THE pen

Sometime around a year ago, I was sitting in a Buffalo Wild Wings, for those who dont' know its a chain restaurant, and for the slower ones in the group, they specialize in Buffalo Wings. That isn't the point of my story. I was paying, and the pen I was given was a bright yellow Bic, and had a cutesy phrase on it, something to the effect of "I stole this pen from BWW because they were too cheap to give me one". Me being me, I stole it. Now, this wasn't a crime of passion, I had a need for a pen, this yellow monster called out to me, it wanted a new home. I gave it a loving place to live in my left breast pocket. There are a couple things you need to know about me before any of this makes sense or before you begin to care, empathize and then feel my pain. I can NEVER keep a pen. On Active duty, I always had a pen on me, but typically it was a different one daily, or sometimes a couple a day, I have a habit of leaving them behind and sometimes focusing on what I am doing next, rather than closing out what I am doing currently. So, for me a pen is something I am usually searching for....this yellow pen was different. Once I put it in my pocket a year ago, it's been there ever since. I have cared for it, changed its ink with a similar pen, and even hovered over it as someone borrowed it. I really did love this pen. Another fact you need to know about me is that when I am in uniform, I have a very set way I do things, and certain places that I always put certain items. Keys in my left front pocket, chapstick and my money clip in the right front picket, wallet in the back left, etc. Doesn't sound like a big deal but I am really anal about it and I check after I get dressed in the morning to make sure I have it all. Obviously this morning, something was missing and of course, it was my pen. Granted, it was just a pen, but it symbolized something for me, and I was really proud of the fact that through all this BS and all the places I've been, I have managed to not lose this pen. So much for that. I have a feeling I left it at the ANA yesterday as we were REALLY busy and I was distracted. That leads me into:

WE GOT THE INTERNET! I am shocked but the ANA building was wired for the internet finally, and we were re-imaging machines yesterday to get them online. I thought sure all the ground work I laid for this and all the paperwork and frustrating phone calls were going to be for nothing, and my relief would get to see this installed. It was great to get that major milestone knocked out....it will make me feel much better about leaving!

We visited another school today. An elementary school across the street, literally, across the street, our drive was possibly 15 seconds. It was fun, we spent most of our time giving out stuff to the Kindergarten class, and then we funneled the rest to the older kids. I found a few boxes of stuff buried deep in our closet that I thought I had already given out, so some of you were very generous today and didn't even know it! Again I appreciate being the final step in your generosity...thank you! Pictures are here.

53 more days.

I miss my pen.

Gary