Distractions

One of my favorite bands is Zero 7 who has collaborated with another one of my favorite female artists, Sia. One of the best live songs I heard of them together was 'Distractions.' It's very haunting to me. And it was the first random thing that came to mind when I thought of beginning to write this post. So I'll play it. You should listen to it.
John is gone. I dropped him off at the squadron around 6:45am yesterday morning. On our way, we saw a buck standing by the road on base, silhouetted by the rising sun. Our world together is always full of small wonders like that. John was originally scheduled to leave Saturday morning but due to some jet issues, it was pushed back 24 hours. We found out while eating out for our 'last' dinner together. I can't even tell you how wonderful having one more day together was...or how big a difference it made between saying goodbye Saturday to saying goodbye Sunday. Saturday morning the kitties refused to let us sleep so we got up around 9:30 and headed out to go shooting which was a blast (hardyharhar). I got a few compliments on my shooting which was flattering as it was only my second time. And John couldn't have been prouder.
Afterwards, we stopped for a quick snack at KFC (John was filling up on all the fastfood and unhealthy food for once since he wouldn't be able to have anything for 7 months...he's normally not a fastfood person at all) and came home to do a few chores including cleaning the guns. Afterward we played out in the yard throwing a frizbee and playing catch. It's amazing how silly games like that can be so fun with someone you adore being around. For dinner we went to MJ's in town and had a great meal and wondered aloud why we hadn't gone there more often.
The evening was spent enjoying each other's presence, praying together, just talking, sometimes just not talking; savoring being next to each other. In the morning, we had waffles and headed to base to say goodbye. I have to say we both held it together really well. We both teared up and I cried a little but on a whole, spirits among everyone saying goodbye were light just as they should be. We said our last goodbye and I drove away. We agreed that he'd rather me just drop him off than wait around for them to take off. I drove home, attempted to get gas on base and succeeded to get exactly 4 cents worth after trying one pump twice and a second pump, and then just found my way home regardless. Something weird always happens on base.
Once at home, I dozed for a few minutes until my friend Monique came over. We had planned to go to Raleigh together as our distraction that day. I'm glad we did because while dozing, I could already feel the emotional cloud setting in that would have accompanied me all day if it weren't for spending time with Monique. We headed out and chatted the entire 2 hour drive to the city. As it turned out, Raleigh is an odd sort of city. It's not really a high rise sort of place and everything seemed to be stretched out in all directions. Our first stop was a Whole Foods Market to seek out an Art-o-mat machine. Success! We found it and bought our tokens for it. I got 6 and Monique got 2. Among our treasures was a keychain that looked like an olive with a pimento center, two pendants, a collage, and some painted wood. We both thoroughly enjoyed our experience there and decided lunch was in order. We ate at Noodles and then headed out in search of some bookstores. The first was not really what we had in mind. It looked relatively ghetto and all the books were on shelves outside the shop instead of inside...it was weird. So we continued on and found book store #2 which just so happened to be in a cute shopping center. After getting a few books, we checked out the rest of the area. For some reason, the past week has been ridiculously hot and yesterday wasn't an exception. It was very overwhelming. Our poor GPS was getting fried just sitting in the window and after awhile it stopped "recalculating" all together and seemed to assume we had eyes...we could figure out how to get to the route it suggested rather than have to muster the mental strength to recalculate another route...it was rather pathetic.
The day got increasingly stranger as we went on. We found a flea market that very much resembled a Chinese PiFa Market and held little more than bootleg DVD's, pageant dresses and random cheap toys. We were probably the only white faces in that place aside from one family we saw. Outside they were selling baseball hats and military boots on tables. We both laughed as we saw them since they're an article we see in our houses on a daily basis. On our way out we passed a truck selling food which was next to a makeshift car wash. It was selling iced drinks and maybe snow cones and said "Hater Ice" on the side of the van. We wondered aloud what "Hater Ice" might be. I suggested the ice they gave to people they didn't like? Maybe it had pee in it.
We stumbled upon an antique store that seemed to be devil bent, containing some of the weirdest, creepiest things. Like a giant satan head and arms on the wall. Or 'his and her' devil masks that Monique suggested I buy. Or a toy bunny on steroids. I could go on and on but I won't. Just know...it was weird. Eventually, we decided it would be best to find a mall. Because malls mean large amounts of air conditioned space. And we were feeling the need for cool air as we both had horrible headaches. We finally found one and spent most of the rest of our time there. We also hit up a BestBuy and spent a considerable amount of time there (thanks, Monique...KIDDING!) and after being stalked by a 60 year old gamer who attended SERE School in the 70's (yes, he told us all this...why? we don't know or care to know...) we decided it was time to leave. The breaking point was when we were approached by him for the third time while browsing TV show seasons in a completely different area of the store than we had last seen him and he said "Just can't keep away, huh?" Yeah. Ew. Knee to the groin, geezer. After running to Petsmart and buying an overpriced scratching post for my cats, we went to dinner at On the Border. Then Monique started to feel sick. Her headache developed into a migraine which developed into something else. We hit the road because I thought the sooner we got home, the better for her sake. It turned out to be dehydration and so we guzzled as much water as possible (which brought with it about 18 bathroom breaks...again...KIDDING Monique!) and after awhile she felt back to normal. We got back to my house around 11:30pm. It was definitely a longer day than anticipated...but it was good. So much fun and much better than sitting home alone and sleeping depressingly all day.
Sleep was a little restless last night. Not used to being alone and knowing he isn't coming home any minute. It was strange. But I got through it and George and Bean gave me lots of cuddles. I miss him so much. But I don't have the heartache I was expecting. I just feel hopeful and am already counting down the minutes and days until he comes back. Until then...I have a lot of letters to write.