Spoiler – kind of a dull, rambling post.
Summer is coming, as temps here have regularly climbed over 100F during the day. My friends in Iraq have reported temps of over 110F, and that was in May. Soldiers in Iraq wear the helmet and the body armor everywhere – combat soldiers even carry more stuff. Keep that in mind if tempted to complain about a ‘hot’ day in the US.
One thing I have noticed about Bahrain is that I cannot honestly recall seeing a cloud in the sky since arriving here, let alone a raindrop. Walking to work this morning before 6am, the sun was already up and even this early it was really hot. I went for a run once I got to the base – did about 25 minutes at a reduced pace – and I was drenched in sweat and I did not feel that good. Gonna have to start hitting the treadmill for a while.
Started to get into a groove here, between work and the family, so the mild ups and downs of the last few weeks are mellowing out. If you know that feeling when you transition jobs – for a spell you are not fully functional, so it is a bit frustrating and not necessarily rewarding. Well, last week I started hitting on all cylinders and though it meant longer days, it felt good. One of my pet projects was working a part of a visit of some Russian Navy folks to the HQ, and I was able to sit in the meeting and observe – pretty interesting stuff. And, busy days mean fast days.
My latest analogy to this experience is that it is like a half-marathon, one that I didn’t want to run, but now am plugging along. Just passed the marker for mile two, and I know that there are 11 more miles to go. (give or take a bit). Though that could be discouraging, instead I am focusing on getting my second wind, getting in a good rhythm with work, my family, my wife, and myself. But then, there is the Q-tip factor. When I got here, I bought two 180 ct boxes of Q-tips… 360 Q-tips about corresponds to the number of days here (at one per day). So, every morning I get a clear visual reminder of how many days are left – and that I have barely made a dent in the time.
Like the sands through the hour glass…
Speaking of the wife… Being away from the wife is not an easy thing. Unlike many reserve couples, Leslie and I dated and were married when I was on active duty, so she at least had an inkling of what a deployment was – though then my longest absence was four months, and she was not taking care of a house and four kids. In a darkly humorous way, we call this our ‘trial separation’. Of course, she would get to pawn the kids off and have some alone time periodically if it was a real one, but she would not get to spend ALL of my pay… so there are tradeoffs. But the bleak reality is that many couples fail even without this kind of extra stress – stuff happens. Dark humor aside, we have figured out a contact rhythm that works for both of us. We have regularly scheduled phone calls (sometimes video calls so the kids can say ‘hi’), and then a mix of e-mails and Facebook chats or messages / posts, and the occasional random call here or there. She is getting really good at posting pics of the kids at events, usually the same day, so I can talk to the kids and get a reasonably real-time download from them. So, at the 66 day point, things are as well as can be expected.
I celebrated the ‘4th anniversary’ of my notification day on the 29th, and it was not what I would have imagined back in Jan. Started off with brunch at the Radisson Diplomat hotel. I figured it would be a nice, somewhat staid brunch (lots of Brits here, which reinforced that image). Wrong. It was a champagne brunch with a band, dancing, and a lot of drunk Brits and Americans. Many in skimpy dresses…. Champagne is always tricky to judge, and the wait staff never let your glass get more than 1/4 empty before they refilled it. An interesting experience. Then, that evening, we had a going away party for one of the guys in the group at a bar that is about 1/2 block away from my apartment. More Guinness, and some shots…
Fill ‘er up… liquid headache. No General Order #1 here.
Finally, another callout to neighbor Kim D. I hit iTunes for some fresh music, and given my positive experience with Keith Urban, I grabbed an iTunes recommendation – Do I by Luke Bryan. Yeah, exactly the kind of song I need to hear out here…NOT. You get collateral blame for that one… at least for suggesting the genre. Next time I will preview the song first. Luckily, some New Found Glory made up for it…
Will be a quiet posting time for the next couple of weeks. Lots of interesting stuff on the job front, but not really blog-able just yet.
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