Your life planned carefully, but you left out one detail. The hidden hand deals just one round, and winds of change prevail. - Jefferson Starship, Win

Ah. I'm home. I've wanted to write so many times, but have never had the time. I'm making the time. I'm also going to make this short and sweet.

Said goodbye to EMF Kuwait



















































Had breakfast in Amsterdam (yes, that's Heineken and Jagermeister)


























I moved back into the Grand

























































Went to the inauguration












































Visited with the folks and went into DC a lot












































Got to get back on the slopes and took a girl trip to Wisp!









































Shared my hookah from Kuwait with a few fellow nurses who were also deployed last year


































Started back at work.
(don't have pictures of this...ha)

Bar hopped around DC with a really cool couple















It's been a really nice couple of weeks. Now, it's back to work. I'm not sure what I think of the APU. I feel like I end up working 10 hrs every day anyway, but I don't get as many days off as when I was on 12's. I need to just give it time, but I don't feel like I get to do a lot of bedside nursing. It's more paperwork and routine. We'll see. I'll continue to pray it will be the right place for me.

Wishing all the best for you and now I will say goodbye. Cause all the shit that we've been through put wisdom in my eyes. - Tantric, Mourning

Last post in Kuwait. Not much more to say that hasn't been said. I'm going to miss my friends I made here. So much. The good thing is I can say "See you again" instead of "goodbye". I know I should see them again throughout my career.

Anchors Aweigh, my boys, Anchors Aweigh.
Farewell to foreign shores, We sail at break of day, of day.
Through our last night on shore, Drink to the foam,
Until we meet once more. Here's wishing you a happy voyage home!

Sail on, sail on, o' might Ship of State. To the shores of need, past the reefs of greed, through the squalls of hate. Sail on, sail on, sail on. - Le

As I'm getting ready to head home back to the states from this land of sand, I reflect on what it means to be in the military and mostly the Navy.
I mailed home my big black box full of things and came back to an almost empty rack with a slightly filled seabag. It dawned on me in a short time I will be back in our nation's capitol, looking at all the monuments and memorials. This time, I think it will mean more.

Sure, Kuwait is a cake deployment. No, I really didn't see that many wounded men from Iraq or Afghanistan. (I saw more at Bethesda) No, the watch was not a hard one. My patients were easy cases. But, the one thing I did do on this "deployment" was lean on my shipmates. After spending 2 years in the navy and living on my own, this was an amazing, emotional and somewhat annoying existence to be living with all of my coworkers in such small spaces. We literally ate, worked out, showered, shopped, watched movies, got coffee, worked and bummed around with the same people every single day for 7 months. I've come to find some of my friends here as close as family. You always hear men and women say that from deployment, but it's an amazing feeling to have.

As the guys and I were going into the community center to play Halo, we saw the commissioning of the USS George H.W. Bush carrier. I am going to be lame and say that it made me tear up a little. I can only hope one day to run aboard a ship like that with all my fellow sailors. It shows just how alive the Navy's traditions still are. They sometimes get lost in the every day routine and our new "politically safe" Navy. The Captain that was speaking on Fox News spoke about how smart the Junior Officers of the Navy are and how they are leaving it in our hands.

I had to get the guys to pause their halo game so I could tell them. :)

I really hope you watch the video and hear the speeches. What an honor to have a ship named after you. What an amazing man to pick.

Deployment can do 1 of 2 things. It can take away your motivation and love of the military and your service. OR, it can bring it out in a way that you never imagined it could do. Then, all you want to do is get better, grow, move on and be that senior officer leading the junior ones in the right way. I hope some day I can make it to a ship and really be a part of the fleet.

I'm not trying to beat up on other services, but after spending 6 months with the Army and seeing how they do things and witnessing their attitudes, it just makes me even more proud to be a part of the US Navy.

I know I made the right decision and I know I'm exactly where I should be. That's a great feeling.

Chaos is the future, and beyond it is freedom. - Sonic Youth, Confusion Is Next

So close to being home. Can't tell anyone details about my trip, but it's soon. ha.

Before I get there, I have to turn in gear here, have post deployment classes and start setting everything back up for my arrival home.

Did the change of address thing, set up my utilities for the apartment, reserved the uhaul and freight elevator for moving in, reserved the motel room for my parents and I that first night, scheduled a time for the cable company to come and hook me up, working on scheduling an appointment to see the ortho docs when I return.

Pfew. I'm tired. I hope I don't miss something. I'm excited to get home, but the first few days are going to be crazy. After I'm moved in and checked in at work, things will calm down.

I can't believe it's so close. I can't believe I may never see some of these people again. I hope I see some of them again.

How I did on my goals:
1. Grow as a nurse. Done this already. The hospital isn't always fast paced, but I'm seeing so many new things.
At times. I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen before, but then there were times I just felt like I was losing brain cells.
2. Study my GRE. Hm. Not doing so hot on this goal. I've made it to page 2 in my study guide.
Never really got into this. Since I'm going to Jax in October and I'll be there 3 years before applying to grad school, I'm not too worried. I hope to take a GRE class at some point back home.
3. Get financially stable. Doing pretty good on this. I've paid off my credit card and next month will have my car paid off.
Excellent on this goal. Car and credit card paid off. Saved up a decent amount; however, I just hope I don't spend it all in the first month home. I have so many deposits and payments to make to set everything back up. I'm not looking forward to paying rent again, or buying food....or even water. bah.
4. Grow spiritually. I'm doing okay on this, but I want to be a lot closer to God. I need to spend more quiet time with Him.
I probably should have grown a lot closer and spent more time.
5. Physically. I'm working out a ton more and trying to get more toned. It's working for the most part. Could be eating better though......I'll do good and then splurge.
Did pretty decent on this one. I'm more toned, but because of all the spin class and ellipticals, my muscles in my legs and butt have grown and I can hardly fit in my jeans! It's not more fat though. I just don't get it. I still eat way more here than I do at home.
6. Let go of some emotional baggage I've been carrying around. Time to move on.
I def think I made improvements on this one. But, in a way, I just replaced one thought with another. Oh well. I feel much more healthy about the past. I can't lie and say that my heart doesn't break when I think about it, but I don't linger on it. I have better things to do than think about things that I don't control.

(On a side note....I did come close to beating Joe in NCAA football on xbox last night. That's a VAST improvement from the beginning of the deployment when I couldn't score at all!)

So, overall I made some improvements. I actually think I'll get more done once I'm settled in back home. I buy healthy food. I have my gym all to myself downstairs and no beefy guys to intimidate me. I'll get back to focusing on work. Maybe even build in a little social life for me back home. I'll have to relearn how to do that after being here. All my friends and I are just naturally around each other and do everything together. No outside distractions. I'll have to get used to that.

In a way, I feel like this time is going to be kept in a little box set aside. I'll think of it like it really happened, but it's almost like a separate time that fits into my life. It seems like it went fast, but at times slow.

I keep thinking of how to say goodbye to some of the people here and I just can't picture it. At least most of us can stay in touch through facebook and things like that.

Hm. Well, guess I'd better get my butt up and to the gym.

Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine. - Pink Floyd, Shine On You Crazy Diamond

These are two videos from youtube. One is of a nurse I went to OIS with! LTJG Benson (however during OIS she was Ensign Benson. :) hehe)I was so excited to see a commercial about her!

The other is from the promotion ceremony we had yesterday! I had 3 good friends get promoted, along with 2 other personnel here. I was pleased they wanted me to be a part of the ceremony and hold their new uniform blouses and covers and present them to them for the first time. Now, I guess have to salute the two new LT's. It was fun being a LTJG with them for a few months! Makes me look forward to that day of being an O-3. It just looks so much better on the collar! Anywho, they all had non-alcoholic champagne and let the corks fly. Thought I'd get a quick clip of it. This was at our wardroom promotion ceremony/party. Fresh fish, shrimp, calamari, ribs, bakery items...all from out in Kuwait City. It was amazing.

Great New Years!

Plus. I'll be home soon! Can't wait.