I'm sitting in the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport at the USO, waiting to start the long arduous process of returning to my deployment location in the Middle East. It took over three days to get to Fresno, with stops in Kuwait, Ireland, Maine and Texas along the way, but it was more than worth it. I'd do it again in a second, but the Air Force won't let me :) .
Words can not express how amazing it was to get to hold Denise, Julia and Kenneth in my arms and to see all my friends and family. I was feeling really down in November, work not going well and each day dragging on and all I could think about was getting home. My tank has been filled, my cup runneth over, and I can't wait to get back to finish my tour - so I can get back home for good (well, hopefully for good, I don't see another deployment on the horizon).
Some highlights (see Denise's posts for pics) were Julia's Christmas Program at school, building a snowman with Kenneth in the snow at Shaver Lake, Christmas Morning with the kids (Santa nailed the presents - Julia LOVES Floppy the puppy and Kenneth LOVES the Thomas the Train set), Christmas get-together at Joyce's, Monterey Bay Aquarium & Cannery Row with the kids, and New Years Eve with friends and family. Special thanks to Joyce for hosting Christmas, Mike & Dianne and Cindy & Dan for New Years, and my Dad for giving me a ride to the airport at 0530 in the morning today.
Biggest thank you of course goes to Denise, for continuing to be supermom while Daddy is away. She continues to be the love of my life, my rock and my reason.
