As everyone knows, saying goodbye is always hard. Since we’ve been married, Laura and I haven’t been away from each other for more than two weeks. I know that sounds like no big deal, but married couples need incremental steps of getting used to being away from each other. Our first long time apart was a week, then two weeks while I was alone in Hong Kong, and now it will be over a month apart, as I continue my training.
My training simulator partner, Chris, is a former 20 year Navy pilot who estimates that he has spent cumulatively over five years deployed at sea. That is a long time to be away! Nevertheless, I will miss my baby, and being so far away makes it seem worse.
Because I am leaving, Laura was gracious enough to take the day off from work and we spent the whole day being together. It was really great, and it meant even more under the circumstances. Hopefully, this is a taste of retired life! Click on Laura’s picture at the top of this blog entry to see more photos from our day together.
We started off with some important sleeping in, then drove over to Slate Run park to walk in the cool of the day under the trees. I love to just walk and talk, with no particular purpose or subject. When you know someone as well as a spouse, it’s easy and relaxing. It had been years since either of us had been there so we enjoyed the “new” sights.
After lunch, we headed to Magic Mountain to do some serious golfing! There are two courses there and we played 17 holes on the first one and 18 holes on the second one (that way, we didn’t lose our ball for the second course). It wasn’t too hot and we spent as much time laughing as we did hitting the ball. We each got a hole in one — those are always exciting.
We then headed to the bowling alley and played for an hour. We wanted to play three games, but the clerk told us it was cheaper to buy an hour’s worth of play. When we finished the third game, we had three minutes left! How about that for working out just right? Bowling is fun, especially if you don’t take it too seriously. We just had fun and didn’t worry about the score. I was terrible for a long time and then hit my stride with three strikes in a row!
Finally, we headed to O’Charlie’s for some dinner. We were tired but it capped off a really nice time together. Sweet Pea is the sweetest Pea in the whole world and I’m really going to miss her. I’m actually typing this at 39,000 feet over Wuhan, China on my way back to Hong Kong. We’ve been flying for 13 hours, and I miss her already. It’s sad knowing that every turn of the turbine inside the engine is taking me farther away from her. It’s going to be a tough, long time apart, but like I’ve said before, it makes the return even sweeter.
If you think about it, be praying for me as my toughest training challenges still lay ahead of me. If this whole Cathay adventure doesn’t work out, then so be it, but I really want it to and can’t wait to get this training behind me.
I had a great break in Ohio and it was wonderful to see my family and Laura, but now it’s back to the grindstone!
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