And they are off

Today was hard, but not as hard as yesterday. Watching Scott pack and knowing that this was his last day here was really tough for me, and I found myself moping around and tearing up a lot. As much as I wanted to be in a good mood, it was hard to be in a good mood knowing that the countdown was coming to an end. We ate such fatty and horrible things all weekend - but my consolation was that this was our last In N'Out burger together, our last pizza together, our last Hawaiian plate lunch together - before he left!

This morning we got up bright and early, and I drove Scott to base where they loaded buses to take them to Riverside to fly out. They are going through Maine, then Ireland, then into Iraq. It was kind of nice seeing all the families and the dogs out there, and sad to see some of them with no one there to see them off. I held up ok, I think. I figure: Scott takes such good care of me and doesn't let me get into stupid situations, that I know he's going to take care of everyone and himself out there. I just hope the time goes by quickly and they return with the same enthusiasm that some of them had as they boarded the bus. There were a few that were not deploying for some reason or another, and I was surprised to see how emotional they were to say goodbye to their team and not be there with them. It's not all relief when you find out you can't go - I guess. I wonder if they feel like me - saying goodbye to someone that you see day in and out and the mystery of what life has in store for you without them.

We had a good weekend though - We started it off by going to Roy's Restaurant (Hawaiian Fusion) in La Jolla. The meal was amazing, probably the best meal I have had since we moved here. We are going to have to keep this place in mind and try it out on special occassions. On Saturday, Scott did some repair work and cleaned out the garage. I can finally park my car in the garage - woohoo! We BBQ'd our last steak - no way am I grilling on my own, I'm sure I would set the dog on fire. On Sunday, we took the dog for a bath at Petco, saw an adorable Chia Rat (Chihuahua/Rat Terrier) which may become a part of this family in the next couple of weeks, and went out to dinner with my folks. Monday night was spend with Scott on the phone with his entire family and friends, call after call after call....

I forgot to mention that we saw Eric, Billy and Amy on Thursday night in Laguna Beach. It was nice to see them, and they wished Scott a safe and quick deployment. I think these are the friends that Scott is going to have for the rest of his life, no matter what county, state, or planet we all end up living in. It's nice to see him feel so at home with them. People you can just be goofy with.

Here are a couple of pics - one Scott took of me as he was packing with his 50 lbs. of gear, and one that was taken right before he got on the bus this morning.

Honey - I'm going to miss you like crazy - I love you.

What a week..

This week seems to be lasting forever, although many things have happened. It's a strange feeling.

We had a pretty chill weekend. We started out by getting together at our friend's house for a goodbye party to Virgil, who deploys to Iraq next week. But it really felt like a goodbye party for Kara, who left the following day for Spain. She is over there for a 4 month study program, and I am so jealous. On Sunday, we went to see my grandfather in the nursing home, and he didn't look good at all. We all knew he was in the last leg of his life, but it was a shock to me when my mom called and said that Grandpa passed away on Monday morning. All I could think of was - I am so glad that I got to see him the day before. And I hope he knew that we were there with him that day, if only to say goodbye.

My parents and I had made reservations to go whale watching on Tuesday, and we decided to still go. It was nice, and I would have been happy just getting out of the house and getting on a boat for a couple of hours. But we did see some whales, which was cool. These are the CA Grey Whales, and they are on their annual migration to Baja. We followed 2 whales for about an hour as they kept moving South.

I wanted to also attach an article that Scott sent to me. I know it sounds like something I would tear out of my Newsweek and force him to read, but he was the one who brought this home one day. I thought it was interesting and it's a good piece to spark conversation - I will allow ours to remain in our kitchen, only for Bear and the Cookie Monk to know what was said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein24jan24,0,3682678.column?coll=la-util-op-ed