Home

I got back to Wisconsin yesterday evening and Jorge and I had a great dinner at Bravo! How cute are we?  We both had on grey t-shirts, blue bottoms (he was wearing scrubs *shocker* and I was wearing blue jeans), and black shoes.  We couldn't have coordinated it better!  It was definitely what I needed after such a ridiculous start to the day. . .but I'll tell you more about that later.

 Tuesday was my last day at BOLC.  As we were out-processing, it turned-out that the company didn't have my out-processing folder.  As a result, I had to go to the company to find my paperwork.  I walked back to the hotel and hopped into my car.  It made me smile when I realized that I had flowers on my windshield, left from one of my new friends:

I also had an invaluable opportunity to refine my vacuuming skills.  You know, that's a perishable skill.  Go Nurse Track!

When  I finally got on the road, it was after 2:00 p.m.  I wasn't exactly happy about the late start, especially since I had 8 hours ahead of me.  It was worth it, though, since I was able to have 1 more meal with my new friends Tawni, Matticus, and Melinda.  Thank you for a few more laughs, guys!

During the drive back to El Paso, the sky kept me entertained.  There is something magical about sunsets and storms in the desert.

       

Can you believe how beautiful these pictures are?  It took my breath away.

As I got closer to El Paso, I called our buddy Barry and asked if he could give me a ride to the airport the next day.  Turns out he was in the hospital for bradycardia.  Poor Barry.  If he didn't have bad luck, he'd have no luck.  Looks like he'll be getting a pacemaker tomorrow morning.  Barry, it sucks getting older, my friend.

After visiting with him, I checked on my leave form to see if it was all in order.  Surprise, surprise!  It hadn't even been signed by my head nurse.  Out of sight, out of mind, I guess!  I got in touch with him Wednesday morning, at 0700 and explained that my flight was leaving at 0845!  OK, here's the frustrating part of the morning.  I drove like Mario Andriette to the hospital to send my leave form to him again (paperless society sucks).  Once I did that, I couldn't find him to get the form signed-off.  So, I ran down to the company and waited for the acting Company Commander to get into the office.  I explained the situation to him and he signed off.  I had 30 minutes to get from the hospital to the airport and my gate!  Talk about pushing it!  Here's the best part of the story. . .I was in flip-flops the whole time.  How stupid am I?  Thankfully I made it to my gate with 5 minutes to spare.  I'm sure I looked like a complete fool running all over the hospital, airport parking lot, and the terminal.  I thoroughly medicated myself with Dramamine and slept the whole way home.  I barely woke up for the layover in Kansas City!  Better than passing out like I did after my visit home on Labor Day weekend.  It's never a dull moment with me!

Shadow was supposed to have her surgery tomorrow (Friday) but they've rescheduled it to be on Tuesday.  I was pretty ticked-off that they originally wanted to reschedule for next Friday.  I had to pull the Army card and explain that I don't have the flexibility of those who live around here.  She is still going to have a nice steak tonight, despite the reschedule.

Not too much else going on.  I hope all of my new friends from BOLC are doing well.  I miss them tremendously.  I've never felt closer to a group of people in such a short time.  I love you all!

I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to seeing friends while I'm home.

--DV