Howdy Stranger

Many many many apologies for this taking so long to write, but my motel doesn't have internet access, and Adam came back with a pretty nasty cold and has been sleeping much of the time since he's been back. Needless to say, trying to find an internet cafe hasn't exactly been a top priority in the last couple days.


Having said that, we have had many happy returns. One of Adam's friends on base arranged to get me through the front gate on the day of his arrival (things are uber-secure around here), and I waited along with the handful of wives and husbands awaiting the arrival of our sailors. I was surprised by how few family members were there to welcome the unit back. In typical military "hurry up and wait" fashion, I got to the base early, only to find out that they were running about 3 hours late. I got a chance to speak to some of Adam's colleagues from Iraq who had arrived in California a week earlier; I was gratified to hear them say some really nice things about Adam and the hard work he performed over there. Once the busses rolled into view, of course we all got excited, but it took several minutes before I finally saw my tall SeaBee, looming over the heads of his fellow sailors. I ran out to him and laid a big one right on him.


As promised, we called his mother and my mother before he had to take care of some administrative stuff. If you haven't gotten a call from us yet, please don't take it personally. We have been WAY over our allotted cell phone minutes for the month and Adam has been too ill to carry on a conversation with anyone. He is feeling better now and our new minutes just kicked in, so we promise to follow up on calling all you folks who we owe a call to.

Kika was VERY happy to see her daddy again. It took her a few beats before she realized who was standing in the doorway and then she went ballistic. As I suspected, it's pretty much been "Mommy who?" ever since he's been back. Shabbi, as I also expected, is so far gone that she shows no signs of recognition. But, I am grateful that I made the effort this summer to keep her alive so that Adam has had time with her now that he's back. We are (with great difficulty) deliberating saying good-bye to her here in California. We don't know that she would comfortably make the trip back up to Oregon, much less back to Michigan. It's the hardest decision we've had to make so we're taking our time with it. I will keep you updated on that front, too.

So, yes, I am a happy lady right now. I asked Ads if I look older since the last time he saw me. His canned answer is "Yep, time for me to trade you in for a newer model!" He looks great, just very thin. With all the food they were feeding him over there, I was sure I was going to have a Mr. Stay Puff on my hands; instead, he's a little too thin, especially added to his sickness. I've been trying to get him out into the sun and onto the beach to add a little color to his pallor.

Thanks again to you all for being so supportive (and patient in the last week!) of us. It means the world, and we can't wait to see you all when we head back eastward this fall. Lansing-ites, we have a predicted arrival for the end of October, just in time for my favorite holiday, mmmmuuuhahahahhahahhahaha!!!!!

Love to you all...Lauren, Adam, Shabbi and Kika