Thanksgiving Part 1

I'm going to do this in two posts. I have alot to show and say. On Wednesday I drove to Connecticut to spend Thanksgiving with Andrew & Patti. Of course I hit traffic, but made it up there in pretty good time.





Thursday morning Andrew & Patti ran a 5 mile road race in Manchester. It is the oldest race in the country. Now for those ofyou who know Andrew, he is not a runner. But I must tell you, I'm very proud of him. He finished in about 55 minutes. There were 12,000+ people who ran the race. It was interesting to see people dressed in different costumes and actually running.

The picture below is at the starting line. It's not even half the runners.

This is (L to R) April, Patti, & Andrew before the race.

This is right in front of the Manchester Corps. They had an ensemble playing. I was able to stand with Karen Krinjak and cheer the runners on.

Then it was back to their apartment to get ready to go to Patti's aunt and uncle's home in Salem, CT. Her Uncle Joel is a Navy doctor and is currently stationed in Djubuti, Africa (pronounced Jubuti). He'll be coming home in December when his tour is over. I had a great time with Patti's family. I was able to talk "shop" with her Aunt Karen which was really cool.

Tomorrow I'll post duck pin bowling pics and Patti's birthday. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I can't believe December's almost here. How crazy is that!!!!

Until next time!!!

What a day...

I got a phone call from Michael yesterday as I was leaving work. He made it safely to Kuwait and is just awaiting his next flight to Bagram. Not sure how long he has to wait, but at least he'll be able to call everyday while he's there.

Can you just keep me in your prayers. I'm wanting desperately to go back to our home in Italy. I think I'm just missing our stuff and space. I'm happy to be home with family and friends, but I miss my military family in Italy. I just need patience and guidance in what I should do.

Will keep you filled in on Michael's travels.

Time with Michael

Our time together officially came to an end yesterday at 10:00 am. Now I'll have to wait about 10 months until we're together again. I've got to tell you though, this was time that was needed together. We had such a blast and the cruise was the perfect start to it. I've posted pics on our Flickr site - so just click it on the right.

He arrived safe and sound on October 12th, looking a bit disheveled, skinny, and tired. We spent that day together and then it was off to places on Saturday. Andrew & Patti came down Saturday night and we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving after church. Then we left for our cruise bright and early Monday morning. After the cruise we spent time with family and most importantly each other.

I am so proud of Michael and proud to be his wife. He told many stories of what he's been doing this deployment. Some of them were scary and I didn't want to hear about them. Others were things he just needed to say to someone. Of course I've come to learn in 18 months of marriage to a military man, that I need to be a listening wife. There are times he just needs to talk for the sake of getting feelings out. Post tramatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a big part of military life. He is constantly on alert even when he's on vacation. The slightest movement or sound makes him perk his ears up and become "Army Mike". That's when I give him the slightest hand squeeze and he calms right down. I've had to learn that this is part of our life now and I need to learn when to be the supportive wife and when to be the caretaker/calmerdowner. But I am glad to do that for him because I love him.

Please keep him in your prayers, as the next 10 months will hopefully fly by. I am praying for his safety everyday. They have lost many men in the first 5 months and it hits Michael hard sometimes. We are hoping that this may be his last deployment, but you never know what will happen in 2009.