Confessional

With all I've got on my mind these days I'm finding it awfully hard to sleep.  I'm excited and in super plan mode for the trip back to the states.  Not only am I anxious to show the guys a really good time, I cannot wait to be back in St. Louis and Bloomington for some short visits with the cities I love - and to see all of the Btown lifers, of course.  I'm also beyond ready to visit with the family.  I've never missed home quite like I have in the past couple weeks.  It's been on my mind more recently than it had been in the first nine months I was here.  It was a difficult three weeks to spend in Indiana, but it put me so much closer to all of the great people in my life and now spending time with them sounds absolutely perfect.  So, I have finally admitted it.  I miss home.

I recently discovered that I had exhausted all of my accrued leave time.  Reeeeally exhausted it.  Like, I'm in the negatives.  I had to get "special permission" to even come home this time and after submitting a couple leave requests for trips later in the summer I found out they would continually get denied until I had accrued enough to make up for my debt and then some.  That news really hurt all of my travel plans and sets me back quite a bit.  There is so much I want to see and do that will just have to wait.  On the bright side, I can still take short three to four days trips, I just have to make sure they fall on two pay periods.  I called Marcel and explained the news to him with my best whiny voice and his first response was "Is it ok if I laugh?".  He basically told me it wasn't the end of the world that I have to wait a couple months to take big trips.  I guess he's right, but I still want to complain about it.  Also some really sad news since I've returned, Andrew and Richard, two of my really good friends here, were fired and will also be departing Germany within the next week.  It all started with a stolen Indian statue from one of the local bars.  After a little run in with the military police the boys returned it and shared a laugh with the bar that it was stolen from.  About a month later they were both called into HR and told their contracts were being terminated.  No explanation, just done.  It's obvious why they are being sent home, but at the same time it doesn't seem quite fair.  The goodbyes will definitely be hard.

With only a couple days until the flight home I'm reeling with excitement and preparation. After Marcel arrives tomorrow I think my anxiousness will drop a few notches though.  It's been far too long.  Unfortunately, I have to work while he's here.  I attempted to get someone to cover some shifts, but I actually really need to work as many hours as possible to get back on track.  Blah to responsibility.  Come Friday night at 7pm I will be a free woman for eleven days.  Midwest, here we come.

'Merica.