The imperfect little lives we lead

One of my favorite images, quite possibly ever, of my brother. She just loves her Bobe.

She is a real wild one... and I LOVE it.

Austin with his favorite buddy Dylan taking a break from playing soccer.

As I waited to collect Austin at dismissal one day last week, I was chatting with a few other moms. They asked how we were holding up without Chris around, and I replied with the usual, "Oh we're fine. We miss him, but we keep in touch via Skype and the stories on the blog."

One of the moms replied with, "You have a blog! I want to read your blog. Send me the link." So I told her that I would have to send her an invitation and that I was pretty sure we were at our max 100 guests, but that I would add her if a spot came available... and this is what she said.

"I just have to read your blog. I love reading blogs because all you see and all you read on family blogs is how wonderful life is. When I read them all I can think about is how I know their lives are not THAT perfect!"

Well... she's right to a degree, but do I really want to share my personal family blog with a person who judges me for the perfect memories I would like to savor in my own little imperfect world? It's been a few days since I last blogged. I was on a role there for a while, wasn't I? Well I have house work to take care of, bills to pay, baskets of clothes to fold and put away, floors to mop, mouths to feed, bodies to wash, and little people who need to be read to played with tickled and yes disciplined. I have papers to write, assignments to fulfill, books that must be read from cover-to-cover and images to be taken, edited, submitted and yes, sometimes re-submitted. The only pieces of perfection that exists in this little life of ours are those two beautiful babies who lay sound asleep as I write this. And even though at times it may seem to others who we invite into our lives that we put on an air of flawlessness, we are far from being perfect.

Mom of the really cute little girl in Austin's class, we are doing okay without Chris, but there's not a single day that passes that I do not wish he were here. We each have our moments, mine lasted for a particularly long time today, of tears and wishes, but it passes because we know how to see the silver lining in this all. We know how to make an ordinary day, magic.

Enjoy the images. Hope to hear from each one of you soon.

:: Liz ::

Amenities

There's a lot of stuff to do to keep you busy here. A lot of people are here for a year at a time, so there's a constant challenge to stay busy and occupied. Here's a few of the amenities.

This circus tent looking thing is called Memorial Plaza. They show movies here on a giant screen and you can probably see all the tables and chairs sitting out for people to sit around and gab. It's more or less right in the middle of the base and is surrounded by a bunch of other things. The gym, the library, and "The Fox" which I have a picture of below. While Memorial Plaza is its official name, most people just simply call it "The Bra." Any guesses as to why?

This is a look heading from my dorm towards the bra. The buildings on the right are one of the base exchanges.

I have not partaken of the Subway or the Burger King. They're both things I try to avoid while in the states so I'll continue to avoid them here. In this row there's also a Dunkin and a Baskin Robbins.

All of those facilities are in what is called the Coalition Compound or just "CC". On the other side of base, in the BPC (I forgot what it stands for) there are more up to date, modern buildings. Inside one of the facilities is this Starbucks. There's never a line here, despite the fact that it's Starbucks. Unlike most of the other vendors, they increase their prices significantly.
I may have mentioned that we get our "3 beers." This is one of the places where we can come to get our 3 beers. In fact, it's 3 drinks of alcohol which includes beer, wine and 2oz shots of liquor. While the building was here, Fox Sports donated the interior and it is referred to as The Fox. They've got wi-fi, and there's always sports playing.

My friend Chris, having his 3 drinks....all at once.

I have yet to have all 3 beers I am allowed. I'm trying to make something good from this deployment by working out and losing a few pounds...so I don't drink very much.

The True Price

I've received a number of emails at work since I have been here regarding "Fallen Warrior" ceremonies. Since this base is a big transit hub for the war effort there are constant rotations of aircraft and personnel. Sometimes, all too commonly, those flight rotations include the remains of soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty.

Today, during my work shift, I went over to the airfield and took part in a Fallen Warrior ceremony. It was very simple. The back of a C-17 aircraft is opened up, revealing a single flag-draped metal casket. The sight of that small casket in the back of that huge aircraft will be something I will remember for the rest of my life. All of the ceremony participants are lined up on either side of the aircraft and the honor guard retrieves the casket and carries it to a waiting transport vehicle. As the casket is brought down the cargo ramp, all the participants are ordered by the senior officer to "present arms" i.e. salute the passing casket. That vehicles is then driven over to the back of yet another C-17, bound for Dover AFB, Delaware. The process was repeated in reverse. Finally, the chaplain and the senior officers invited inside all of us into the large cargo bay for a short prayer.

During this time, the usually noisy and bustling flightline all but comes to a standstill. Vehicles stop moving and their occupants get out to stand at attention to salute the casket as it passes. It is still very loud, and the prayer inside the cargo bay is said over the intercom, the chaplain speaking through the intercom headset.

In the week I have been here, I've received a number of emails to participate but many times they are held in the middle of the night or when I am off shift. Everyone on base is invited to come any time they are able. Today's ceremony was presided over by the vice Wing Commander, Air Force Colonel Paul W. Tibbets IV. Col Tibbets comes from a very distinguished Air Force lineage. If you don't know the name Paul Tibbets, do a Google search.

End of the First Week

While this place often looks like a Martian landscape, there are some strangely scenic things to look at. For one, we do have amazing sunrises and sunsets every single day. I caught this one last night as I was walking to the gym. This fence used to be the perimeter of the base, but isn't any longer. Pretty imposing though.

The dorms that are occupied by those here for 6 months or more

The "Yellow Brick Road" connecting the 2 residential areas of the base

A typical Qatari lawn

Qatari shrubbery

Day 8 :: Little Time

Me post-run, kids... post major sugar consumption... we were all a little sticky and giddy.

Hannah being obsessed with the ball.

Mmmmm, candy!

Daddy's smile.

I couldn't resist. She dressed herself and yes, those are NOT diapers.. three days no pull=ups, not even at night. I LOVED putting out the trash with no smelly diapers last night. It was awesome and a first since before we had Austin. Wow!

She knows how to rock an undie bulge.

Did I mention that she did her hair too? And put her shoes on? Just the sweetest.

Taylor and I joined Austin for lunch today. We love lunch at WAES.

Lost the diapers, bit still haven't dropped the paci... oh well... baby steps is our mode of operation these days.

I have very little time to post tonight as I have spent most of our days outdoors with the beautiful weather we are having. I got some yard work done, ran outside for the first time in a while, to get my car that was being repaired all the while enjoying myself but seriously neglecting my school work... I have a HUGE design project and a paper all due and not a single thing started... can you say anxiety? All will be well after the weekend though. My mom and step-dad are in town and Chris (brother) and Laura are on their way now, so I should have no troubles keeping the kids occupied while getting my work done. Wish me luck and enjoy the photos from our day.

xo Liz xo

Day 7 :: In Our Step

What a stud!

The red and black attire was not planned... but I thought it was fancy enough for a photo :)

Taylor loves her bike

The little dude rockin' the scooter.

Wow, what a beauty huh?

Her eyes are just like yours Chris. So beautiful.

The weather here has been AMAZING the past few days... I want it to last until you get home... but I know it won't. So for now, the kids and I have a little Spring in our step and are so thankful for this little gift we've been given.

We strolled over to the playground after school and were pleasantly surprised to have so many of our friends there. Even I got 'play' a little with my pals :) .

Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow is Friday and over the weekend we will have a house full of guests, always a nice feeling when the house seems so empty without Chris around.

Much love, Liz

The Ride Over (Part 2) or...somewhere near fair Verona

Thank God for wonderful people. While I was in Germany, I was trying desperately to get in touch with a family friend, Susan Davis. She's a DODS teacher at the school at Ramstein. She kept trying to get in touch with me, but I had no cell phone. Lousy internet service and no idea when my flight was going to leave. On top of that, they kept ushering us in and out of security. Finally, on the day I left, she tracked me down to say hi. It was wonderful to spend some time with her and she even brought me a coffee, which most of you know is the fastest way to my heart! I actually asked her if she had spoken with my mother before meeting me. I hope to meet up with her on the way home.

Incidentally, Susan's husband Bob is a Guiness Book of World Record holder for the "Longest Snowmobile Journey". Read all about Ironman here

After 2.5 days in Germany we were finally able to leave. Turns out the instrument system at Aviano AB, Italy was down and there was bad weather all over northern Italy. We were finally able to land in Verona, Italy where we offloaded a bunch of passengers and gassed up the jet. They made us get off the plane and stuffed us in a hanger for an hour and a half.

Walking away from the jet

Our not so trusty steed, which carried us (very slowly) from Baltimore, all the way to the Middle East

This is one of those, "I have to take a picture of this because it was very funny at the time" pictures

This is another of those "funny at the time pictures." You probably can't see it but as they were loading the aircraft, all kinds of soft drinks started falling out of the cargo hold. It was pretty funny to watch. A video would have been better.

The flight from Verona took about 5 hours and we landed around 130am. We inprocessed the base and they checked us into our rooms. I finally fell asleep around 530am and slept until noon, when I went into work.

The Ride Over (Part 1)

I had a hard time getting over here. 3 fulls days of delays, 1 in Baltimore and 2 in Germany. Made for some interesting times. As a benefit however, I met some cool people and had some interesting conversations.

The view from the Ramstein AB passenger (PAX) terminal - I spent A LOT of time looking at this view

After the first day of not leaving Germany, they put us up in a hotel...which happened to be 1.5 hours away at what used to be Bitburg AB. Bitburg used to be a big US Air Force base back when you couldn't throw a rock in (then) West Germany without hitting a couple US military installations. The base has been turned back over to the Germans who have curiously turned the old Officer's Club into a techno dance club. There were even (unconfirmed) reports that the old base chapel had been turned into a strip club...hmm? The picture above is taken from my room.

The second day, we sat around again, until they finally kicked us out of the terminal. Starving and pretty well convinced we weren't leaving that day, a few of us ventured over to the gi-normous AAFES exchange at Ramstein. The place is huge! Bigger than a Sam's Club...and tax free! They had several food choices. I chose the weisswurst (below) and of course ein bier (above). Just one...for now. Prost!!!

The view from my room in Darmstadt...second layover night in Germany. Funny thing was, I had stayed in this hotel in 2007. Nice place.