during the next month

D.R. left this morning for San Antonio, TX. He is going for his Officer Basic Leadership Course training (OBLC- b/c everything is an acronym in the Army) He will be gone until December 6th. 4 whole weeks. My heart is sad and dreading the loneliness at night. I know it will make me miss him, appreciate him, love him more but it hurts to say goodbye to your other half. As of yesterday morning, we still weren't sure if D.R. was going to OBLC due to complications with his orders with the Army. So so so much red tape to go through when you are "special" like D.R. is. Let's see if I can explain this right...
He is one of the few Army employees who is directly commissioned by the federal government/President. The Warrior Training Center on Ft. Benning needed a medical professional for their battalion. So his position was created out of necessity and there are only about 100 spots like his in the Army. Because of his specialness, being employed on the federal level & being a Nat'l Guard member on the state level, he can't be on two sets of "orders" Orders= a "belonging" status; an issued responsibility of employment. D.R. had to come off of his P.A. federal orders and temporarily be put on Nat'l Guard training orders. (to prevent double-dipping and legal issues) Anywho....confusing. I was so upset at the higher up dudes that didn't get this taken care of months ago.
If not for D.R.'s battalion colonel (Mr. Siter), who made some "calls" and got it taken care of, he wouldn't have been able to go today. It says something that this man got it all done in one weekend when this paperwork usually takes 2-3 weeks to get approved. Helps to have friends in high places of authority.

So D.R. is about to land in San Antonio, go to his hotel and get settled in and mentally prepare for a 5:30a.m. P.T. test. Poor guy. His hinny is going to be whipped into shape. I'm so thankful that our friend Geoff Gunn will be there with him. Some familiarity will help D.R. make it through.

I plan on using this time to work on D.R.'s Christmas gift (which I'm really excited about!), spend time with my high school girl's Bible study group (I'm taking them shopping in Atlanta Friday!), train a little harder to run a 1/2 marathon possibly in February, eat more vegetarian "funky" meals (that D.R. will have nothing to do with) read my Bible more often, and catch up with old friends on the phone.


Here is a yummy vegetarian meal I found on one of my favorite food blogs: Eat 80/20.

http://www.eat8020.com/2011/11/80-spaghetti-squash-tacos.html

I think I'm going to start eating 4 vegetarian meals a week and only eat 3 dinners with meat. I feel much better and not so weighed down when I fill up on veggies instead of lots of chicken or beef. We'll see how that goes.