I'm here, he's there.

Greetings friends, family, & passers-by. I hope that as you read this everyone is doing well, especially those from the coastal areas of Texas. It's quite awful what happened down there, and I pray that everyone is alright!

We had very calm week & weekend in comparison. I'll start from the beginning, which is always a great place to start.

Kyle's appointment with the surgeon was actually on Monday, not Tuesday as I originally posted. The visit was both good and bad. Most importantly, Dr. Brady said that Kyle's showing a lot more progress than he would have anticipated at this point. His range of motion is really good, and the break looks to be healing very well. However, he wants Kyle to wait one more month before he flies, and that is really disappointing. We understand the surgeon's reasoning however... he wants the bone to be completely and totally healed, with no room for problems. He told Kyle the story of another patient with a very similar break & plate who tried to pick up a bag of ice (that's all!) and snapped the plate in two because his bone wasn't healed up all the way. Yikes! So, its disappointing that he can't fly yet, but he is going to be busy for the next month!

The powers that be in the flying world decided that Kyle can do sims in the meantime. The simulator won't apply the same amount of force & potential for injury as a plane... i.e. those sims aren't planting themselves onto a runway at excessive speeds and then throwing on the thrust reversers to bring it to an abrupt halt. The sim will provide Kyle with flying hours until he's good to go.

He was gone last Wednesday night to McGuire AFB in New Jersey, and then he left this morning for his sims in Mississippi. He won't be back until Thursday, and I'm going to miss him!

Now don't get me wrong... I realize that 5 days is NOTHING, but I still miss him, no matter how long he is away. I've been pretty fortunate thus far, as far as being a military wife goes. I haven't had to deal with the long separations yet, just the small ones. Truly, my "together time" has run its course.... his injury has allowed us more time together than is normal for a C-17 pilot & his wife. Now I'm getting my taste of the absences. Which is okay. The alternative to lots of little small trips + a medium-sized deployment is one really super long deployment. No thank you. I'd rather have him gone 2 weeks a month & then 6 months , rather than being deployed one whole year (or even more.)

And really, we're pretty good at this separation business...we had a long distance relationship for 17 months before we were married, and then I was away from home very frequently last fall while my mom was sick. I definitely don't need him around, but it makes me really happy to have him near. As I told him yesterday - I can deal with him being gone, but it still makes me sad. I married him because I like him....I don't have to be happy that he's leaving, and of course I'm going to miss him!

And then, I'm going to be husbandless (again) on my birthday. Last year was spent apart as well while I was in Mt. Pleasant for mom and he had to stay in Del Rio for pilot training. Boo! Okay, enough pity party-ing.

Now let's see.... well, my first 4 day week was fabulous. The days were long, but at about 5 o'clock everyday I was like "C'mon 6!! I just want to go home!" But on Thursday evening, as I drove down the most boring stretch of Route 1, I realized how fortunate I am that I didn't have to drive that commute one more time that week. Woo hoo!

That night I went over to my neighbor's house for a get together with all the girls from the neighborhood to celebrate another friend's birthday. That was a good time, and I really like being surrounded by so many nice & fun people.

Friday I tried to sleep in.. but my body betrayed me and wouldn't let me. I spent the day running errands & cleaning the house... and it was fun! Saturday morning we had our friends Andrew & Robyn over for breakfast, and afterwards we sat around talking for several hours. Both are Aggies, so of course there was a lot of discussion about missing A&M and College Station.

Last night Kyle took me out for a birthday dinner to a local restaurant which we both really enjoyed. It was so nice to just sit with him in a darkened & quiet room with candlelight & soft music and appreciate being together. The food was delicious (He had lamb chops with plum mint sauce & I had steak au poivre with risotto), and the service was excellent as well. For all of you Dover-ites who read this, we highly recommened Chops Grille (voted one of Delawares Best for 2007).



We planned to try the early morning service at a church which we went to last weekend (and enjoyed), but Kyle had to leave earlier than expected. So after he left, I hitched a ride to church with my friend Rachel & her husband John & their neighbor Andrew (another Aggie!). I liked the service & then I didn't... the music was nice, but the preacher was a bit over the top. Someone compared him to Billy Mays, the infomercial salesman for products like OxyClean & Orange Clean. I found that amusing, and maybe it paints a mental image for you.

We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse, which a) I will never turn down, and b) was really tasty. After we returned home I took a trip to some stores in order to return some items, a trip that I never seemed to have time to do before. Then I shopped. :)

Now I'm updating this and will shortly begin working on my Intern Development Program so that when I grow up I can be a real Architect. A few people at work have decided they're going to bug me to death until I get that started, so I suppose now is as good of a time as any.

I'll update this again next weekend probably. Kyle and I are going to work at the NASCAR event next weekend. FYI, Dover is a NASCAR hotspot, & sometimes I feel like I'm still living in the south. I can't honestly say that working in a concession stand is how I want to spend my free day, but it's a way to spend time with Kyle & support the 3rd. I'll report back on all the happenings, maybe it will be entertaining.

Till then,
Jill