Yup, it's been a while. I've been busy. First of all, Bryon will be home tomorrow, as in DOES NOT HAVE TO RETURN TO IRAQ. There is much joy. I don't even know what we're going to do with ourselves. It's been YEARS since he could be home and just hang out, knowing he didn't have to leave within a week or so. :D :D :D
I went up last Friday (New Year's Eve) for the "meet & greet" on base (turns out they DID get in on the 31st, and thankfully they let the families come up to see them). The guys apparently landed around 3:30 pm, but they had some things to take care of before they could come over to where we were. That meant that I was sitting there with hundreds of other family members for about four and a half hours; I spent the entire time untangling the ball of fancy yarn for my Magic Tube Scarf. The guys showed up at 10:30 pm. Happily, though, they could take off directly and we even made it back to the hotel in time to watch the ball drop!! This was a huuuge improvement over last New Year's. :)
It was kind of frustrating waiting around for Bryon each day, since he normally didn't get out until 6 pm or so, but it was well worth it getting to spend time with him. On Sunday, Bryon's parents came up and we headed over to the gym for the Demobilization Ceremony, along with the fiancee of another of the guys. It worked out fairly well. There was a bit of waiting but that's not very surprising; the ceremony was a lot of PR bull and I had a hard time swallowing most of it, but it made me cry a couple of times. The worst was when they announced that the parents of a soldier who had been killed were in the audience, and ALL the camerapeople in the room ZOOMED over to them and stuck their cameras right in the poor people's faces. How obnoxious. Way back at the farewell ceremony, I was thinking how some of those guys probably wouldn't be coming back, and there were people in the audience who would lose their loved one - and none of us had any idea who it might be. I couldn't help thinking how lucky I am that it wasn't me... but how I could have been sitting next to those people at the first ceremony... *shudder* It's just so chilling, and sad.
Bryon's group did a marvelous job over there and I'm very proud that they gave the National Guard such a good reputation. However, I also feel that it's going to mean the Guard will be deployed more frequently. They've even admitted that they have to change their ad campaign - no more "one weekend a month, two weeks a year" mentality.
After the ceremony, Bryon's parents, Mick and Sharon Caster, Sharon's mother, Bryon and I all went out to dinner at a "Pizza Hut Italian Bistro." It was quite nice and the food was MARVELOUS. It felt very upscale compared to a regular Pizza Hut, but the prices were still reasonable.
Bryon and I had Christmas with his parents after that, back at the hotel. He enjoyed his gifts, including his tank pillow (shaped like a tank, and when you push a button it makes tank noises... heheh). :D I took a Santa hat and a very small Christmas tree with me, to get us in the mood. Bryon's dad liked the barracks set we got him for his G.I. Joes, and his mom liked her Elvis cookbook. We also got them two puzzles, one of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms and one of the Christmas House in Elmira.
The two of them went home on Monday after we ate a quick breakfast at the hotel (yummy bagels!). I called a tire place in town, and got two new tires put on my car, and an oil change - all badly needed. Once Bryon got released for the day, we went to the mall and got our new cell phones!! He was so funny about it... I kind of told him I had this minor thing about wanting us to get matching phones... and while he looked at a few other models, once I decided on mine he just told the girl "ok, two of those." :D He pretty much just gave me free rein on this because I know much more about cell phones than he does. Ironically, our phones are with Cingular, despite my former employment with Verizon Wireless. ^_^ Since Cingular has merged with AT&T Wireless, they are the largest network now, and Bryon's always had really good luck with his phone. We each got a Nokia 3120, a very small, cute, non-flip, non-camera phone. Having worked with them for so long I'd come to the conclusion that a camera phone was unnecessary (I have a lovely digital camera, after all) and flip phones have some disadvantages (more likely to break, can't see who's calling unless you flip it open if it doesn't have a front screen). Plus, of course, this one was cheaper than the ones with the camera, etc. :) I reeeeeeally like the phone. My ringtone is now the theme from
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Bryon's is the "Inspector Gadget" theme. Hahaha.
So anyway... I drove back down on Tuesday to get here before the nasty storm. I worked yesterday (quite a bit built up in a few days). Then this morning, we got a lovely present - a SNOW DAY! :D Boy, it's nice to get
paid for them. What a treat. See, there ARE some advantages to workin on top of a huge, somewhat treacherous hill. :>
Bryon and I have been talking on the phone about 10 times a day. Last night he called me from a bar, and he sounded just excessively-happy enough that I could tell he was kinda drunk. He's such a cute, happy drunk. Plus, instead of hitting on people, what does he do? Repeatedly calls his girlfriend, and besides that, he was taking care of 7 other guys, took them to a diner to get some food in them, making sure they all got back to the barracks ok, etc. :) He's a good guy. :D
I think that's about it. There's been some video game buying and playing (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Final Fantasy I&II for the GBA); some cross-stitch; and some reading (
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown). Oh, and a teeny bit of knitting on that Magic Tube Scarf. So... I'll post later when I've made some progress. :)
