Re-Deployment Update

Resting at the ocean!

Special Edition
Homecoming
April 21, 2010
Issue 26

Dear Friends and Family,

I cannot resist sharing my recent two weeks with you. After arriving home on Good Friday, John and I attended services in our home church on Good Friday and Easter morning. My mother arrived Saturday and we celebrated Easter together. On Easter Monday we started bouncing around to several locations between Alabama and Maryland. We could not see everyone that we wanted to, but we'll be back on a less rushed trip in a few months. In particular, I see how very concerned people have been about me. I never meant for anyone to worry. But the support has been amazing and I'll never forget it. Shukran "Thank you"! Your gifts of time and love, as well as your prayers made this deployment and homecoming a success.

You might wonder what I did first. A few months ago, I asked a couple of soldiers what they were going to do when they got home. They said "sleep" and "play with the kids."  Those didn't apply to me. We are advised to "not to do anything for the first 3 days and just catch up on rest." I never really rested right away. At the beach, there was downtime, and we watched some of the Masters Golf Tournament on TV. There will be time for more rest later....

Here's my list of things that I missed the most: John, John, and John.

Next, Mother Nature's colors on everything were amazing. That happened after my first deployment to Djibouti as well. I appreciate colors, especially the green grass, more than ever. On the bus ride between Atlanta and Ft. Benning, I marveled at the grass, blooming trees, and flowers. The young man next to me said, "Yes, even the dead grass looks good Ma'am." How so very true!

Here are more things to transition back to:
Warm hugs from family and friends
Brushing teeth from tap water – not bottled water!
Electric toothbrush
No boots or heavy socks
Sandals
Petting healthy dogs (and cats)
The option of a bath – Bubble baths!
No potholes in the roads
No sandstorms (although the pollen has been wild!)
Yellow ribbons
Dark chocolate
Decaf coffee
Cracker Barrels!
Sound of ocean waves
An indoor bathroom at night…
No generator sounds
No explosions
Long scenic highways
No checkpoints – just some toll roads
The freedom to travel
Civilian clothes
Pine Trees and Green Hills
Seafood

We are in Huntsville, Alabama now and I'll return to work at Redstone Arsenal on Monday. This evening (21 April) John spotted our first hummingbird. Spring is really here! Yesterday we canoed the Flint River together for the first time and finished the trip in our back yard! Tomorrow, we're playing golf for the first time in a couple of years, and we've been using the gym this week. We're eating more healthily too! (Trying to get into some good routines right away.) All will be well.

My initiative for helping the Iraqi Ceremonial Band in the International Zone continues. If you are interested, I'll keep you posted on the progress. The bottom line is that it is meant to be "Musicians Helping Musicians" (Americans helping Iraqis). My musical friends in the United States are enthusiastic about the possibilities. The American active duty band in Baghdad has started meeting with the Iraqi Band once a week and they've been emailing me about what's happening. It's the first time in years that bands from both countries have resumed working together. (I'm thankful that I gave the Iraqi cell phone number to a receptive American bandsmen who followed up!) The American soldiers are helping with the music library and military music CDs, but not instruments (yet). I want to encourage friends, schools, community bands, acquire used band instruments in good condition that can be donated to the Iraqi Ceremonial Band. There should be a way to make it tax deductible too.

It's hard to know what is next in my journey, and I'm trying to listen for clues. For now, I am making myself slow down a bit and enjoy my wonderful husband and all the blessings that surround us.

I can be reached at cheryl_john@bellsouth.net. For Wish You Were Here Inc. travel needs, I am only doing limited cruise requests for now, but will always keep that endeavor part-time.

We look forward to remaining in touch with you! Thanks again for all you've done to help me this year.

God Bless You,
Cheryl

Our neighbors had this sign up the day we arrived home from Ft. Benning (Good Friday). These folks are amazing.

Every home on both sides the street had a yellow ribbon on the mailbox! About 40 ribbons total.

Here's our mailbox and the Uncle Sams holding flags in our driveway.

I'm including this cherry tree because as some of you already know, John proposed to me under a cherry tree at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.  Now we have our very "own" tree in our yard!

Our church put up new signs before Easter and this Ribbon was beautiful too!

After our Easter service, we had brunch in Huntsville. Here is our Pastor, Patrick Cooley, and my Mother, Shirley Williams, who flew to Alabama the day before. On Monday, we began our roadtrip back to Maryland with a few stops along the way.

In Montgomery, we spent the day with Mrs. McAuley visiting some of the sites. This is one of her favorite Wisteria gardens.

We stopped at Calloway Gardens and Warm Springs, Georgia on the way to Ft. Benning. I spoke to a group of new ACORs there who are headed to Afghanistan and Iraq about the daily rigors of the job they'll be doing. It was strange to return there after outprocessing, but I volunteered to spend some time with them.

Outside of Atlanta, we stopped by the Hindu Temple (largest outside of India). We also visited the Cyclorama to see the Civil War Battle of Atlanta.

We drove to Norfolk, VA and visited the MacArthur Memorial.

This Armed Forces Memorial is one of the best we've ever encountered. Each bronze plate represents a letter blowing in the wind. The letters had been written to family members by military service members who served between the Revolutionary War to Desert Storm and didn't come home. (Unfortunately, there is no useful link I can include that is not copyrighted.) This is worth your visit.

Here is the USS Wisconsin. I will send this photo to some of my colleagues from the Wisconsin Army National Guard that I met in Baghdad!

I'd always wanted to take the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and we approached the Eastern Shore of VA/MD this way.

We discovered the Wallop's Island Visitor Center and had a wonderful rest stop there. Their new mission will include launches to resupply the International Space Station when the Shuttle retires.  Another worthwhile tour open to the public!

What we do for our loved ones. John wanted this picture!

We spent a couple of days at the Ocean. The waves provided me the best rest in over a year!

The three of us ordered wonderful cream of crab soup at this inlet restaurant (Harrison's). It was DELICIOUS!

This is a special location for our family.

I got to see 3 sunrises – each spectacular!

We bought a kite on a windy day, during National Kite month! This is a blue butterfly.

Each new day is a gift.

As we left the ocean, we stopped at a wonderful place called the Original Smith Island Cake Co. Two restaurants in Ocean City that we ate in had the Official State Dessert of Maryland on their menus. We really enjoyed some of their products with their coffee. You can order on-line too! For my Maryland friends, this company was invited to participate at the Preakness this year. Their business is just about a year old and they are doing very well.

Al Bundy, my first squad leader and retired First Sergeant of the 229th Army Band. It was wonderful visiting with him and other members of the unit. (See my last Baghdad Bulletin, which was dedicated to these guys.)

Jari Villaneuva, was there that day too. Jari, Director of the Maryland Defense Force Band, was a significant contributor to our CD, "Remembering Carlisle Barracks" and we hadn't seen each other in a couple of years. (He arranged one of the titles, and his Federal City Brass Band performed on four tracks.) Watch for his forthcoming CD featuring TAPS. We talked about the new project involving acquiring used instruments for the Iraqi Ceremonial Band in Baghdad. I'm calling that initiative "Musicians Helping Musicians."

We had the great joy of seeing my brother and his family for dinner. Heeeere's Fred! The manager of "Bahama Breezes" thanked me for my service and paid for my entrée....Another fun restaurant to recommend!

After we left my Mother in Baltimore, we made our way to Dover AFB by way of Aberdeen Proving Grounds. I saw some dear friends dating back from elementary/high school and caught up over a wonderful meal. In Dover, I wanted to introduce Fr. Tim (from the Chapel in the IZ, Baghdad) to John. We had a great visit. He is the only Catholic Chaplain at Dover and is quite busy. He'd been to Arlington Cemetery earlier in the day before we saw him.

We proceeded to Frederick, MD and Berkley Springs, WV to catch up with two very special families. Sadly, we never made it to PA, NJ, Camp LeJeune, Annapolis, or DC on this trip. But will be back later this year and won't be so rushed! As we traveled south to Knoxville, TN, for our final night on the road, the trees were spectacular, even though the pollen levels were near record-breaking!

To see the green hills were quite fantastic.

This cloud with the silver lining seemed to speak to me.

Here is our last photo together on the "roadtrip" that covered 2626 miles. John did an extraordinary job of driving through nine states and spoiling me rotten (!) One of my best friends referred to him as "your wonderful husband." She couldn't be more correct.