The Godspeed

My wife dubbed it "The Godspeed." It often but not always involves the phrase "godspeed," but generally involves a two-handed handshake and a somber expression. Apparently is the proper thing to do when sending someone off to war. I received a lot of them during my brief trip home last week.
I don't mean to be glib or unappreciative about it, it is just that the whole experience in somewhat surreal and I enjoy absurd and ironic moments too much. It really was an incredible show of support from family, friends, and aquaintances.
These last two weeks before leaving have been busy. We started with my wife's family, ended at my parent's house, back at my Guard unit, off to a staging point, and then soon off for real.
So many people made a special effort to see me before I left and I really can't thank them enough. Cousins came in from out of town, friends stopped by on their way to vacations, the house was constantly full.

So again, since those of you who stopped by are most likely among those reading this, thank you.

It's incredibly odd how different the civillian world and military worlds really are. My wife commented about it after spending an evening with my Guard unit and noticing the contrast with the family/friend environment in which we'd recently been immersed. With my Guard unit, what I'm doing is nothing particularly special or unusual. This is what we do. It doesn't make it easy, but it is a sacrifice we share and we all knowingly volunteered. Outside of out military cocoon, it seems crazy. I guess that is why I may seem so unnaturally calm about the whole thing to people on the outside.
The other funny thing I noticed is that I work in a small community within the military and we can smell our own. I was at the airport and this older guy and I were eyeballing each other. We'd never met, were not in uniform, but there was recognition just the same. We start chatting, talking around things, drop some names, and knew people in common, worked different aspects of the same issues, etc. He's now retired, works for an equipment manufacturer, and may be able to hook us up with free new toys.

New toys are fun.

I'll try and get on-line at least one more time before I leave. If not, then see you on the other side.