Mission Accomplished

I will probably do one or two more posts because I would like to do one last interview with the kids but here is how yesterday went. Susan had to work until 6:30 PM and Ryanne was due in at 7:45. Susan gets home, we throw everyone in the car and head towards Otis. We are approaching the bridge when we get a text - They have landed! Susan is yelling at me to hurry up. I can't post my speed that I was driving because it could be used against me in a court of law. (FAST) We pop over the bridge, head to the rotary at the base entrance and Susan is now openly mocking my manhood. ("Come on honey, you say you drive fast? This isn't fast! Come on come on...) Estimated speed around the rotary and average life expectancy of an American Woman were the same. We pull on the base and the guards stop us to check our ID. I hand our ID's to the guard and he asks how we are doing. Susan's response "Yeah, yeah, we're doing great now lets go" We pull into the parking area and Susan drags the poor children across the lot. She is crying now.

We get there in time to see that the plane has begun to disembark. There are Soldiers holding the crush of people back as they wait for their love ones. About twenty soldiers of the 168 on the plane are now off and everyone just says screw it and walks by the Soldiers. The Soldiers just laugh and give up trying to keep us at bay. And then we see Ryanne. we are yelling to her as she comes down the stairs and as soon as she hears us my biggest fear is that she is going to fall because she starts to hurry.

At the bottom of the stairs is a group of Soldiers welcoming the returnees back and like a rocket Chloe goes flying through the middle and runs into her mothers arms. Susan is crying, I may have been crying and Caden is screaming "Mommmmmmmmmy"

It has been 364 days. The light is starting to fade but everyone doesn't seem to notice. There are people crying, hugging and kissing. Congratulations are everywhere. There is a DJ playing Kid Rock's "Born Free". It is an otherworldly moment in time. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Two days to go

Friday night, 7:45 PM Ryanne will be home. My plan is to add maybe one or two more posts and then sign off on this blog. I will continue Caden, Chloe and Carl's blog until he gets home and then sign off on that one as well.

My intention was for this to be somewhere the kids could go back and remember some of the highlights of the year. I am hoping that in the years to come one of the two will look back at this and enjoy the memories.

Nearing an end

We now know that Ryanne has left Kuwait City for good, hopefully never to return. She sent us the following picture from Germany, on her way home. The text message read "The good thing about Germany, Chocolate!"

The good thing about Germany? The good thing about Germany is you are almost home! And as for the chocolate? You've earned your weight in it. I know that I would have paid a king's ransom in chocolate to have you here with your babies.

Yellow Car

To occupy the kids while we are in the car I came up with a game called "Yellow Car". It is a simple game, you just need to find a yellow vehicle and you get 1 point. First person to 10 wins. I chose Yellow because there are not many locally on the road - with one exception, school buses. So the other day - Caden has 4, Chloe has 1 and I saw three school buses together so I had 5. We drop Caden off at school and then Chloe asked "Can I have some of your Yellow Cars?" I say sure you can have all five. For the next five minutes I had to listen to "Ha ha ha haaaa haaaaaaaaa I have 6 and you have none!"

The little twerp would give me back the yellow cars the next morning either!

Quick note: Gas Prices in Kuwait City

Are averaging about 80¢ per gallon. The only thing I want Ryanne to bring home for me is 10,000 gallons in a small tanker.

354 days away... Hopefully 1 more week tops.

I will most likely do the last video for these guys tonight. Keep your eyes open.

Good Night Osama

One of the reasons my child is 6,100 miles from her children is now dead. Strange thing to celebrate on a blog site that is about children missing their Mother.