Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Jet setter...

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little facetious about the "jet setting" but this past week has pretty busy with one trip after another, most of which I can't talk about unfortunately. But I left on the 4th, the day before my birthday, spent most of the day all around Kabul here, then on the 5th I celebrated my 40th birthday somewhere in the air over Afghanistan in a blackhawk helicopter. The next day was in another location here in Afghanistan, then the next 4-5 days were spent in Qatar. I just got back late last night - very jet-lagged - and now I'm getting ready to fly out again for a spell. Ugh. So let me quickly address a few things.

1. THANK YOU to all of you who sent me Happy Birthday eCards and care packages and emails! I was QUITE overwhelmed when it all happened. On the 4th, I had just enough time to check mail before heading out and I had 11 - YES 11!! - packages mailed to me! When I got back last night I had another 6 waiting on me! Wow I don't know what to say but "thank you" to all of you that thought of me in that way. *smile* My kids sent me cupcakes in the mail with a tub of chocolate icing to put on myself and I shared those with everyone. They were goooooooood! *smile* Thanks kids! The personal letters that were written to me really put a huge smile on my face too! I wanted to give a shout out to "Brooky" for her special letter to me too. *smile* You had me smiling and laughing and I felt very special. Thank you.



(pictured above is those of us sleeping on the long C-17 cargo flight and me writing a letter to my kids in the dark)

2. My last post on the blog here did not leave anyone who read it with a warm fuzzy, so my apologies for leaving you on such a "low" and then leaving the country for a week. I am doing fine - much better now - and I'm sure you understand that we all have "those days" here and that was one such day for me. The amount of encouraging email I got offline, away from the blog site, was simply incredible. I had a couple emails that just flat out made me "lose it" but it gave me the reassurance that I needed to hear in that moment. To all of you who emailed, Thank You!

3. I turned 40 on March 5th! AAAHHH!!!!!! As you can imagine, I have quite a few "opinions" about turning 40 and I'll share those insights in another post (when I get back). Nothing terribly profound, but 40 seems to be a good age for most to look back AND look forward on one's life, and I am no different. Thanks again to all those who sent birthday wishes. Those of you who have already reached that milestone perhaps can bestow some of your wisdom on me because I still seem to want to learn things "the hard way" even at this "mature" age! *grin*

Ok.... gotta fly.... I have NO clean laundry from this past week and I've got to head out here soon. I didn't want to leave you all hanging from my last "glum" post, so now you have something else to read in the meantime.

Outta here....


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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guess what, you are 40.

Anonymous said...

I love the cheesy grins in these pictures... good to see the Ken we all know and love back to "normal"... but you're right, we know that everyone has some of "those days". It's all good! So, get anything good in the packages, or have you even had time to open them???

Anonymous said...

Natalie!... My sweet Natalie!!... How are you babydoll?!... Yes, I'm 40. Ugh! You'll be there someday too sweetie. Thank you for the cupcakes and the birthday cards!...

Daddy

shipahoy59 said...

40! you think that's old. I felt like 40 was a milestone, 50 wasn't too bad, 60 wasn't too bad, but 65 puts a whole new meaning to life. Enjoy these younger years while you can. :)

Anonymous said...

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Bag Blog said...

I turned 50 on the 9th so I'm not feeling too sorry for you.
When I turned 40, I remember wondering if I were an adult yet. Every age has its great points - at 50 it is grandchildren.

CJ said...

So glad you are feeling better. Have "fun" on your trip! lol

janderson said...

Ken, this is my first time to respond to a blog site - see, you're never too old to learn!!! You have that to look forward to. And in my heart I think I'm just a kid. Happy Belated Birthday. Sorry I haven't been very good about keeping in touch.

Anonymous said...

Yeah but guess what, I still have 29 more years. So once again ha ha ha ha ha.


(P.S. I will never get tired of making fun of you.)

Anonymous said...

Ken! Happy Belated Birthday! And the big 4-0! Ehhhhh... I freaked when I turned 30.. but am finding out the 30s have been the best years yet.... I am guessing 40 isn't much different! I hope you are doing well!! I know everyone here misses you alot! Stay safe!!! Casey J.