Up and Down

This past couple of weeks have been up and down and mostly calm. For myself, I reached a new goal in running, then promptly became sick and wasn't able to run at all for the balance of the week. On Tuesday last I ran 5 miles, the first three being on a new, difficult, and hilly stretch, the final two familiar and flatter. Then I woke up Wednesday with "that feeling" in the back of my throat and head, and ended up spending the next two days on the couch with fever and yuck. I contacted Sorita to ask how soon I should resume running, and she suggested that with the heat as high as it has been, I should wait until I am really all better.

I did get a lot of reading done on a book that I had anticipated would take me far longer to read. A Patriot's History of the United States has turned out to be easy reading for such a thick book. Recommended by Glenn Beck, we ordered it months ago, but I've only recently had the time to pick it up. I won't summarize it here, but I do recommend it - good clear history of our nation.

The big news for our family- the Up for the past weeks, is that Nathaniel has redeployed from Iraq back to Hawaii! No more war zone for him; Praise God! We get regular updates and phone calls now with the news of his return to "stateside" life. Hawaii is still dreadfully far away, and we were not able to be there for his arrival, but his Commander's wife arranged a special surprise for him.

Several weeks ago- before we left for Michigan, we received a letter from this dear woman with a request that we send her some special things and a new set of sheets for our returning soldier. She recognized that a number of the men had families who would greet them with special homecomings, but the single soldiers would be returning to empty barracks rooms. We gladly packed up some framed photos, a book or two, and a couple of other things with a new set of sheets for our soldier. I also tucked his cell phone and charger into the box, so he could call us right away. An email exchange with the organizer of this surprise confirmed that she had gotten the items safely and had set his room up. The phone she kept and charged herself. Nathaniel called us from a buddy's phone as he reached the various stops on his flights from Iraq to Ireland, Alaska, and finally Hawaii. But when he arrived at the base in Hawaii I received another- more surprised call from his own cell phone! The Commander's wife had called him over after the Welcoming Ceremony and handed him his phone and told him to call his Mom- now!

What a blessing to participate in some small way in his return, even though a trip to Hawaii to greet him was impossible. If he'd been anywhere that my car could reach we would have made it there, one way or another. But a flight to Hawaii is out of the question. Phone calls, facebook, and email do make the world smaller, but being there for our son's return - second return- from the war has never been possible and we can't recover that. He'll be coming home for a month visit in a couple of weeks, yet to welcome him returning with his comrades isn't meant to be.

So, I guess that it was an up, and a down.

Now we count the days for his arrival here- Praise the Lord!