I'm back!!!!!!!!!

Hey folks, how’s it going? I just cannot seem to shake this jet lag or whatever it is I have. I am so stinkin’ tired. But it was well, well worth it. I love the southwest; I’d live out there, if I ever had the chance. And it was great just to be with my girlfriends and chill.

I know you’ve read a lot of takes of the classes and such from the other blogs. And I will give more details to that later this week (although I’m sure you’ve read enough already, LOL!)

Today, I did want to tell you about something I observed traveling last week. While we were sitting waiting on our plane in Tampa, we observed a young couple behind us, noodling, hugging, being sweet, the whole nine yards. The man had an Army uniform on. As our flight to Atlanta was being boarded the couple stood up. They gave each other hugs and kisses. And the woman was crying. At that point it was obvious where he was going. And that he may not come back.

According to this article in the AJC, Hartsfield is the last stop on American soil for service members returning to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. We saw many of them in our terminal. Some had family members with them. And you knew. Some might not come home.

While eating lunch at Chili’s, a young man sat across from us, checking his laptop. He too, was on his way somewhere. I heard the waitress come up to him and say, your lunch has been taken care of; someone in the back had already paid the bill. You could tell he was kind of shy, sheepish, maybe not used to the attention. Linda was bugged that she didn’t get to do it first. I was proud. Proud of all of them that day.

I’m not one to get political on here. I admit my political knowledge is novice at best. But I don’t want them to go. I don’t want to see the sad faces or the families torn apart. The bottom line is they need to come home. The truth is the area is more unstable than it ever was, and it may never be stable. We need to worry about our own stability, here on our own soil.

But right now, these guys (and gals) have a job to do. A tough one. One I don’t envy them for. But they know what they have to do now and so do I. And I am proud of that. Proud to support them as well as I can.

Yesterday, of course, was 9/11. A day of remembrance. It seems like maybe some people have forgotten what 9/11 was all about. I know I haven’t. But if I did, I got a stark reminder of it last week at the airport.