Things Are Looking Up!

Well, I didn’t go to the gym, but it wasn’t because I was feeling bad. It was because I was feeling good! A couple of guys from Texas or Oklahoma or somewhere like that cooked out tonight, and as soon as I walked past, they grabbed me and put a Cornish game hen on my plate. About the same time, I got a package from Emily and one from Max. Emily, thoughtful girl that she is, sent me those 90 calorie brownies and some peanut butter crackers. She also sent one of my favorite movies – Rio Bravo, with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Angie Dickinson, Ricky Nelson, and Walter Brennan. Guess what I’m going to be doing tomorrow (AFTER I go to the gym!)?

Emily also sent me three magazines and two of them are cooking magazines! I opened the first one and saw a brown sugar, pear, and pistachio cake. Guess what’s for dinner on Thanksgiving? I might fix a turkey and I might not.

The guys did my laundry today and I have clean sheets and clean washcloths and towels. That seems like such a little thing, but when pleasures are few and far between, clean sheets are just great!

And, finally, Ferocious went to the base today and brought me back a present. It is red and not white. I just don’t see how this day could get much better. What a difference 36 hours make!

Tomorrow is my day off, of course, and I will do the necessary things, but I think I will head over to the bazaar to see what the salesmen have to offer. When I was first in Kabul, at the bazaar there I bought a small rug to use outside my door so I could wipe off my feet before going inside. I couldn’t take it to Herat with me on the plane, so I left it with one of my training friends. Since then, he has been to another location and is now back in Kabul. He said he brought the rug, so when I head back to Kabul on my way home, I will stop and see that rug. I think it would be nice to have one here, so maybe the bazaar people will be willing to bargain for one. I have a little one, but it is barely large enough to hold a pair of my shoes – and I take them off immediately when I come inside; otherwise, the dust would collect so quickly that my room would be dirty all the time. I will appreciate a vacuum when I get home.

That’s really all I have to say tonight, other than I appreciate those of you who took the time to try to lift me from my doldrums the other day. It certainly helped, and I was humbled by the number of people who told me hello and that things would be better. And today, they are.