Mission Complete

I arrived in the U.S. of A. on 18 Jan at approximately 0400 after 22 hours of flying time and about 28 total hours of travel.  I landed in Norfolk, VA, then flew to BWI, where my boss, Col Smith and Diane met me.

Before I left, my flight arrangements were: arrive in Norfolk at 0330, take American Airlines from Norfolk to JFK at 1430 (11 hours of waiting for my flight), lay-over there for a couple hours, then fly down to BWI, arriving at 1950.  That's 16 1/2 hours to get from Norfolk to BWI!!  Thank goodness my home TMO (Transportation Management Office) came through for me and booked me on Southwest, which left Norfolk at 0830 and arrived at BWI at 0925.  If it weren't for them, I would have rented a car and driven home.

A couple weeks ago Courtney told me Christopher posted some videos of parents surprising their kids at school when they returned from deployment.  Taking that as a hint, coupled with the fact that Diane said they had both mentioned how cool that would be, I told them I was getting home around midnight.  So, Diane and I left the airport and showed up at Mullaney's school.  Her favorite teacher helped by clearing it with the school.  We arrived and she escorted us to where Mullaney was.  She was definitely surprised!

Next stop - Christopher's school.  He was outside at recess and his friends saw me walk in.  I waited in his classroom for him to come in.  He was still surprised.  He and Mullaney were especially glad to get out of school early!  We ordered Chinese food and ate it at home.  It was a great day.

So, this has been THE coldest week of the winter and everyone is crediting me with bringing the cold weather!  Hello!! I was in AFRICA for the last six months, where it was in the 140s in the summer!!  It is EXTREMELY cold!  Holy crap!!  It has been in the single digits at night and in the 20s during the day.

I have been trying to catch up on everything at once, which doesn't work.  So, instead of getting frustrated, I have decided to take one task at a time and mix in some goof off time.

I am still working out, well, running.  I ran the first two days I was back and holy cow, was it cold!  My hands froze, my nose ran, and I had to breathe through my mouth instead of my nose.  If I had breathed through my nose, I would have had mucus all over my face!  LOL.  Tonight I am going to the gym to run.  It is 24 degrees now and will dip into the single digits again tonight.

I find myself figuring out what time it is in Djibouti and I wonder how things are going there.  I called my replacement, Todd the other day to check in and all seem to be doing well.  Before I know it, all the people I knew will be gone.  C'est La Vie!