Final Fling Fun

Haha! I'm awesome at alliteration.
I suppose I owe our commodore an apology. He must not be as full of shit as I thought. We are doing a pier side homecoming and I'm excited for it. There's just something so much more fulfilling about seeing the boat come in and wait for the one that belongs to you to come off than, say, going to the conference center and waiting on shuttle after shuttle for the one that contains yours or hanging out in your car at checkpoint charlie after your husband calls to have you pick him up like it's just any old day at work. Sort of anticlimactic. And, yes, I'm excited to wait down there with the kids and all even though I know he won't get off until nearly last and the kids are going to get antsy after a few hours of this. It's one of the downsides of being a nuke, but I'm fine with it.
We did our final fling yesterday at the beach. I think they should do more gatherings at the beach because there was a great turnout yesterday and the kids had so much fun. I talked a lot which naturally means I most likely made an ass of myself, but whatever. If I'm not out alienating everyone what fun is it? Note to self: Stop joking about the paternity of my children at these things, no matter how funny I think it is. Also religion. Stop being sacrilegious. It's the south and I'm going to get myself lynched doing that. Yes, I'm the queen of inappropriate conversations which is why I stay locked in my house for the most part. All in all, though, it was a fun time.

Stage: Bubbling Excitement

Almost there! I feel like I've been climbing up a steep sledding hill. You know the feeling? You start up the hill: "I can do this!" you think about halfway up the hill: "Uh, this is exhausting and the hill is still way up there. What was I thinking?!?" Then as you almost crest to the top that swelling feeling you get: "Ahhh! There it is! I see it!  Almost there, almost there! Just keep going!" That's where I'm at. I can see the end. There it is. Oh, and that feeling you get when you finally slide down. "Wheeee!"  Nearly the same thing. That intensely exciting feeling I get when they pull in and I see him again for the first time. I can hardly wait. Oh, and the looks on the girl's faces. Priceless. I just have to tell that voice in my head that says "hey, you get to do this all over again in a few months" to shut up. You're ruining my mental parade, jerk.

For Real? For Really Reals?

I had quite the adventure getting to the commissary yesterday and any of you who wandered onto your bases yesterday probably encountered the same thing.
I drove past the housing gate first and I was suspicious as soon as I noticed it was manned. No matter, I drove down to, let's call it the commissary gate for simplicity, and it was closed. That's odd. So down to the main gate I go, which is usually closed on Sundays. It was open and busy. Weird. I saw two different inspections going on and really really hoped they weren't going to do one on me, so when I pulled up and they asked "weapons or contraband?" I strongly resisted the urge to answer "just the biologics in the back" and point to the children. One day my smartass mouth is going to get me in trouble. I managed through without incident only to get lost. I felt pretty stupid. On the other hand I found an RV park on the water and an indoor pistol and rifle range and if I ever need to know where the weapon's facility is I can get to it. Bright side, see? I did get some odd looks from security who would drive past me and eye me suspiciously. Yes, I'm lost as hell and no I don't have weapons or contraband. I don't think.
I finally found my way to the commissary, which was really dead, and meandered in, stopped to look at the coupons and was id'd. Huh? Oh, yeah, hang on a minute here. What's going on? Oh, the base is on lock down. Well, that explains the gates, any idea why? Nope, no one knows.
I just assumed they were running drills of some sort.
I left and got id'd once more at the register. On my way out I noticed there were two different manned guard shacks through housing. Weird.
Despite all that I was really surprised when facebook exploded last night with the news "Bin Laden is dead!". Really? No way. So I looked it up and holy shit, they were right. Wow. I'm still in shock and while part of me is relieved he's been found, I'm also waiting for the other shoe to drop. That hydra is going to sprout another head or two if it hasn't already. I hope the backlash isn't too nasty. I worry about everyone and all my military friends, but I'm also selfish and I'm fairly sure this is going to really screw up homecoming. Maybe it won't. Still, wow.