It's Time. To Blog Again.

So I'm sitting here in my new-to-me rental house in Columbus, GA watching 'My Parents' House' on HGTV. Joe's going to be home in just a couple hours, and I have hardly accomplished anything today in his absence. I did try to see if when Joe set up the water, trash got included in that (Joe doesn't know), but 'all representatives were busy,' and no one has returned my call. Um. I also went outside and unclogged a bit more of the dryer vent, and I did manage to start a new load of laundry. Doesn't really add up to a day's work, though. Figured I'd work it out in a blog instead...

I just realized it's been a month since I last blogged. I didn't think it'd been that long. One could say I've been a bit busy, and that seems to be true. Probably why I can't get rolling on anything today. Yes, the last time I blogged was Sept. 13. Holy hell. That was an exciting week. I was preparing to leave on the 18th to come down to GA for Joe's 'cook' graduation on Friday the 19th. Well, I did do that, and the graduation was pretty awesome. Hoping to immediately go home to Missouri on permissive TDY to pack our crap and move it south wasn't an option due to a mandatory four-day pass in which Joe couldn't leave the area. Joe came off the pass about the time I got the damn flu Tuesday the 23rd, and the day before that was my birthday which I celebrated in bed prepping for the flu. Blarg. Oh, and we were in a hotel all this time. I was so sick, and he was gone for 12 hours on the worst day. I had to ask the hotel staff for a little help during that time, and they told me later that I worried them with how bad off I was. Jeepers. Finally, the fever broke, and I became human again. Every day we wondered if we'd be able to go home the next day because at work, they really weren't having him do anything. By Thursday the 25th, we'd checked out of our hotel, thinking we might be leaving. I waited around on base for four hours with the car completely packed, hoping we'd be able to leave and make it home to the surprise party I'd planned for Joe the following evening, Friday the 26th. Word eventually came down that we would not be leaving until Monday or Tuesday. By this time, I'd been sick, eating crap food and drinking water that tasted like a garden hose. I wanted to go home. I wanted Joe to enjoy his party - I invited his friends from out of town, my friends in town, family. I organized who would bring what, and David Shore generously threw down for ribs. Well, that was all fucked, as was my desire to get the ball rolling. You wait for over a year to resume life with someone, and when you get to the very end and have the entity that controls your life not be organized enough to get you started, well, you lose it. And I did. A good five to ten minutes of screaming and crying followed the news of having to stay. (It was general screaming and crying, not a tearing down of Joe screamfest.) Immediately after that, Joe and I regrouped and hit a Panera to use the internet so we could find a new place to stay. The new place ended up having internet that tried to kill our computer, so from Thursday evening on the 25th until we got home on Friday, October 3, I had no internet. That really blew since Joe needed the car during the day, leaving me in the hotel room all day (there wasn't anywhere nearby to walk to, etc). Um, yeah, and if you can't tell by the time frames, Monday or Tuesday as an ETD turned into fucking Friday. By mid-week of our last week, Joe was finally given a task list of requirements for in-processing. That means he could have gotten all his crap done in less than a week, yet we were stuck there for TWO WEEKS. It was infuriating. But alas, we got back to Missouri.

In Missouri, we packed almost every day we were there. The surprise party was never rescheduled, but we did eat the ribs that Dad had bought. Delicious. Aside from Kellen and stinky Ashely, two other friends were able to come to town, Cody and Carla, and we wouldn't have made it back to GA with all our stuff if it hadn't been for them. They stayed for the duration of loading the truck and cars, making sure everything fit and that Joe and I didn't flip out. It was pretty amazing to realize the degree of their loyalty to and consideration for us, and by that, it really sucked to be leaving them. We miss them a lot, and I've really found a wonderful girl-friend in Carla. Bah.

And so, in a two day trek to the southland with Joe for the most part driving the 16' Budget truck towing the CRV and me in the Maxima blocking traffic for him, we made it to our house in Columbus, GA on Thursday, October 9. Yeah, forgot to mention that we found a place to live while being stuck here the first go-round. But anyway. It's been a whirlwind, but it's here. I knew there'd be a coming down, and I guess that's what I'm experiencing now. I've waited so long for this, and now that it's here, it's overwhelming. So many changes. There's a lot of work to be done both with unpacking (especially with stuff that sat in storage for over a year...GROSS) as well as with readjusting to living with Joe. We've done this before, but with a year a part and him being militarized in his way of life and me having gotten used to living with my parents, there's a lot of work in us reconnecting with our own way of life. It's a little scary. Okay, a lot scary. But I'm sure under the fear and numbness, it's exciting too. And I'm sure what will make it even better is if I get off my ass and figure something out for dinner, or at the very least make it look like I did something today.

That all said, consider this my triumphant return, as well as an explanation for why we haven't talked lately. I love you all. Or should I say, "y'all." :-)