The Seattle Skyline

Our trip to Alaksa was absolutely amazing - this

is when we were leaving Seattle on the first day.

My husband is in the field all this week. They are firing all the various weapons they've been learning how to use. This normally would mean no phone calls for me, but my husband took his cell phone out into the field with him so I was actually able to talk to him on Monday night. I was lifeguarding at the pool so it wasn't really a good time to have a long conversation though. Plus he had a horrible signal and had to be quiet as well because it was rack time so I could barely hear him for most of the conversation. Hearing his voice just made my day though.

It's rather strange but I actually miss getting letters from my husband. When he went to boot camp all we had were letters and officer's training we relied mainly on letters with an occasional phone call. Now that he has a chance to call me at the very least twice a week, I'm finding that I wish he still had time to write me. Don't get me wrong. I love being able to talk to him on the phone, there's nothing better than hearing his voice and know that at that very instant he's okay. It's scary to think about the families of armed forces killed in the "sandbox" who still get letters even after the official notice. When you get a phone call there's no wondering about what has happened to them in between the time they wrote the letter and the time that you got it. But there's something wonderful about letters. They're tangible. You can hold them, see them, and smell them. And if you're ever feeling down you can always re-read them. Things that a phone call just can't do. I guess what I'm saying, to use a very old cliché, is that I want to have my cake and eat it too.

Well my trip to see my husband could have been better. But seeing him makes everything worth it. My luggage didn't make it with me on my last flight so I didn't get it until the next morning. My husband's Company was the only one who had to secure from Liberty on Sunday instead of Monday. The worst part though was that he got very sick. He was tired, feverish, and achey all day Saturday. We finally got a thermometer and on Sunday his temprature was 103.5. I took him to the Naval hospital on base. His temprature there was only 99. The doctor thought it was either strep throat or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever since my husband had found a tick on him a few days earlier. They took a throat culture and blood sample and prescribed penicillin and Tylenol in the mean time. We walked downstairs from the emergancy room (it was Easter Sunday nothing else was open) and picked up his prescrition at the pharmacy just like that. We went back to our hotel and he started feeling bad again. His temprature went back up to 102.5. This was maybe an hour before he had to leave to report back to his company. I wanted him to go back to the hospital but he called the doctor and found that there really wasn't anything that he could do. So even though the officer on duty would have let him report in later so he could rest some more, he went in on time. Sometimes it's frustrating that my husband is such a good Marine, because he doesn't take an opportunity like that. But at the same time I know that it's a reflection of his character as a person and that's something that I love about him.