TGIF

This week seemed to draaaaaaaaaaag on forever! I don't know if it's the heat, or the fact that we're both working again, but Mason and I were both exhausted this week! Mason's been working half days this week; back in academics for the T38. He's been mostly learning the systems of how the plane works, and he's spent some time in the simulators. The T38 sims are much more advanced and so more precaution is taken; student pilots aren't usually just allowed to go in whenever they want to practice like they could during the tweets phase. Mason should begin flying after the 4th of July.

The rumor mill continues to fly with all sorts of rumors about what planes will be dropped (assigned) at upcoming assignment nights. There's rumors that less fighters and more "others" will be handed out, including UAVs which stands for unmanned aerial vehicles. Basically you fly behind a computer screen. Rumors also hinted that some F22s (top of the line fighters) will be handed out. Mason continues to take things day by day, but it's hard not to think about the future, and what all the hard work is for. We just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. Maybe Santa will deliver a good Christmas present.

Before Mason and I were married, I though a lot about what military life would be like. Now that we've been living it for a year, I think it far surpassed any ideas I had about life as a military spouse. I think that Mason and I were handed adult life last May and have been doing the best to overcome what life throws at us. All in all, we can't really complain (though I realize I do it frequently.) One thing I didn't think would be so hard about military life would be saying goodbye to so many friends. Everything people say about the military being your second family is the truth. I don't think I've been in an environment outside my family where everyone is "there" for each other so much. I guess I never imagined myself and Mason having so many friends that we instantly bonded with. Mason and I are very similar that the non-military friends we have, have been our friends for many, many years, and so to come into the military and meet people that you bond with so quickly is great. There's always the factor that so many of us have so much in common, mainly the military. Even for the single guys that we know, they'd always be there if we needed them.

We're very fortunate to have our military family, but really are going to miss friends who are moving away. Our good friends Eddie and Sydney are being transfered to Corpus Christi so he can fly T44s and our friends Phil and Nicole will be moving to Louisiana where he will begin training to fly the B52. It's hard to say goodbye, but there's some comfort in knowing that with the Air Force you'll move around a lot and you'll never know when you'll be back near old friends.

Last night we had three other couples over for dinner. As usual I cooked WAY too much food. That's when I am grateful that Mason enjoys leftovers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I love to cook, so I had fun cooking up some Chinese food. Fried rice, and Sweet and Sour Chicken. Yum-o! Usually we have BBQs with everyone, so switching up the menu is good sometimes.

This weekend we're going to a BBQ and having our friends Phil and Nicole over. Other than that we might help friends pack their things to move. Next week is the last week of summer school :-D so I am looking forward to that. I've been planning for next year hoping that I can get a lot done so I can enjoy July and August. People that say teachers have the easiest jobs---YEAH RIGHT!!! Man, there is so much "after hours" work involved. I'm excited to do it now that I'm not teaching all day long, but planning during the school year is rough. I'm hoping I can get some really good units set up for my Reading classes. For now, I'm enjoying the elementary grade levels too. They're much better than my fart filled 6th/7th graders.

Which reminds me of a (not so) funny story from this week at summer school. To make a longish story short, I had a student go to the restroom. This kid is a bit of a class clown so when he came back to the classroom he peeked his head around the corner, and asked to show the class something. I told him to come in a sit down, and low and behold he turns to corner holding a SNAKE!!!! Apparently it was a bull snake (?)...but all I saw was 4 feet of gross snake! He of course thought it was funny, and they all thought it was funny to see me fly back in my seat muttering "oh sh*t" to myself...yeah...fortunately he took it back outside when I asked him too, I was just seeing my life flash before my eyes as the thought of him letting this thing go in the classroom came to mind. All was better in the world when he released it in the fields near our school...I'm still waiting for a rubber snake to pop out at me somewhere next week...