Super Bowl XLI

Will be the Chicago Bears against the Indianapolis Colts.

We watched both games, but I'll tell you, the Patriots/Colts game was a real nail biter. The Colts overcame an 18 point deficit to win 38-34.

Cody is a big Colts fan, and while I am not, I am more of a Colts fan than a Patriots fan. I was really pulling for the Saints, though, but the Bears pretty much routed them. It's not so much that I'm a Saints fan--they trounced the Cowboys pretty badly after all--as it is that I'm a rabid Anti-Bears fan. I think that aside from the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles, I despise the Bears more than any other team.

Hmmm, I wonder what I'm going to do with my weekends once football season is over...


Angie hasn't written in a while. She's been really busy, but I did get this e-mail from her today:

January 21, 2006

Hey everyone,

I am so sorry that it's been so long since I've written. I haven't had the chance to get down to the Cyber Cafe to check this e-mail account. I've been that busy. The other night I finished work and got back to my room at 2340 (11:40 p.m.) and I had a flight come in at 0700 the next morning. I've been running like crazy. I'm really learning quickly. The previous liaison left on the 16th. That afternoon I got six patients in. The Army liaisons keep telling me they've never seen the Air Force get slammed like that. They have been absolutely wonderful. There is one person in particular that has taken me under his wing and really helped me with the patients.

Let's see... What's been going on? I have 14 patients at the moment. All of them are outpatient, but I have to track them. I didn't have anyone come in this weekend, but I still have to go to the office and check on missions and answer the phone to anyone who calls my cell phone. I got a ticket entering Ramstein Air Force Base Friday. I didn't know I wasn't supposed to have a cell phone to my ear while driving. Silly me. It had just rang as I approached the gate. I had only just answered the phone. They made a massive deal about it. I'm sure the commander is going to be pleased with that. Oh well. I'll be more careful in future. The funny thing was, the person who called me was the same person who had taken me under his wing for the previous three days. Very ironic.

I appreciate everyone sending me e-mails about how their days are going. It's good to hear from everyone and you really make me chuckle. Keep them coming. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to e-mail everyone back individually. I would like to ask that jokes not be forwarded to me right now. If it looks like a joke, I'm just deleting them. I'm sorry, but I just don't have the time.

Some of you told me that you've forgotten or lost my information. My address is SMSgt Angela XXXXXXX

Richard and Cheryl - thanks so much for the care package. That peanut brittle is awesome. I received the package two days ago, but haven't had the chance to write.

Rachael - congratulations on your promotion. I saw that SMSgt rank up there on your e-mail. I still need a copy of my promotion orders so that I can get my ID card changed.

The weather here is cold and rainy on and off. It's not good for the hair. I'm still enjoying myself, but working too hard. My friend (the Army guy we call John Wayne) is making sure I don't get too stressed. He told me that if I start looking too frazzled, he'd take my patients one day. Actually, he told me he'd take my patients on Monday so that I should go get my nails done and spend the day with Sierra. These people here are terrific. I just can't say enough wonderful things about them. I love the patients and want to do whatever I can for them. Hopefully, one day soon I'll take a little day trip to a castle and I'll have more interesting things to tell you all. But for right now, I have to go get my laundry out of the dryer.

Love you all.
Angie

January?

It has been so unbelievably hot today. My air conditioner has run all day long and my hands are all swollen and sticky from the heat. Not much has gone on today because the forecast predicted that it would rain all day. Cody and I rented movies, and I've knit most of the day. Though I'm only half way through with this sock

I went ahead and cast another sock on to my two circulars. I want to learn that technique as well as the magic loop. Though the yarn is undyed, I decided to go ahead and knit it in it's natural color. I didn't want to have to fool with dying it.

I feel like my brain is in a bit of a fog here lately. The allergist gave me some Allegra-D Tuesday when I went for my appointment. It has a decongestant in it, and they always make me so that I can't sleep. I didn't take it last night, so I slept a bit better. However, I've paid for it today, in being congested all day.

Cindy has a very good account of her recent visit over on her blog. While we're on the subject of snakes--sort of--last night was supposed to be Scarlett's first fuzzy meal. However, when I went to check on her, she was blue, so that feeding will wait until after she has shed.

And an e-mail from Angie:

January 11, 2007

OK, so yesterday I thought it was the 11th. My time clock is so messed up. I'm still adjusting to the time change. Today is the 11th for real. I've had an absolutely crazy day. As with yesterday I didn't get anything to eat until 7 pm this evening. I promise to do better. I only had time to pee once. This has to stop. I will get more organized. Anyway, Major General Fletcher from 3rd Air Force came to visit my patient MSgt Ewing today, so it was my job to meet him and escort him to the patient. We all had a very nice visit. Later MSgt Ewing's grandmother came to visit him since she lives in Stuttgart. What a wonderful lady. He is doing well and will probably go home tomorrow. I've been doing so much running. I don't know if I told you, but this hospital is only two floors high. It was built out instead of up so that if they were bombed, they'd still have plenty of hospital left to work in. This means a lot of walking. Taking the general to the patient's room, he turned to me and said "You didn't tell me I was doing PT today!" There is a lot of humor here as well as pain, but it's still the most rewarding experience I've ever had. I am now learning the German roads around here. Dayna is leaving on Tuesday and then I'm on my own. Actually, I'll just be the only Air Force Liaison, but there are plenty of Army Liaisons to help me out and they are such wonderful people. This is my first joint service experience. We like to tease each other a lot. I think we work hard, but we can also play hard. I am so tired at the moment. I am going to take a hot shower and go to bed.

Thank you to everyone who is sending me lots of e-mails. I don't have a lot of time to respond, but I'm doing what I can with these generic ones that I send out.

Good night (no I haven't learned any German yet)

Love you all,

Angie

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Gasp! Politics In My Blog!

Now, I know I said I wouldn't turn this into a political blog, and I don't intend to. However, every once in a while, I run across something that I just have to comment on.

“President Bush said last week that he wanted to work with the Congress to balance the budget in five years. But he also rejected any tax increases and obviously he’s not in a mood to reduce spending on the war... Can you [balance the budget] without raising taxes?” —CBS’s Bob Schieffer (emphasis mine)

Uh yeah. It's called cutting spending. There's plenty in the budget that you can cut besides the war. If you took everything that wasn't authorized by the Constitution out of the budget, the government could cut taxes by 90% (like that would ever happen) and they would still be rolling in dough.

Ok, enough of politics...

On to Global Warming...My sister sent me an e-mail today in which she said, "It is about 5 degrees out, so plenty warm enough for Nate to be out playing. " Yeah, they're warming alright. Last week it was -35.

Now, the e-mail that brought tears to my eyes:

January 10, 2007

Today I shed the first of what I am sure will be many tears. You may have seen on the news where three Air Force members were killed in an IED explosion and a fourth was injured. That fourth one is my patient. I visited him a couple of times today. The second time was with General Hobbins wife, Robin. She is a fantastic lady. She gave him very heartfelt, comforting words. There were also two chaplains there. The patient remembers everything that happened. The shrapnel went through his lower right leg and broke both bones. He has pins in waiting for the skin to heal, then he'll get rods put in his leg. One of the people who died in the blast was a friend of his of 16 years. The other two were young airmen. The young lady was engaged, but her fiancee will now be her pall bearer. You can tell he loved these people. We prayed together and cried. There are four beds in his room. The other three are empty. All he wants is to see his friends laying in those beds. I can't even begin to explain the feelings I have. Dayna tells me I won't forget my patients. She's been doing this job for four months now and is having a hard time giving it up.

Now I'm going for karaoke and beer. Don't worry....I won't be singing.

Love you all
Angie

I didn't do a sketch of the day today, since we had the day off. I got lazy and after grocery shopping, I watched TV and knitted all afternoon. However, in lieu of sketch, I bring you the

Feeding the pigeons in Florence Italy, 1992

More From Angie

Here are a couple more e-mails from Angie in Germany:

January 8, 2007

Hallo from Germany....

I haven't gotten the information from Dayna yet on the phone calls, but she said it's actually 3 cents per minute. I do have an address. Mailing anything to me would be the same as mailing it to the US. Here's my address:

SMSgt Angela (deleted to protect privacy)

I bought a really cool t-shirt. It says "Did you just ausfahrt?" Gonna wear that one home!!!

I haven't really slept slept yet. I took two Excedrin PM last night and slept for about 1 to 2 hours. I woke up at 12 p.m. and someone was banging a suitcase up the stairs next to my room. Then there were a bunch of guys hanging around outside my window smoking (it's the entrance to the building). After an hour and 15 minutes 0115 this morning, I finally opened the window and asked them to talk somewhere else. I didn't fall asleep again until about 4 this morning. My wake up call was at 0530. I don't feel like I'm sleep deprived yet. I worked yesterday until about 7 pm. We had three patients--one with palpitations, one with kidney stones, and one was a psych patient. I hadn't eaten all day and was starving. The DFAC (dining facility) was closed so I walked to the LCC (Landstuhl Community Center) only to find out that the kitchen was closed because the cook didn't show up. I got back to my room at 8:30 and if I ordered something to be delivered, it would take them about an hour. There was only cereal in my room, so I had that for dinner. We're going to the commissary this afternoon after my briefing. There will be some kind of food in my room. I have a full-sized refrigerator/freezer and may be working some funky hours.

Tomorrow we have one patient coming in. This one is a battlefield injury, but I don't know what. I hate to see people injured, in pain, or sick, but it is a terrific feeling to be able to help them. I'm having a wonderful time so far. Although, I've been here since Friday and haven't even smelled a beer. Gotta put that on my list of things to do.

Love you all!!!

Angie


January 9, 2007

I realize that there are many of you out there that were very concerned about me being here so long without a beer. Please don't worry. I took care of that problem last night. Four of us went down to the LCC and drank beer. Don't ask me what the name of it was because it was German. I don't even think I tried to pronounce it, but it was good. Now the next problem is sleep. I'm hoping that I can take care of that problem tonight. I'd like to have a nap right now, but I'll make myself stay awake. We're going bowling tonight. That should be good fun It's $1 per game at Ramstein tonight....or perhaps it's at Vogelweh. Anyway, I'll be at one of those bowling alleys if you need me.

For those of you who liked the t-shirt saying "Did you just ausfahrt?" but didn't know what that means--ausfarht means exit. There are signs posted for you to exit the autobahn. Which leads me to the next thing I did today. I went to get my driver's permit. There I was driving the Mercedes on the autobahn--can't remember how fast I was going because I didn't take my eyes off the road. You'd have been so proud of me. We made it here in one piece. By the way, that Mercedes isn't sleek; it's a 9-passenger van, it just sounded good.

We ended up not having any patients today. Three flights are coming in, but none are Air Force patients. I went to get my army e-mail address set up and now I'm going back to my room.

Love you all. I'll write more when it gets exciting.

Angie

Angie

I tend to refer to Angie as my sister-in-law, though she is not now, nor ever has been such. I don't know why, but that is the relationship I feel like I have with her. Though we've yet to meet in person, from the first time I talked to her on the phone some 8 years ago, we had a connection. We do have a lot in common. Our children are siblings.

Angie is the woman my husband left me for.

(I'll pause while you collectively gasp... Done? Ok, on with the story.)

Some of you may wonder how I could be friends, much less consider a sister, such a woman. Well, it was not always so. For a long time I harbored anger towards Angie. I wondered how someone could be so callous as to take another woman's husband away from her--especially with her about to have a child. Did she think she'd won a prize? Did she think he'd be faithful to her, despite the fact that he'd cheated on me? For a long time, that was my one comfort. She'd get hers. If he'll do it with you, he'll do it to you. I knew that someday someone younger and pretter would walk by and he'd forget her just as quickly as he'd forgotten me. And I couldn't wait to gloat about it. My one conundrum was the girls. I wanted Cody to know his sisters, but I just didn't see how I could face their mother.

But then something happened. I was laying in my bed one night diligently nursing my bitterness, when the thought came unbidden to my mind, as if God had put it there:

"Did she even know about me?"

Seriously, as much as Eric had lied to me, had he even told her he was married? Had he told her about the baby? What excuse did he make to her when he flew over to Italy?

I got to thinking about these questions, and realized that she probably didn't even know he was married. After all, it's easy to hide a wife when she's halfway around the world. And I know he hadn't been wearing his wedding ring--not even the faintest of tan lines. The more I thought, the more I realized that she was just as much a victim of his manipluation and lies as I was. That's when my attitude changed. That's when I shifted the blame from her to him. She was not the homewrecker. He was.

Two days later, I got a call from my mother in law (ok, ex, but she's still Mom to me). She told me that Angie wanted to contact me and was it ok if she gave her my phone number. The rest, as they say, is history.

Angie is in the Air Force. (Pause while I patiently endure elbow jabs from Buck.) She has recently been stationed in Germany, and as been sending me e-mails. I asked her if I could share them with you, and she agreed. Since I'm a little behind, I'm going to post two today. Here they are:

January 5, 2007

So here I am in lovely Germany and very excited to be here. It's drizzly, but the air is fresh and crisp. I've had a quick, whirlwind tour of the hospital. I will be the Air Force Liaison for the wounded soldiers. It will be my job to drive over and pick them up from the airport at Ramstein AB and bring them to the hospital. Landstuhl is an Army Post and I will work at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. I will be on call 24 hours a day and will be very busy. I am really looking forward to this. MSgt Hall said it will be very difficult at times. I may have to be the one to comfort a soldier who has just lost his legs and his girlfriend back home has broken up with him. I may have to make the call back to the parents to tell them how their son or daughter is doing and that I will be taking care of their needs. MSgt Hall and CMSgt Robinson said that if I go back to my room and cry that I will not be the only one. We have to do our job and then let it out sometime because it will be stressful. I am looking forward to working hard. At least I will feel like I am finally doing something for my country. I think this is going to be very rewarding. MSgt Hall said I will leave here a different person.

The flight was fine. I got my room. I have to share a bathroom, but hopefully that's the worst of it. I met a girl named Lori here. We just went to dinner together at Subway (yeah) and now we're checking our e-mail. The shoppette is the next stop on the list.

Dayna is the girl I will be taking over from. She's from California and she's going back there in two weeks. I will have to find out the information, but her husband somehow calls her from California for a penny a minute. That's a great way to keep in touch with the kids. If you have access to DSN, the number is 491-4600 and my room number 24107. I am 6 hours ahead of you. I will be given a cell phone, but don't know the particulars on that yet.

I have to go to work on Monday. We apparently all get together Monday mornings at 0600 to go running. I don't have to do it this Monday because I haven't inprocessed yet, but I'm going to anyway. Gotta start sometime.

Well, gotta go get a shower and relax and sleep. Haven't found a beer yet, but I'm sure there's one close by.

Angie


January 6, 2007

Hey.

Good to hear from you. I don't mind at all if you share on your blog. I love to read it. I'm in the Cyber Cafe right now. It's open 24/7 for people to check their e-mail, but I can't connect my camera. Not that I've taken any pictures yet. Maybe when I get my office I'll be able to share pictures too.

I haven't inprocessed yet, but I'm going to help out tomorrow. Once Dayna leaves in two weeks, I'm it. There's so much to learn. I have to learn how to drive to different places and how to get clothes and uniforms for soldiers and airmen who have been taken straight from the battlefield and don't have anything. I'll have to call families back in the states. Dayna says there's going to be a lot of tears, but you wipe them dry and get back to work. She's says she's become immune to it, but still gets to her
sometimes. Anyway, there's a C-17 coming in tomorrow with a lot of Air Force people on it, so that will be a good experience for me.

I'll write more when I know more.

Love,
Angie