One year home.

I forgot to remind you all. Ter's been home for ONE year!!! He landed at his demob site on July 29, 2006, but didn't get HOME, home, until a few days later. Can you freaking believe it? Don't believe the hype about the one year mark. Things are tough around here. Everything, the emotions, the nightmares, are just beneath the surface, thinly veiled by normal, suburban life. I realized that I think I fight with the old Terry, because the new Terry has a lot to deal with. That was a breakthrough. I'm the one who doesn't want to face the reality of what that year did to him, and to us. We are strong in a lot of ways, but trust me when I say his tour was not like most. All those guys where he was in Fallujah had a rough, rough tour, and I'm just so glad they're home. Well, all but two. And for those two, I'll never forget their survivors. I try to keep life in perspective and not get bogged down by trivial things, or even things not so trivial, but just not important enough to sweat over. Like the fact that I do not like my boss. Or that our car is breaking down and we can't really afford to buy a new one since we just bought a house. Or that I really miss my mom who will not travel because of her seizures. I mean, that stuff sucks, but she's alive right? I'm alive, my kids are healthy, I could be living with a lot worse you know?

For now celebrate with me, the anniversary of this one making it home.

And look us now..

The hottie on the far right is my little sis :)

Good news?

How is it possible that the news media had a positive headline about the casualties in Iraq. Apparently deaths are at an 8 month low. But that number still represents over 70 of our bravest lost their lives in Iraq this month. Still, I'm glad to see the news has found a way to show the work getting done there is getting us somewhere in the realm of winning!

Let the lovers and haters commence with the comments...

Green

I hate to admit it, but all the green press has made me rethink my environmental attitude a little bit. At the commissary, I got paper instead of plastic. I used to dismiss their requests to use paper with a wave of my hand. "When you start making paper bags with handles, I'll start using them," I would say. It's really hard to carry 20 bags of groceries two at a time, up 10 stairs. But, I decided I would suck it up a little and do my part for the environment. I also decided to start turning off my computer at work, and I'm trying to at home. I set my thermometer in my house to 76 degrees.I switch off lights around my house, and we sold our big gas guzzler. I have my eyes set on a 2007 Camry hybrid.

I think what really got my attention was Live Earth. Now, I didn't actually watch any performances, I was just intrigued by all the hype, and because it had no real goal to accomplish but to tell all of us minions to conserve. I think they're all a bunch of hypocrites. But, I do think we are responsible for the earth, we DO waste far too much. Will it make a difference? I don't know. I think of it as little acts of kindness that I would do for a person, only I'm doing it for the sake of my children's future environment. I guess I'm an idealist in that I believe if we ALL did our part, we could make a difference. I don't know if I believe in all the DiCaprio/Gore doomsdayers though.

I just had to...

get P. Hilt's name off the top of my blog...commence with blog surfing...