Turkey Birthdays and other stuff

Guess what.
HapBerfDay Guys! You are so old now. Ha!(Daniel) and Ha!(Dar)

Well, if Sheldon ever gets home from work we might just get to leave for Florida for Thanksgiving. I am kind pissed that my Dad and Brothers and B-side cousins are not coming too but life does seem to get in the way sometimes. Turkey just won't be the same without them though... sigh! At least I'll be at the beach... oh wait, I don't like the beach.

Story Time:
Five years ago at Thanksgiving, Sheldon was packed and ready to go to Iraq. We had just gotten married and I was still in Denver, but he had just moved to Tennessee. I decided to take a last minute flight to see him before he left but the cheapest ticket I could find and afford was to Atlanta. My father picked me up from my midnight flight, with a cooler lovingly packed with turkey and fixings packed by Mom, to drive through the night to Sheldon's tiny apartment near the Tenn-Kentucky border where he was newly stationed. Dad and Sheldon and I spent the day of Thanksgiving cooking and watching football (guess who was cooking and guess who was watching football) in the apartment, it went by in a blur. While Dad crashed out on the couch post-turkey, we sat up all night talking. At 3 AM an alarm went off and Sheldon got up and loaded his gear into the car. I woke up dad and we loaded up the cooler full of leftovers into his car and said goodbye to Sheldon. Deployment Goodbyes are impossible. I think I cried all the way to the Georgia State Line and then finally, mercifully, fell asleep the rest of the way to Snellville. When we got back to the house Mom was waiting for us, she knew I was sad so she tried to keep it light. Dad helped Mom back up the porch steps, her early signs of ALS had already started begun to baffle us and she was walking with a cane. As he opened the front door to usher us in he said to Mom, "That was the first Thanksgiving we have ever spent apart." I will never forget that sentence as long as I live.
Sadness washed over me. At that time they had been married for 32 years.

This year, I am just thankful for that memory. Even though it is a sad story it is one of my favorite to remember because I know that my life has been filled with richness beyond measure. I hope that if you are reading this you have a great Thanksgiving and are surrounded by love and kindness.

Dibbs on the mushrooms,
V

Looking for Plan B... the good kind of Plan B

So, it was negative. No baby. Let it sink in. And breathe...

We are fine, obviously we knew that in the world of IVF there are no guarantees. The hardest part of revealing the outcome is having to console all of you guys who have been so emotionally invested in our journey. Don't get me wrong, I know we brought it on ourselves by inviting cyberspace to the Czech Republic with us. Well, we really are fine, I know I am. Statistically, I know a second, or even third, try is the way to go. And that is still an option for us. But we have a few obstacles to maneuver, one being the Great Divide.

In February, Sheldon will be moving to Texas without me, his next deployment takes him to Iraq in the spring. My consolation prize is that I get to stay in this house with all of the pets where we are all comfortable. Ah! The life of an Army Wife!

For now we are just getting ready for the holidays, time to haul out the decorations and be festive. I guess we could dwell on all that seems dismal or we could just enjoy the time we have together and truly be Merry and in love. We have so much to be thankful for and we are taking the dogs to the beach for Thanksgiving, they deserve a vacation too!

Love, V

Feels good to be home.

The walk was great. The weather was beautiful. Our friends were there. The spirit posters were a hit. In general, it was a hit, as usual. Of course something was missing, but we knew that going into it. Thank you all for coming and being supportive and loving and for all the money raised for such a great cause. I have vowed to support the ALS Association of Georgia indefinitely, for a debt that can never be repaid. Thank you for joining our family in the walk. It really meant a lot. We were a bit low key this year but we'll pick up the pace next year and make more noise. Promise.

We convoyed back to Columbus Saturday night and enjoyed the best night of sleep in a month. We did nothing constructive until noon and loved every minute of it. Then we took the dogs to the dog park and had Taco Night and watched The Big Bang Theory on DVD. Back to the boring life we know and love.

There is still no news. You know what I am talking about. No news yet. No news is good news for a while. Stop asking, you'll know when you know. We love you, but stop asking.

~V

When do journeys end?

We are home. (Well, Sheldon is at home. I am still in limbo, in Norcross, really.)

The dogs and cats are fine, all a bit clingy, but fine. My half of the travel laundry is done, of course I made him take the fore mentioned red suitcase, the giant one stuffed with all of the dirty-stinky-euro-laundry! I am just hanging out until the walk tomorrow. I am trying to avoid being the one that has to do all of the spirit posters, just because I am the only one not gainfully employed at the moment. Well, I am not the only one, but we who are not gainfully employed, or are convalescing (Dad and Dar and I) don't feel like it.

The Walk.... I am missing Mom a lot lately, I think everyone is. I think once all the traveling dust settled it really caught up with me cause she is not around to show my awesome pictures to. Boo! I sometimes feel like if I could just get her back for a minute, I'd just tell her something really funny that Sheldon did or said and we'd laugh... but I'll always want one more minute. It never ends.

So, I hope that if you can make it, that you will be joining us in Atlanta for the walk. If you are not able to make it, I hope that you will be with us in spirit... whether we have posters or not.

Tomatoes and uphill battles

Why tomatoes and uphill battles? Both have me seeing red.

Mom bought the most beautiful red luggage for me years ago, it is huge. So, of course the biggest luggage I had is the one I packed for the trip. How was I supposed to know that I was not going to be able to lift anything over five pounds at the end of the trip? My research just did not take me that far. So tonight before dinner Sheldon got to pull the fifty pounder about a half a mile up a steep cobble stone road to the parking garage where the rental car is stored. I got to carry his jacket for moral support, I think I did a great job, with all of his huffing and puffing he forgot to thank me. I guess that is pay back for the daily shots that I endure every day that bruise my belly. I swear it looks like Tinkerbell beats me up every night, I have at least 7 bruises in various shades, ranging in sizes from dimes to silver dollars, scattered around my belly button. These are the painful post-procedure shots, different from the original ones that did not hurt very much. I get really anxious everyday when the time comes for it, like even now, it is nearly 8pm and I am already thinking of tomorrow's shot before we get on the plane. Ouch.

But at least we are on our way home, we have decided that this trip was about three days too long. In hindsight, we have done so much, we have had so much fun and accomplished our end of the deal. My only failure so far has been the tomato pledge from the first day. Most days I did great, one per meal was the goal. But a couple of days I was only able to have tomatoes twice. But the worst day by far was today. I have only had one tomato today. Boo! But at least I had it for breakfast. My first breakfast.

Speaking of Red, Happy voting today, btw. I cast my vote via absentee ballot a few weeks ago. It is very interesting to get the international news about the election. By the time we get home it will all be decided... tomorrow is a whole new scary day.

The fall of Larson Barracks

Dear Tammy, Mike, Jason, Brian, Dustin, Sam, Randy, Dave, Ian, Jamie, Robin, Bobby, Marilyn, Shannon, and Tim,

I am so very sad to report that Larson Barracks is now a ghost town. Prison-like fences now surround what used to be where I once called "home." The town of Kitzingen, once a quiet German country town whose only disruption was a few clusters of Army Barracks, is now an industrial wasteland of factories and traffic nightmares. It was so depressing to stand behind a steel gate at what used to be the main gate and see weeds over running the once beautiful cobble stone entry way. Out of sight to the right would have been the "green machine" and farther in would have been the theater where the guys all cried over Macauly Culkin's demise from bee stings in My Girl. Who knows what the motor pools look like? The golf course on the Back-40 still exists and you could see the ADA buildings and good ole Bldg 64 from the pro-shop. Maybe I saw the corner of the NCO Club. The building across the neighboring hill top that lights up at night and we frequented often, you know, The House of Lights, is still there, but who goes there? Harvey Barracks is no more, all of Wurzberg is closed, even the Army Hospital. All gated off and as good as gone, they all stand in ruin.

I was almost sorry we went, but not really. I was very quiet after that, my excitement dashed, I wished with all of my might to be young again, but alas, I left our ghosts there.

Definitely homesick now,

V

Where is everyone?

So, the last week has been... great. We have been amazed at how much we have bonded with our group of new friends, but don't worry we have not replaced you guys, we really are coming home soon. That and the remainders of the BMG are going home today. Two of them split from us yesterday at the Prague train station and then later at dinner Sheldon tried to make the four of us sit at a table for six. They have really added to the experience of our travels and emotional well being on this journey. Gosh, I am really going to miss them! Yesterday was funny because the six of us were taking the train with luggage for six but only four of us were allowed to lift the luggage... I got to supervise. It was a good time. But we made it to our hotel with no issues and had another pleasant stay in Prague, however short it was. I will post pictures soon, or I'll get Sheldon to do it. We are off to Germany and may not have access to internet til Tuesday night...

Take care, please make sure when I get off the plane I have instant access to my dogs, I really miss them too.

You know who I am talking to, you.

~V

Uh Oh in Brno by Sheldon

One of the Baby Making Gang (BMG) almost found themselves in trouble with the Czech Law today. When exiting the taxi at the train station, this individual opened the taxi door and it immediately came into contact with a passing vehicle's passenger mirror. Worried that this might make us late for the train, our helpful contact's husband worked out the issues between the 2 drivers. Thanks to him one of our crew did not have to serve time in a Czech Prison.

Morale of the story is "Czech before opening the car door!"

The begining of the end... of the trip

Today is my last chance to enjoy the wonderful breakfast provided here at the lovely Voronez 2 Hotel. In truth, there is not much to complain about a hotel that costs $23 a night. Everyday the room is cleaned and beds are made, the staff is nice enough (thought their English, in general, SUCKS) the lunch and dinner in the downstairs restaurant is decent and convenient when you don't feel like walking to dinner or your husband won't go with you... the room is small and the beds are hard and there is only two English speaking channels and we have seen Mr and Mrs Smith 8 times (well 3 times were in Czech just to compare and use our own translated commentary, Sheldon is Brad Pitt and I play Angelina) but Sheldon can literally watch Soccer 24/7 and that is available here.

But anyway, back to breakfast... it is included in the $23 fee and I am not kidding when I say that it is worth it! I have taken to the European way of starting the day my morning feast includes coffee (duh), cold cuts with cheese on buttered rye bread, topped with tomatoes. I know what you are thinking, 'that is a sandwich!' Well, yes, but the sight of that buffet of meats and cheeses every morning delights me. Yesterday it dawned on me that all this time I could have been eating an early breakfast at 6:30 when they open and a late breakfast at 9:45 when I finally drag Sheldon down with me. I am up early thinking about everything anyway. I hate enlightenment that comes a bit late...

The BMG's are all packing it up here in Brno, the other 2/3rds of our group had their transfer yesterday and we will travel by train this morning to Prague where we will part ways with two of them as they travel (safely) to Paris. The other two we will share a hotel suite with tonight and escort them to the airport on Monday morning, they have husbands and kids anxiously awaiting their return! From the airport we are renting a car and braving the Autobahn to Germany. I don't care what we do as long as we get to visit the little town of Kitzingen, my first duty station. I had a swirly dream about it last night. I have recently been in contact with my friends from that time and place and I would love to take pictures there to share with them. We are renting a tiny car, I have recently been preoccupied with small cars, I mean really small ones, like Smart Cars and Mini's. I can hardly wait to see what we get!

Well, coffee's cold, I have to finish up my sandwich, and then head upstairs to shower and get ready for breakfast #2!

I am totally serious,

V

Homesick

We have been gone for so long now that I have almost forgotten what most of you guys look like. I went back and read some of the older posted blogs and can't remember what it was like to be on the other side of the egg retrieval, how it felt to NOT give myself a shot everyday, or all the stress and work it took to get us here to this point. This spot. This moment. I can't feel those emotions right now. My first waking thought was, 'how fragile it all is'... We are all so fragile... sigh! Ha! Snap out of it! That is what synthetic hormones get ya! Suckers! You totally fell for that one!

Anyway, I totally forgot to tell you what we dressed up as for Halloween. Duh! I dressed as a tall white boy with a baseball cap and Sheldon chopped himself off at the knees and Wahla! He was a filipino chick... He is gonna look so funny pregnant! Anyone else do anything fun?

I am kinda homesick though, believe that!

V