She gave me my plaque, wrapped in gold paper, and suddenly her face was red and her eyes were wet and she was turning away from me.
    

Demobing today wasn't all that bad. I mostly drove around in my car collecting signatures. I got a lot of "first you need to go see..." but I didn't care - I have two little hurdles to get over next week - clearing housing and clearing admin - and then I'm DONE.

This weekend will be epic - for you guys, too!

Hahahaha... you don't even know why I'm laughing. :)

But at least today is OVER.

Tomorrow should be less frustrating (I hope!) and should involve less walking in the 95 degree sunshine. Despite the (insane) hoops I had to jump through today, I managed to clear the medical section in the morning (this included convincing a major and a colonel to let me have my life back, thankyouverymuch) and sat through 4 hours of briefings in the afternoon.

Tomorrow they will teach us how to be people again. "Don't drink too much. Don't beat your kids. Don't kill your spouse." and so on. Yeah, yeah, I get it. These things happen. I just don't think any amount of briefings will stop someone from doing something they've set their mind on.

On a happier note, I'll be traveling back to MA for the weekend - my mom gathered a ton of crap for a yardsale and my sister and I agreed to sit behind the tables and wait for people to buy it. Should be a good weekend! And I'll get to spend some time with my little niece. :)

Suddenly overwhelmed by sleep (this never happens) - good night.

Because tomorrow I start demobilizing.

I won't lie, I've learned a lot in my two years with this unit, but I have to wonder if it's been at the sake of my happiness and, honestly, my health. I wasn't exaggerating when I said that place is (those people are) toxic. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll feel better. I know I need to spend some time meditating and trying to release all the stress and frustration that has built up in my neck, back and shoulders. I've found a yoga studio not far from my house, maybe that will help, too.