FOB Smart at 2115 - Sunday
With only 48+ days remaining in Afghanistan, I have approximately 45+ days remaining here at FOB Smart. It seems strange to me that so much time has passed since I left my family at the airport in Palm Springs, California, on Sunday, 8 May 2011. That morning arrived so very quickly, or so it seemed at the time, and the thoughts coursing through me at that moment still reverberate through my soul - my very being. Time has the strange way of appearing to pass quickly when it passes, yet while it is ticking away it can often drag along and speed up based on what we may be experiencing in life. Right now, even with a slow construction workload due to winter weather conditions here in Zabul Province time is intermittently fast and slow and enhances the already surreal perceptions of this deployment.
As I have mentioned many times in the past, so much has transpired in these short 302 days since I left "home" and deployed through Virginia enroute to Dubai, then Kandahar, and finally to my destination here in Qalat. I already have so very many memories, mostly good or even excellent, and some terrifying, horrifying, debilitating, and life-altering. The last 43 weeks have been gratifying, trying, surprising, mesmerizing, challenging, and death defying. At the end of the day, this day at least, I can say with no uncertainty that I am a forever changed man. For the better no doubt, even stronger, leaner - literally, wiser, and more experienced in not only the ways of the world, my world, but in ways I would have never imagined for my plans in life.
Another sleepy feeling is engulfing me, but my mind is wandering to all points of memories tonight. My body is yearning for the sweet release of slumber to envelope me and to take me away to that place where I can run wild with my son, laugh with him, and hold him forever. I love my son. I know it shows, I know I say it constantly, and I know it is always on his, and my own, mind. It gives me immense joy to know this little boy of mine. I am a proud father.
143, Kaesen.
Good night and good day.
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