First, in early May, Dustin prepared to leave for Afghanistan. They changed the date for him leaving about four times and then finally they said they were supposed to leave on Thursday the 13th. So on Thursday they wanted us to just drop them off and they would bus them to a seperate hanger to wait for the plane. The problem was, it was down-pouring!! It was so sad to see dads climbing into the backseat to hurry and say goodbye to their kids and climb onto the bus. There was no way to take pictures, or give hugs and have a final goodbye. It was so rushed and it just plain SUCKED! About ten minutes later, Dustin texted me and said that I could sneak into the hanger and hang out till the plane came. So I drove over and we waited...and waited... and waited. Around 4:00pm I went and got dinner for everyone since we had been there since 11:00am and around 5:00 they said the plane would arrive within a half hour. At 6:00 they announced that the plane was actually broken and had never even LEFT Germany and they were being dismissed until the next day!
It was such an emotional roller-coaster! They were now going to leave on Friday the 14th at 8:00pm. My Grandma was coming in on Friday and so we decided that it was best for me to go with a friend to the airport and say our goodbyes before I left. Right before I left for the airport, we found out that he was now going to leave on Saturday the 15th instead! But because he needed to stick around in-case the plane came early I still went to the airport without him.
My Grandma came with me to drop Dustin off on Saturday. (they still changed the time twice on them.) We dropped him off at 10:00 and they finally took off at 3:30. This time I didn't stay and hang out. By then it was just too hard to keep saying goodbye and they weren't allowing families into the hanger anyway. (Sometimes it's easier to just rip the bandaid off!)
Dustin is doing good. He is working 12 hour shifts and with chow hall, gym and sleep, it doesn't leave much room for anything else. The attack on Bagram happened only three days of being there and on the first day of actual work. He said that they sat in a bunker and watched army helicopters circle the base and insurgents launching rockets. Luckily no one was hurt!
Dustin took the camera with all the pictures of him leaving, so here is a pic of us in Venice.
Second, Grandma arrived safely and we are having a blast! We have already been to Venice, Nove, Capri, Pompei, Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano and now to Pisa and Cinque Terre!
Well I have so much more to post but me and Grandma are off on our next adventure!
Grandma and I in Venice!
