Bye Sweetheart. Stay Safe.

We saw Dirk off at the Air Base this morning. It was an early morning. We got there early enough to get a couple of chairs. The departure point was an airplane hangar with about 200 folding chairs. The other 400 people had to stand. There were many, many soldiers and families there.


We got there about 7:30. Dirk had to have his final duffel bag weighed, and then we mostly just sat around and waited. Benji played with his stuffed fish, because every boy needs a stuffed fish.


Dirk and I had already talked ourselves out about his departure and the upcoming year. There wasn't much left to say that we hadn't already said forty times. But, you know, it's nice to have someone you can talk to about something forty times. I will miss talking to Dirk about nothing in particular, even if we've already said it. Sometimes you talk just because you want to hear each others' voices even if there's nothing to say anymore. That's easier to do when you can lean on each other, rather than just talk on the phone.



Quite a bit of family came to see Dirk off because my sister and her family had another soldier to say good-bye to. My brother-in-law's cousin, Kindy, has been living with them for the past several months, so their family came to see Kindy. Giving Dirk another hug was a happy bonus for all of us.





Susan, my folks, and my brother Mike also came. I'm sure Kelly felt bad he couldn't get off, and we missed him too.



It was odd to watch Dirk walk away towards the plane. There were so many soldiers, and they all blended in to each other. That camouflage really works! Benji hugged a couple of knees dressed in 'daddy pants' before looking up and realizing it wasn't Daddy after all. He had a hard time with the early morning combined with the noise and crowds. I don't think he knew what was going on, but he knew it wasn't all happy.



I didn't cry. I'd already done some crying, and I'll probably do more later, but not at the air base.

I've skipped a lot of the details of exactly how the procedure went, since Susan did such a great job at describing the ceremony on her post. Be sure you read her post too.

Dirk just called me from his training base. The flight was about an hour and a half long. Just before they landed, the pilot had them look out the window. They were below the peaks of Mt. Ranier on one side of the plane and Mount St. Helens on the other side. It was quite a breathtaking view. He's in transient barracks (which means they're in lousy condition) with lots of other soldiers. The weather there is warmer than here, but it's still about in the 60s. He does not have Internet access yet because the provider is charging an arm and a leg. He may go in with a bunch of other guys for shared access, or the battalion is talking to someone about getting a better rate. He did not give me a snail mail address yet either. When I get that, I'll send it around on the email.

When I got home, a couple of friends in the RS Presidency dropped by to see how I was doing. I live in a good ward, and I have good friends here. With my wonderful family too, I am surrounded by a lot of love and support and I think we'll make it through this year just fine.

Many thanks to my brother Mike who took most of the pictures I've posted. I'll get the rest of the pictures into the gallery in the next day or so.