DUDE, WHAT IS IT???

And variations on that theme.

Oh my goodness...I'm amazed at the response and inquiries over my absence yesterday to work on a welcome home project!

However, I'm GLAD you are so interested...because you've given me an idea. If you'd care to...you can participate in the welcome home project yourself.

Let me tell you whats going on. I actually have two projects in the works...one is for all the officers returning who live in our "stairwell" (a total of 6 of them). The other is specific to CPT Patti.

To understand the project for my wife, you must understand that we live in a ground floor apartment in Army housing in a German style apartment building...buildings that have no known parallel in the USA. Due to the nature of the building, our apartment has windows on the east side and the west sides only. The former overlooks the greenspace and playground. The latter overlooks the long, circular drive in our housing area...and my parking space is directly beneath our apartment windows. In exiting from the car (as she will when she returns) one can't help but look at our windows on that side of the building.

So...I've decided to attempt something a little like the album cover from the Beatles' SGT Pepper's album and fill the windows with smiling faces looking out on our girl as she returns. I mean FILL the window! I think I'll need perhaps 100 - 120 faces just to cover one of the windows, as German windows tend to be rather large.

I will also add cartoon style "word bubbles" and "thought bubbles" scattered among the crowd of faces...remarking apprpropriate welcome home sayings, along with the occasional non sequitir just for fun.

Where do the faces come from? Frankly, I've collected photos off the internet wherever I can find them...of good, up-close pictures of folks smiling. Most are just folks...no idea who these people are...I've just snatched the pics off the net. I've also collected some celebrity or well known faces, including Elvis, FDR, Spongebob, Nemo, Pee Wee Herman, John Wayne, etc.

I'm printing these in grayscale instead of color...I think the finished product will be more interesting that way.

Where do you come in? Well, heck...many of you have prayed for CPT Patti and been concerned for her...why not let her see your face?

If you'd like to be one of the faces in the crowd welcoming CPT Patti back home, then send me a digital picture of you. For best effect this needs to be a VERY close up picture...(meaning your face fills the photo), you should be smiling, and you should be looking directly at the camera (this will give her the illusion that you are looking at her when she arrives.)

Send the pictures to cptpattiinbaghdad AT yahoo.com. I will make sure she knows which faces belong to those around the country who have walked this journey with us.

Don't be shy!!! She'll get such a kick out of it.

Since I have much to do with these pics to have the montage in place and correct on time, don't wait too long to send the photos. I'd llke to have them all by July 6th.