Thursday, October 14, 2010

R.I.P.

10/14/2010 1148 PM
Tonight, at approximately 1800, my stepdad traveled into the gates of heaven with much of his family by his side.  It was by far the most touching thing I have ever been a part of, and while I wish we still had him here, I am eternally thankful to God for allowing it to happen as it did.  We held him and held each other as we sang to him, and we can rest easier knowing that he went from our gentle loving hands into the even more gentle loving hands of our Maker.  He went from our songs to His songs.  And even better than that, he went from a damaged body to a perfect body.  We miss you, but we are so happy that you’re in the best of hands now.  Ronald A. Mayo, you are so very well loved. 
More to come soon. 

Friday, October 8, 2010

10/08/2010 9:43 PM

Alright, it’s now 9:43 PM. I’m back home so it’s back to normal people time for a bit. It’s 9:14 AM at my other home. I’m sitting at my mom’s house, gonna sleep on the sofa tonight & tomorrow night. It has been a long time since I’ve slept here. Kinda different but then nothing has been normal today. On my way up here, I realized that I couldn’t find my wallet. Suddenly I remembered that it had been under my leg on the plane. I was holding my book between the wall of the airplane and my leg and it fell at one point. I picked it up and must have knocked my wallet off the chair at the same time. If that’s the case, who knows when it’ll be discovered or beyond that, if it’ll have any of my money left in it. I sure hope I do!


I realized something on this journey while walking around the airport. I do not miss being constantly surrounded and bombarded by “stuff”. We have a little PX at Dwyer and we go in almost every day just to see what’s new. And when I want something, I can go online to get it. I don’t have to pass hundreds of different shirts, watches, shoes, or anything else that can distract easily distractible people such as myself, which is really nice. It really has been a great experience over there so far. I’m lucky, I guess. It’s not the same for everybody. I’ve been listening to people constantly talking about their frustrations and annoyances with the company or with being overseas. What is the point of all that? If you can’t be happy, why not just go home? One of our guys had a wife who broke her arm while he was here. I’m sure he was plenty frustrated about that. Another is sitting there while his wife deals with a bout of breast cancer. He is very unthrilled about that. He and I joined a “cancer f*ing sucks” group the morning I left as we were talking about his wife and my stepdad. He told me that his wife has heart problems too and is on medications for that. The money that he has to spend for her medical issues is the reason that he’s in Afghanistan. Given the expression on his face yesterday, I have no doubt that he’d much rather be home with her but he’s doing something very important to take care of her from a distance. I do not envy that man. It must be awful to be so far away.


I like getting to hear about people’s reasons for being over there. I’m about the only one I know who isn’t doing this primarily for money. I’m not planning out college for kids. I’m not trying to buy a house. I’m not dealing with medical bills. I’m having fun. I wonder if that’s why I have nothing to complain about. Who knows.


So the latest on my stepdad. It was believed that he was coughing up blood last night so they rushed him from the convalescent hospital to the ER. Did a scan and didn’t find anything that could be causing it. He wasn’t eating much but it still coherent and was able to talk to me a bit. I am very glad that I got here when I did. It’s very good to see the family and to be with him right now. I wouldn’t even have begun to expect something like this happening when I left two months ago. Not my stepdad. He was such a healthy man. I think, to put it mildly, this caught a lot of us off-guard.

Anyway, I should get to bed. It’s so weird to be sleeping back here again. The houses mostly look the same, but many of the people inside of them are different. Many of the stores have changed. Restaurants are gone. There are now stop signs where there weren’t before. My bank has changed its name and look since the last time I was in there. But some things are a total time-warp. Some things show absolutely no evidence of 15 years passing since I lived here. What an odd feeling. This sofa? Not an ounce of change. I love it.

10/07/10 1820 local time

I am currently sitting in the airport in Dubai. I’m frustrated that there’s no internet connection. I have a sneaky suspicion that I’m not going to have much communication with the outside world until I get back home. Of course that would happen when I most need it, right? So I decided yesterday morning that it was time to go home to see my stepdad. He’s been diagnosed with cancer in the time that I’ve been gone. I can’t see what’s going on there, and I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that this was a good time to get home since the fire department isn’t up & running yet and I should probably take advantage of it while I still can. Besides, if anything goes terribly awry and I need to get home quickly, there is no guarantee that it’ll be doable. Juli will be going on vacation next month and this just seemed like the right time. I sure do hope it is. I went in to the chiefs yesterday morning telling them that I needed to get home, thought it would still be a few days, but everything turned into the usual whirlwind that it is around there and off I went. We headed to HR inquire about what it would take and they said that they could get me onto the flight going out that day. I had to rush back to the station and pack, with the help of my dear Juli. She managed to keep my head on straight somehow. Handing over stuff that I needed… luggage locks, small toothpaste, baggies, even a couple reminders of my temporary home there. I didn’t have a clue how much I was going to miss it. Miss the people! If I’m like this after a few weeks with those guys, how am I going to be after a year?!? This can’t be good. I had to fly back to KAF yesterday and go through the usual out-processing there before I could head on. This morning, I was having breakfast with our fire liaison that I got to spend a lot of time with the first time I was there, and as we were going through the lunch line, I realized how much Dwyer has gotten to me. The omelet maker at KAF wasn’t nearly as sweet and charming as the one at Dwyer. And I missed my little cutie that always gives me the bacon or sausage or pancakes or French toast. That man has got to have the sweetest smile ever! I don’t know what it is about him but if I’m not careful, one of these days, I’m gonna climb over the counter and get a hug. I’ll have to get a picture with him so you can all see what I’m talking about. Trust me, you’ll know. And the one at the end of the breakfast line that always knows that I’ll want syrup. He always looks so crushed when they’re out and I express any disappointment. Seriously, that is a very good place to work. I really do enjoy it there.


Alright, I’m back on the plane and using a napkin to write. I’m flying over a beautiful mountain range right now. Wish I knew which one it is but I don’t have a clue how long I’ve been flying so I can’t even begin to guess where I am. All I know is I’ve watched two TV shows and one movie, not to mention quite a bit of reading. The movie for this trip was Toy Story 3. Yep, I cried. At least 3 times. What is it with Disney? What is it with toys?


Ya know, this trip has definitely not been easy. I go from deciding to go home to suddenly going home in a couple of hours. I pack, I say goodbye to people I care more about than I ever thought I would. I take a flight to Bastion. Another flight to KAF. Stayed overnight and went through out-processing the next day. Flew to Dubai. Flew to Kuwait. Flew to D.C. Flying to San Diego. That is just about 10 more hours more flying than I want. It was about a total of 22 hours. The 13 hour was definitely the worst part but I had a very charming companion the whole way. Natalia. She was in Kuwait teaching. Lasted 2 weeks before getting fired. She was so thankful for that fact. She had never been more miserable in her life. She was told she’d be teaching at an American girl’s school. What she wasn’t told was that there were no American girls. They didn’t teach the truth. The children had no respect at all. She was at a major disadvantage from the get-go. Very glad to be going home. San Francisco area. She actually cheered and clapped when the plane touched. It was quite adorable.


Okay, my dear friends, I’m going to put this napkin I’m writing on away and go back to my book. I’ll be in touch soon. Wish me luck and send major prayers toward my family. Especially my stepdad. He needs it the most.


Much love,
D