This week has been the longest week I’ve had since I’ve been here. This week I’m working on getting home for my mid-depolyment leave. I have been gone for almost nine months and the time is going by a lot easier and quicker than I expected, but these last seven days have been torture.
My journey started on Sunday February 4th. It started out like any other Sunday for me in Afghanistan. I slept in a little. I enjoyed a coffee in my room while chatting with TJ on Facebook messenger. I went over to the gym and did my warmup run on a treadmill. Then I changed into the themed run of the day. This week we were celebrating Valentine’s Day early since I will be gone for actual Valentine’s Day. I wore heart butt leggings, a sparkly heart head-piece and the best part was my Hart Safe WI t-shirt! We had one or our largest groups and enjoyed our Luv 2 Run 5K which supported The Friends of Jaclyn Foundation which raises money to improve the quality of life for children battling pediatric brain tumors. We ended the run by eating Hostess Valentine treats rather than Oreos. I have a guilty confession to make, I actually enjoyed the Hostess cupcake I ate. I think that is truly a testimonial that I need to get home and eat real food again!
A friend of mine who I met while going through training to come to Afghanistan is now on a year-long deployment to Djibouti. She read about our virtual runs and wanted to join. She ran with us in Djibouti while we were in Afghanistan. They are only an hour and half behind us so it worked out perfectly. Although the weather in Djibouti is MUCH hotter than it is in Kabul. When we ran it was about 40 degrees. When Maria ran it was extremely hot and humid. She did awesome on her run with us, too bad she couldn’t join us for Hostess treats. She plans on running more of our runs and she requested our Run of the Dead.
After all the running I caught a helicopter to Bagram to start my journey home. There started the waiting game to Kuwait. I am lucky TJ’s cousin RJ is stationed there with the Air Force. He hooked me up with a nice room, so I had a great place to sleep while I waited. I went to his office movie night and we watched the new Jumanji. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it. Although I would not watch it with children under the age of 13. He also helped me find a place to do laundry. This was the first load of laundry I I had done since June. I seriously forgot how to pour the soap into the washer, or at least I had to think about how to do it and where it should go! We ate together and he made sure I had what I needed while I was here. It was really nice to see family and I’m so thankful RJ was there to make the waiting a little less painful!
Bagram is not my favorite place to be, it’s just a little too Army for me. You have to wear your issued military PT (physical training) gear while working out. As we all know not working out is not an option for me so I sucked it up and wore my issued PT gear. After three days of wearing the same thing, it was so nasty it was standing up. (Again thankful for the laundry). My skin will chafe when I have quality workout gear, in my Navy PT gear both my left and right sides of my upper body were completely chaffed from the amazing fabric. Again no workout is not an option, so I sucked it up and used lotion afterwards (that burned a little too).
A bonus of Bagram is they have a functioning USO. I went most afternoons and used the internet and had a snack. I must have my daily popcorn. One evening they were hosting a churro night and they were practicing making them in the afternoon. When I was asked to be an official taste tester, of course I said yes.
After almost a week, I did finally make it to Kuwait. That was the final leg of flying military air. From here on out I fly commercial. The waiting game continues, but I am getting closer. Soon I will be able to squeeze my babies and it will make all this waiting worth it. In Kuwait I can wear civilian clothes all the time, and other than Christmas Eve, this is the first time I’ve worn jeans and put my hair down since June.
Even as I read over this post I started earlier in the week, it feels like so long ago I was in Kabul and soon I will be home. I know this trip will go too quickly and I won’t want to come back, but it’s still worth the journey. I will do my best to see people as I can, but please understand if we don’t get to say hi. I love and care for all of you deeply, but my babies need me too! TJ and I have planned A Celebration of Family and Friends, Part II. We will be hosting all of you on September 2nd to continue the party started last April. If you’re reading this, of course you’re invited. We will once again have Spotted Cow and this time we’re doing a pig roast!
I probably won’t write while I’m home, but I’ll give you all an update of all the fun we had when I’m on my journey back!
Darchelle's Vacation with Uncle Sam 