processing. That lasted for almost the entire day. Later I found out that I could try to sign up for an Embassy flight out, that would be Tuesday. I should be ready to go by Tuesday.

Maybe not.

Whatever the holdup is on my paperwork, I won't be leaving Tuesday. But that's OK. So far, as of tomorrow I will have been here in Kuwait a full week. I'm so excited!! I'll be able to watch the elections.

My next flight would be Thursday. That really bites! Over an entire week in Kuwait on Kuwait pay. After finding out that the last check I got from workers compensation was in error and they took it back out of my checking account, I realized that my whole entire sign on bonus will be used to pay back owed monies. I am completely broke, I have a $20 bill in my purse that no one can give me change for, no one can lend me money and I'm not eating because I can't go out anywhere without maybe getting lost, and everyone has things to do so they don't want to help me. I take that back, one of the guys staying here offered to lend me some money. I told him I'd appreciate it and if they could let me know when they are going out for food, I'll let them know what I want, then get their address so I can send the money back to them… umm… ok… it sounded good, it just didn't happen. I'm scrounging and finding cereal, milk, fruit juice, one of the guys left a rice dish, and the lady next door cooks and accepts American money, but she's been on vacation in Egypt. Well, I'm certainly not starving. I've got a "winter coat" that will last me a few more weeks before I start getting too weak to move.

After I get to Victory I'm going to go to the gym and work out, and then when I go home after a year or two, I'm going for that laser body surgery. No cutting, no needles, just laser that melts away the cellulite and contours the body, even replaces the elasticity in the skin! I can't wait! By then all my extraneous bills will be paid off, all my extraneous fat will be burned off, we will be in good shape financially, I'll be in fairly good shape physically… and no one can tell me to stop helping my kids, they're MY kids, and we are a team. Anyone who thinks they have a right to say otherwise… you know where you can shove it

Set Free

February 5^th the doctors signed me off. I am free to return to work with NO restrictions and 20% disability in each knee. But I am not going back to Iraq/Kuwait until the 25^th.

I notified all the appropriate parties and it didn't take long to get from being released to being sent my itinerary for my flight back.

I boxed up two foot-lockers and two medium size U-Haul boxes and one little box and sent them to Victory care of my site lead and my immediate lead. I kept in touch with them and found out I would be rooming with one of the girls who used to work with us as a soldier, but she got out of the service and came back to work with our company as a civilian. She was like a daughter to me. We were great friends. I'm so excited that it worked out that way. She said she has been telling people her mom is coming back over.

BUT… first things first!! Before leaving for Iraq, my brother wanted me to come visit him. With so much to do, I was kind of struggling with how I was going to be able to handle that. PLUS, I had no money. So being the wonderful, kind, loving person he is, he bought my tickets for me and I went to California. He picked me up and then took me on a tour of a lifetime. It was great. I am so amazed sometimes at the things I have not seen in our country. (Which might explain why I never have been outside of North America once in my life before I signed up to go to Iraq, there are so many things to see in America, that you can take a whole lifetime to do it)

We took several hours to get back to his house, stopping in really neat places on the way. We stopped to eat at a little restaurant where we sat outside and had a great breakfast. I learned a little about my brother, too. He is very outgoing. He talks to people walking by and just starts conversations. One couple walked passed us with a little tiny pug dog. It was no bigger than a kitten. He picked it up and held it and talked to the people and let the dog lick him and, he laughed and then put the dog down and the people went on their way, talking about the weird guy they just met. (Just kidding) We finally got home and he showed me around and I got some great pictures. He has a beautiful place. I thought his wife would be home, but she was gone. Shortly after I got settled we heard her car, she had school that night… as in teaching, not as in learning, but then again, I think she’d say she has learned a lot from her students. It was great to see her. We sat and talked for a ling time, while watching the presidential campaign and election results. Life was very good.

Then it started raining. All I have to say is thank god I didn’t have to go out in it and walk to work. However, we did get a warning from highway patrol to hurry and go get anything we might need to last us for about a week or two in case of the roads being blocked due to mudslides. Hahahahaha!! I didn’t expect that one! Well, we decided we had enough to last us, so we sat home for about 3 days in the rain and didn’t go out anywhere. It was pretty cool. We got a chance to really spend time together and bond. I really couldn’t have been happier. Then the weather cleared and we were able to go out and sight see a bit. We went to a “Toy Train” museum, my brother and I spent several hours there and my sister-in-law went shopping. We met outside afterwards and we also went through the botanical gardens. It was fascinating. We went to a restaurant called Corvette’s, and they had good food and it was almost like being in the movie Pulp fiction, except you didn’t sit inside cars and there were no waiters and waitresses dressed up like celebrities, and they didn’t have a DJ or dance floor going while we were there. OK, it wasn’t anything like Pulp Fiction. It was just a 50’s set up and it was totally groovy!

We had the opportunity to go see her daughter and the new house they were building. It was so good to see her. Her kids have grown so much it was hard to imagine they had been so little last time I saw them. That same night we went to a movie, but we stopped at “Michael’s” craft shop first and we bought a bunch of silk flowers to make arrangements in containers they had, plus there was one she had seen in a magazine that she just loved and wanted one like it for her dining room, so we found what we needed for that as well. It was my last night there, so after the movie, when we got home I got busy and showed her how to make a wreath, so she worked on that while I worked on the other things, and we had a very productive night. I think she liked everything we made. I did. I know… I’m an egotistical little brat.

But as the proverbial “THEY say, all good thing must end. And the next day my brother took me back to the airport and I flew home to get ready to go to Iraq.

But I must say this. I had a wonderful time and I’m so glad I was able to get out there. Thank you both so much and I love you dearly!