I’m feeling very blessed this week thanks to some awesome friends and co-workers.

Drew is heading over there in a few short weeks and, if his tour to Afghanistan is anything like his time in Bosnia, he’ll be getting mail and packages from friends and family on a pretty regular basis while he is away.  Not everyone is as fortunate.  For a number of different reasons sometimes the soldiers we send to fight our battles don’t have anyone at home willing or able to send them mail while they’re away.  Some were from small families who’s grandparents and parents have long since passed away.  Others are young, single, just starting out in life, and all their friends in the world are also in the group heading overseas with them. Still others are older, divorced or never married.  There’s a myriad of reasons why people might not be receiving mail and in all honesty, I can only speculate on the situation.

My hubby had other plans.  Now that he’s a bona fide leader (he’s got a certificate and all), he’s decided that it’s important that everyone working with him receives at least one present or letter from home while they’re away.

Lucky for me “home” can be anywhere in Canada.  I’ve got angels and elves stashed all over the country who’ve offered to help. From NB to ON to MB to AB. From students to retirees. Amazing, awesome, and generous people. Civy’s all.

Taking care of others is a military tradition. Single guys are invited to spend the holidays with locals if they’re unable to make it back to where ever “home” might be.  We traditionally had 2-4 single guys crashed out on our couches over Thanksgiving or Christmas seasons.

I’m so thrilled to see civilians rushing forward in droves to join in and adopt a soldier for a few months. It warms the heart.  Thank you all.

Drew I home from Calgary and we are busy checking things off the “to do” lists we put together for his last few days in town. We’re starting with the small practical things and working our way down the list. Now, if you excuse me we have a few fun things to knock off our list *wink*

Woke up this morning with a terrible case of eye strain headache. I’m convinced it’s entirely due to the bazillion hours I spent attached to my computer this past few days as I was madly attempting to finish my final Enviro Chem paper before exams. There’s no chance I got the eyestrain from reading ebooks on my iPhone.  Nope. None at all.

My brain feels like mush and I have one final assignment due for my Psych class on Monday before I start the mad dash studying that is required to prepare for my final exams.  This entire semester I’ve felt like I’ve had no idea what was going on.  Sure, I’m doing well on my papers and assignments, but that’s pretty easy when you can take lots of notes, continually reference documents, and randomly type away to make sentences form paragraphs.  I find exams much more difficult since I can’t bring anything into the room with me other than my clothes and shiny personality.  They even go so far as to provide the pencils and paper.

No new news from Drew which is probably a good thing.  Last plan I’d heard was that they would be working all weekend long so he’s probably busy “supervising” or whatever it is he does now that he’s been shifted back to a desk job.  Poor guy – spend years in the desk job position only to get promoted, moved to help run a crew, send off on a promotion related course, and thrown right back into the office.  I think he misses playing with tools more than he says. How else can you explain his desire to go build houses with the neighbours on his days off?

As for my eyes, I’m going to go put a nice wet warm cloth over my eyes and hope for the best.

A few days ago the government decided to send Griffins to support the Chinooks in Afghanistan.  The announcement was made on Nov. 26 – the day Drew left for Calgary.  Yep, that’s right.  He was home less than a week before heading out again.  He’s due back next week and the first group is heading over to Afghanistan on Monday. Luckily for me he’s not in the first group.  However, as it stands at the moment, he’ll be gone before Christmas – so I expect the house to be a complete mess for the next few days weeks months.

Today I get a phone call that began with “I just wanted to call and tell you  before you heard it on the news.” Never a good sign.  A necessary action none the less.  The call came in just before noon and at 1:30pm today the Edmonton Journal already had a story posted on their website indicating that 30 members of 408 TacHel are shipping out starting Monday. The good news is that Drew isn’t leaving Monday.  The bad news is he’s leaving just a few weeks later.

After a year of playing hurry up and wait – no planned vacations and living day-to-day and week-to-week because you never knew if/when the call to go would come – it seems that time has begun moving far too quickly.

I strikes me that we’re not ready and yet when it comes to the big things we’ve been ready for months. Still, silly thoughts run through your mind. The dogs need to go to the vet. Can he bring some “dirty civy” clothes with him? The garage isn’t finished. I don’t know how to mix the gas/oil blend for the snow blower. My exams are in two weeks. The house is a mess. He’s not packed. Pen? Paper? Camera? iPod? Laptop? Who’s going to go watch Gordon Lightfoot with me? The extra insulation isn’t in the roof yet. I need an eye exam – who will drive me if I need drops put in? Are our emergency contact people still willing to fill the role?

Normally people shipping out have months to get themselves in order and some time off to spend with the family before they go. It looks like that won’t happen this time round. I don’t know the individual situations of the 30 crew who leave in three short days.  I do know that Drew doesn’t expect to have any time off work as he and a few other stragglers ramp up to leave.

One thing that I do hope is that we’ll get some time together before he leaves – and I’ll get some time to myself once he’s gone.  It’s one thing to get used to someone being away for a short trip it’s completely different getting used to the idea that you’ll be “single” for a 6-9 month period. So, if you’re calling to get together for dinner or to drop by and chat, this might not be the best time.  Sure, we’re friends and all that, and yes, we do love to see you, but with an unknown time left before he leaves we’d certainly appreciate it if you understand if/when we say no to whatever you’d like to plan and choose instead to stay home.

On the bright side – yes, there has to be a bright side at this stage or we’d all go crazy – we’ll be skipping Christmas until his return in the late spring. I no longer need to run around stores looking for the perfect non-charity oriented present.  I’ve already got a tonne of the charity related ones ready to go 😉  I can wait until the great boxing week sales and do all my shopping throughout the cold and dark winter.

I don’t suppose I can get sympathy points on my final exams in 2 weeks considering the circumstances? Nah.  Didn’t think so. Guess it’s a good thing I registered for an extra class next semester. I’ll be even busier with school than normal and have lots to keep me occupied.

Now please excuse me, I have to go take my phone off the hook.

Back in the dungeon working on Enviro Chem papers. At this rate I’ll soon be able to bore my enemies to death with facts and figures. For the moment I am busy reading “The National Defence Sustainable Development Strategy: 4th Iteration – Environmentally Sustainable Defence Activities” and can feel my eyeballs burning. Someone hook up the caffeine IV. I’m going to need it STAT!

On the home front we’re still in hurry up and wait mode.  Just don’t tell me that “no news is good news”.  We’ve been on stand-by for close to a year now and of late the waiting is far harder than the knowing.