Let's see... its been about 3 weeks or more since I last posted. I know I know. Shame has been brought upon my family and I will be stricken down with a lightning bolt. I've already been scolded by a handful of people that "your vacation is over. Time to get back to writing." Funny... I was sure that this place was the exact opposite of a vacation... cough cough HARRY. But alas, she's right. The parents are back from a long weekend away, and it's time to get serious again.
That's right. My dad was gone for about 2 and half weeks... and it really did feel like my parents were away for the weekend and I had the WHOLE house to myself. It's not to say I didn't miss him, but it was nice to savor the sense of freedom that his leave entitled me. It sounds weird, I know.
I can tell you that I loved sleeping in on Sundays, my one day of rest, instead of waking up early to go to church. I lose a lot of sleep during the week and his leave allowed me to sleep in a little on Sunday. Once again, shame on me. But in the battle of early mornings and sleeping in, sleeping in will usually come out triumphant. As I tried to explaining to him upon his return, when I got to church it's like him waking up at 1 in the morning to go to work. To this he responded, "Well, I really appreciate you making that sacrifice. It means a lot to me." What could I say to that?
Needless to say, I did go to church that Sunday morning. And I was extremely exhausted. But I was there. Maybe not bright eyed and smiling, but rather yawning and teary eyed. He gets what he gets.
We did have a nice Sunday though. We ended up going to the new bazaar. I'll have to post some pictures later, I don't have them with me right now. But it's called the Oasis, and I think it lives up to it's name. It's nice to have something new here. As I've said before, it so often feels like groundhog day, and a little mixup is a pleasant surprise.
I think the most exciting thing there was the camels. I have been around Iraq enough to really see a camel, and I was lucky enough to see one up close and personal. Lucky me. I'd like to think as my dad went to snap the picture that the camel was merely offering a friendly greeting...instead, I think that it was it's vicious attempt to target me. It clamped down on my noggin, and as the camel handler laughed and I watched as nobody came to my rescue, I thought... death by camel. That's how I'm going to go? Death by a fricken camel? It finally released my head from the jaws of death, leaving only a trace of toxic camel spit as a reminder of what it is capable of.
And that is about what I've been up to. I told my mom that it is very difficult to come up with interesting material here, making it hard for me to write something. I always say this, and I do mean it, but I'll work on it. Pinkie promise.
<3 Jacki
