Acknowledgement

The AC is still broken, but they’re working on getting everything fixed. It was 97 degrees up here a few nights ago, and I was dying! I didn’t realize how much I take AC for granted!

Work is still fun to me. I’m still working hard to make necessary improvements, and trying to make it a smooth transition for my replacement. Lately I’ve been getting comments like, “well what do you care? You’re leaving in a few weeks!” I hate hearing that because I’m going to continue trying my best and working hard until they throw me on that plane!

I was asked to extend for a few months, and I turned it down. I really want to come home. Joe sent me a disk of pictures from home – wedding, babysitting, working around the farm, honeymoon… All kinds of great stuff, and I am beginning to realize that I’ve missed out on a lot of things by being here. It hasn’t bothered me too much. I’m glad that I can serve and be able to say that I did it! I came to Iraq and served! It’s like how people say “been there, done that, got the t-shirt.” I’ve even got the t-shirt to prove it haha! I know it’s going to hit me pretty hard when I get home that a lot of things have changed, but I’ve changed too, thus it’s called an “adjustment period” for a reason.

Now that I’m getting close to being done, I’m ready to start thinking about what I want to do when I get home! I’ve been postponing it b/c it just makes me more antsy to be home. I work with a lot of people who have been planning “going home” for a while now and it gets depressing to do that so early, so I’ve tried not to think about it. Now I will however:) I’m going to relax with Joe, get a facial and a haircut, visit family and friends, and just enjoy a free 2 week vacation woo hoo! Foods I want to eat: anything Grandma makes, Papa Johns Pizza (chicken BBQ), anything on the grill, McDonald's breakfast (sausage and egg biscuit), and I can't think of the rest right now. I’m sure you could have guessed that I was going to do most of that already, but by writing it here, I’m finally acknowledging that my time is almost up!