Happy 2009!

Can you *believe* it's 2009??!! (and can you believe how many times you've probably heard that the last 3 days?!)

Where o' where did time go? Again, another common cliche lately.

I thought this deployment would drag and drag. I thought it would never come to an end. Yet here we are, mere days from the finale. Most of our unit has actually already arrived. Husband is bringing up... fairly close to the rear. Not quite, but close.

It's crazy to see the mass of soldiers that I never realized were missing. The PX and the commissary shelves wiped clean, the liquore store dangerously low (yes Honey, there's still enough left for you!). When they left in late November/ early December 2007, I didn't really notice the lack of soldiers on post. Maybe I wasn't observant, and I guarantee I was lost in my own little woes of having just said good-bye to my husband. People were curious, with 4000 troops gone, is there a noticable difference? Thinking back, I just don't know. To me, no, there wasn't. But coming in! Wow do I notice! Longer lines, single soldiers walking everywhere with big bags full of food, empty shelves, it's nuts!

The most common topic of discussion right now is "Are you ready?" If you mean, is your house spotless and ready for all the gear your husband's about to dump in it, then I say HA! I don't think I'll ever be organized enough to be "ready". (And I thank God continuously that I have a husband who just doesn't care about that stuff!) But if you mean, are you ready to have your other half home again? Then Yes! I'm ready, ready, ready to have my best friend home again. 14 months is just plain painful.

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year!! I ask you all to pray hard for our new administration that's about to take office. Even if I wouldn't have voted for them myself, I do pray that Obama and his crew are the change our country so desparately needs. War, economics, jobs, health care, schools, natural resources, natural disasters... our country is facing just as much as it ever has. Sometimes we've had amazingly strong leaders who've gracefully lead us out, and sometimes we haven't. Pray this is one of those times where positive changes are made.