Day 14

Gwen is back, as evidenced by the picture in yesterday's post. (I knew that one would generate comments!)

Anyway, all is well. I won't bore anyone with too many details. She called me at about 6 am yesterday stating she had landed. While she went through customs I drove over to Ramstein and picked her up. I parked the car and she saw me walking from a distance. She started running over, very 1950's movie on the beach type of scene. ("John!"......"Marsha!"...) There was a big hug, kisses, and some tears, all of it was very happy. In short - good stuff. We grabbed her bags, loaded up the car, and sped off. Deployment - over.

I had the morning off but had to work yesterday afternoon. After work, we went out to eat at a Himalayan restaurant and Gwendolyn dove into her first glass of wine in a long time. Her face told the tale of how much she enjoyed it.

This morning it was back to work for me while she started doing some reintegration (aka "re-indoctrination"). Unfortunately, I'm getting sick and I also start inpatient call this Friday and hence the whole long weekend I have to work. But, I took this call deliberately because it buys me a lot of leave time which I will be using the next few months for traveling, relaxing, and spending time with Gwen.

Man, its such a treat to have her back. This place finally feels like a complete home again. Its been a long, long time.