Safe at home

It sounds like the title of an entry for a baseball story, doesn't it?

"He's rounding third and heading for the plate... Here comes the relay throw, it's gonna be a close play... and he's... SAFE AT HOME!"

We actually got home yesterday, but I was sure that you all would understand if the first thing I did when I arrived had absolutely nothing to do with the computer, the internet, my blog-friends, or anything like that.

My wife was there at the basketball court to pick me up. Her mom had agreed to stay at the house with the baby and our boy was at his daycare (aka: school) so she didn't have to worry about entertaining kids while keeping an eye open for me to arrive. We were processed through March AFB very smoothly and were quickly loaded onto a bus for the trip down to Camp Pendleton. See, one advantage to being on the advance party (other than the fact that I get to come home two weeks early) is that I traveled with a much smaller group of Marines who were picked to be on this detachment due to our ability to act responsibly and just get things done without a lot of baby sitting. Therefore, when 45 men show up and go through a process that was tailored for up to 200 Marines at a time, it doesn't take very long.

Anyway, we took our bus down to our home base and stopped at the armory to turn in our weapons before meeting our families. By the way, in a HUGE twist of irony, I was reminded several times that I had to pack my nail clippers in my checked bags (seabag, or duffel bag) but I had to carry my pistol with me at all times... HUH? I'm still scatching my head over that one, but I digress. We got to the armory and learned that we'd made the drive with a flat tire. Well, at least we made it in one piece. After that, we got into formation and marched up to the afore mentioned basketball court, which was part of the courtyard of three barracks buildings. As we marched in, I spotted the world's prettiest girl with her digital camera, but I had to keep my head and eyes straight ahead, so I lost track of her. Thankfully, there were no speeches (the Officer in Charge of our group read a letter from the battalion commander over the cabin speakers on the plane) so we were dismissed and released. I spun around and there she was. We hugged tightly and kissed a couple of times, then I got my bags and we left.

We went straight to my son's school and sat in the parking lot for a few minutes talking while we waited for his class to come out to the playground. When we spotted him, we got out and ended his school day early (30 minutes) and after he showed me around his classroom and introduced me to some of his friends, we went home. That's where I saw my mother-in-law (she's a great lady) and learned that my daughter was asleep upstairs. After she woke from her nap we went to lunch and spent the rest of the day as every family should spend a day from time to time: together.

Anyway, after all the hoop-lah was over with, and all was said and done, I was more than grateful to be home. Was there more to my day yesterday? Yes, but since I don't have an age verification system on my blog, and my parents read this, I'm not going to say anything else ;-)

A huge thank-you goes out to all of you who have read and commented on my postings over the last several months. I would hazard a guess that this outlet has been almost therapeutic for me as I've learned to deal with the stresses of being in a combat zone. Even though I'm just an admin dude, I've learned again that "There's no place like home." I will continue to blog, of course, but I intend to change my template up a bit and I'm not even sure that I will stay on blogger. We have some work to do to prepare our spaces for the main body's return, but after that we will have a period of post-deployment leave (aka: vacation) and that's when I intend to tinker with my webspace here. Please let me know what you think and offer any suggestions you may have. As you'll notice, I've had to turn on my word verification system thanks to that evil spam monster out there haunting cyber-space. Oh well, life goes on right?

Peace to you and yours,
Semper Fidelis