Part of my job as slave to Brad and Debbie was to video tape just about everything, so I could later make sort of 'promo-videos' for the Festaburg. In the interest of spreading the word, I thought I'd post them on here as they come. I finished the first one tonight! Yay. So, check it out!!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Saying Goodbye
Sunday, 11:15 pm
The silence is loud. We just closed the door as Brad took the final van-full of soldiers back to post, to pick up their bags and head to the Hall of Champions, the last place they will be on post, where they get their smallpox shot, check their id's and dogtags, and get on the bus. Fifteen months before they'll be back. And we pray to God that they will all be back.
I can't help crying as I think of this. This was the last weekend. Now it's just Brad and Debbie and the guys on Rear D. Even I'm leaving - but I'm going home. Back to the States. I will miss this place, but I have no complaints. I get to go home, back to familiar sights and voices and foods and hugs. But these guys - and girls - my friends - are going downrange. Some of them are already gone. The house has been filled, every single bed and several couches, for the last four weekends, and now it's empty. And in that reality, the silence is loud. You can hear every clock tick, every footstep. Every deep breath, and whispered prayer. Oh God, why them? Is there a reason for this? Will they come back?
My heart breaks for the women who have to stand outside the gym, wishing they could follow their husbands inside as they check out. I cry for the children who are too little to understand where Daddy is going, and for the ones who have already been without their mother or father, who've had to stay in the States and adjust early to living on phone calls and letters. Now the soldiers are off to the heat of battle, where they will serve and fight and sacrifice for the rest of us.
They've laughed and joked about it, but when you stand in the doorway and say those goobyes, you catch a glimpse of what's behind their strength. You walk by an open door and hear it in the choked words on a last phone call home for who knows how long. You see it as they all sit and listen to the same songs over and over. If You're Reading This, by Tim McGraw. Letters from Home, John Michael Montogmery. They know where they're going and what it is they're going to be facing. Some of them have been there before, some as many as 4 times. They're gone. It's been talked about for months, but until now, when I've seen them walk out the door for the last time. When I know that I won't get another chance for goodbye. When I know some of them are gone already. When I know that in a few hours, they'll be on a bus with their bags, headed for a plane to take them to Iraq. To war.
Please, pray for our soldiers. For my friends. For these heroes.
The silence is loud. We just closed the door as Brad took the final van-full of soldiers back to post, to pick up their bags and head to the Hall of Champions, the last place they will be on post, where they get their smallpox shot, check their id's and dogtags, and get on the bus. Fifteen months before they'll be back. And we pray to God that they will all be back.
I can't help crying as I think of this. This was the last weekend. Now it's just Brad and Debbie and the guys on Rear D. Even I'm leaving - but I'm going home. Back to the States. I will miss this place, but I have no complaints. I get to go home, back to familiar sights and voices and foods and hugs. But these guys - and girls - my friends - are going downrange. Some of them are already gone. The house has been filled, every single bed and several couches, for the last four weekends, and now it's empty. And in that reality, the silence is loud. You can hear every clock tick, every footstep. Every deep breath, and whispered prayer. Oh God, why them? Is there a reason for this? Will they come back?
My heart breaks for the women who have to stand outside the gym, wishing they could follow their husbands inside as they check out. I cry for the children who are too little to understand where Daddy is going, and for the ones who have already been without their mother or father, who've had to stay in the States and adjust early to living on phone calls and letters. Now the soldiers are off to the heat of battle, where they will serve and fight and sacrifice for the rest of us.
They've laughed and joked about it, but when you stand in the doorway and say those goobyes, you catch a glimpse of what's behind their strength. You walk by an open door and hear it in the choked words on a last phone call home for who knows how long. You see it as they all sit and listen to the same songs over and over. If You're Reading This, by Tim McGraw. Letters from Home, John Michael Montogmery. They know where they're going and what it is they're going to be facing. Some of them have been there before, some as many as 4 times. They're gone. It's been talked about for months, but until now, when I've seen them walk out the door for the last time. When I know that I won't get another chance for goodbye. When I know some of them are gone already. When I know that in a few hours, they'll be on a bus with their bags, headed for a plane to take them to Iraq. To war.
Please, pray for our soldiers. For my friends. For these heroes.
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Last Day
It seems unreal that this is my last day in Germany.
It began about 12:05 am, as I was sitting on the couch watching movies, when Mac opened the door and told me to go put on my shoes so we could play in the snow. He wanted to make a snowman, cause he'd never done that before, and we built a big one! We rolled giant snowballs up and down the silent street until about 1:30 in the morning, and we built Christoph (that's his name) right outside the front door. We had fun dressing him up in Mac's beret and fleece, with a knife for a mouth and a plug converter nose. He even had bushy eyebrows! Brad certainly was startled when he went to step out this morning. :)
I spent the morning packing all my stuff back up. Despite having gotten rid of as much as I could - including multiple pairs of shoes - my bags appear to still be overweight. All that German chocolate!! But I got it all in, which is good. We went out for Döner as my last German meal, and we had Spaghetti-Eis to top it off. Came back, and I talked to mom about details and whatnot. Tomorrow morning we'll leave at 7 am, and I'll be in Phoenix at 8:30 pm!!!!!!!! I get to sleep in MY OWN BED tomorrow night!! AHhhhhh this is unreal! But so, so, so incredibly exciting!
I am going to miss it. It's going to be a weather shock coming from snow to 80 degree sunshine. I'm going to miss how beautiful the German countryside is. I'm going to miss Brad and Debbie, and I'm really going to miss Mac, and I already miss so many others. I'm going to miss speaking German - or a mix of "Denglisch." But I cannot wait to see my parents and hug my sister and see the SUN and pet my kittens and eat real mexican food and hug my friends and go to my church and did I mention enjoy the sunshine? I am ready to be home!!!! OH, it's so exciting!! Thinking about it is giving me tingles. :) hee hee hee hee the year is over!!! Can you believe it?? there were times when it went by soooo slowly, but now that I'm going home it seems to have sped by. Although, while it seems I haven't been in Germany that long, it seems like I haven't been home in forever. EEEEEEEEE I cannot WAIT!!! I hope I sleep on the plane, that always makes time go faster.
I'm coming home TOMORROW!!!
It began about 12:05 am, as I was sitting on the couch watching movies, when Mac opened the door and told me to go put on my shoes so we could play in the snow. He wanted to make a snowman, cause he'd never done that before, and we built a big one! We rolled giant snowballs up and down the silent street until about 1:30 in the morning, and we built Christoph (that's his name) right outside the front door. We had fun dressing him up in Mac's beret and fleece, with a knife for a mouth and a plug converter nose. He even had bushy eyebrows! Brad certainly was startled when he went to step out this morning. :)I spent the morning packing all my stuff back up. Despite having gotten rid of as much as I could - including multiple pairs of shoes - my bags appear to still be overweight. All that German chocolate!! But I got it all in, which is good. We went out for Döner as my last German meal, and we had Spaghetti-Eis to top it off. Came back, and I talked to mom about details and whatnot. Tomorrow morning we'll leave at 7 am, and I'll be in Phoenix at 8:30 pm!!!!!!!! I get to sleep in MY OWN BED tomorrow night!! AHhhhhh this is unreal! But so, so, so incredibly exciting!
I am going to miss it. It's going to be a weather shock coming from snow to 80 degree sunshine. I'm going to miss how beautiful the German countryside is. I'm going to miss Brad and Debbie, and I'm really going to miss Mac, and I already miss so many others. I'm going to miss speaking German - or a mix of "Denglisch." But I cannot wait to see my parents and hug my sister and see the SUN and pet my kittens and eat real mexican food and hug my friends and go to my church and did I mention enjoy the sunshine? I am ready to be home!!!! OH, it's so exciting!! Thinking about it is giving me tingles. :) hee hee hee hee the year is over!!! Can you believe it?? there were times when it went by soooo slowly, but now that I'm going home it seems to have sped by. Although, while it seems I haven't been in Germany that long, it seems like I haven't been home in forever. EEEEEEEEE I cannot WAIT!!! I hope I sleep on the plane, that always makes time go faster.
I'm coming home TOMORROW!!!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
One Week!
That's right - this time next week, I will be HOME! What an incredible thought - it's still hard to believe, because it seems that this world right here is the only one that exists, and that home is something I've dreamed of for so long that it couldn't possibly be real.
Brad and Debbie and I went to the pre-deployment ceremony this week. Not all of the soldiers were there, but there were quite a few. It was a good ceremony, but sad at the same time. Then Friday started what would probably be one of the last weekends. :( I got to babysit five adorable children Friday night, ages 6, 5, 3, and two just around a year old, one walking and one not. Fun stuff.
Saturday we took a trip to Trier and then to Rammstein Air Force Base. This was my third time in Trier, but it was a first for a bunch of the guys. We saw Constantine's Basilica, the Dom, and went up in the Porta Nigra, an old Roman gate. After spending most of the day there, we drove over to Rammstein to eat at Chili's (a real American restaurant in Germany!) and to go to the PowerZone, which is slightly larger at Rammstein than in Baumholder. Rammstein, being an Air Force Base, is in almost every way superior to the post in Baumholder. Mac, being prior service in the Air Force, left no opportunity un-seized to remind us of this fact. The sad thing is, it is quite true.
Sunday was church. I managed to fall down the stairs, and my left leg is now bruised from my knee down to my ankle. Ouch. The service was combined with the traditional and gospel services, and the Chaplain was . . . quite unlike anything I've ever heard. I was only able to understand about half of what was said, as it was delivered at such a volume that individual words were no longer discernible. After lunch it was back to the Festaburg for lunch, movies (or naps), and games.
Monday was a nice lazy morning, since about half the folks left to go work out. The rest of us just lazed about, enjoying the sunshine and the chance to do not much of anything. That afternoon we took a walk up to the castle with a large group. We brought a hymnal this time, so that we could enjoy singing a bunch of songs and actually know all the words. We sang for quite a long time, and it was really very cool. We hiked back and had dinner, and then played Catchphrase until it was time to take the soldier's back to post, which is always a sad time. Right now, you never know which hug you give out will be your last one before they're gone.
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