SATURDAY, MAY 22d.

One year and 11 days (377 days) since CPT Patti left for Baghdad.

Sorry I wasn't here on Friday. I went down to Bavaria to mark 1ID's "100 Days of Deployment" with some friends. Perhaps I was invited to ensure they didn't get too deeply into a pity party...since I've seen the 100 day mark come and go three times, soon to be four.

They didn't.

But they did take me to a wonderful restaurant...and then to one lady's beautiful home where the Blue Margaritas were in bountiful supply.

And right in the middle of it all my darling wife called. She has purchased a cell phone from an Iraqi vendor. Our hope is this means we will be in contact more frequently than before. Anyway the crowd cheered when they could tell it was CPT Patti on the other end. That is how some of us are dealing with this...by noting and celebrating the positives in the lives of others.

Anyway...my thanks to Sarah for the invitation. And to Oda Mae and her husband for the engaging conversation (and the odd colored drinks), J (to whom it is just possible I might be distantly related) for hosting the after-dinner party, and E, most notably for seeing this deployment on her terms and setting an example to the rest.

But mostly to CPT Patti who knows I'm the odd "male spouse" surrounded by females and who doesn't bat an eye when I hang out with the majority. Make no mistake about it, I've earned the trust...that doesn't make me any less grateful that she has it.