My Journey of Changing Me

So Not all of you know but some do - My Husband is now deployed to Afghanistan for a year. This was not a planned deployment - In fact he had transfer papers in to move to a unit on Ft Carson to help soldiers returning from the war zone to deal with their physical and mental roadblocks they were facing. But a phone call on Jan 7th 2010 changed all of that... He was informed that that weekend he needed to take a physical - well being as he is in good shape he asked why? Well apparently 3 E-7's that had been transferred into his Unit could not pass their physicals and therefore my husbands transfer was revoked and he was told to be ready to report Jan 18th (they gave us a week to go see his family) and then he left the State on Feb 2nd to head to training for 5 weeks.

Fast forward to March 8th and I am on my way to see my Hubby! I actually first went to visit a great friend of mine Amy in Rio Rancho NM on Sunday Night and then headed down to El Paso on Monday! The wonderful surprise was that though the guys were not s'posed to get released until midnight they actually got released early so I was able to go pick him up by 6pm and we basically had an extra evening together!

We started off at Whataburger - if you have ever had one.. you know why I was so excited to get one! I had not had a Whataburger in 20 years! After dinner we went across the street to the Dollar General and got a few snacks and some sleeping pills lol Back to the Hotel to cuddle and enjoy times together!

Tuesday - We went up to Ft Bliss and ate in the Food Court and then shopped in the PX and looked around the vendors (I had several people tell me I should go down there to sell my Italian Charms.. hmmm) After that was just driving around the post and checking out different places including the Museum - Pictures included :)

These first 3 are in the parkinglot in front of the museum...


After the museum we went back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner - we went to Shoguns Japanese .. WOW It was good! It is the type of Restaurant where they cook right in front of you! We were at a table with another military couple their lil girl and 3 business men - 1 was the Regional Manager .. we all chatted and drank Sake and were enjoying our dinner .. At the end the RM from Napa Valley PAID for our dinner! I couldnt believe it - very unnecessary - but very appreciated! He even ordered us some white fish/ Butter-fish sushi that just melted in your mouth! I must admit I was a bit tipsy after dinner haha we drove around town looking for a place to stop but since we didnt know where we were going we ended up just driving back to the hotel lol Unfortunately after we got back home i ended up getting an excruciating headache blech!

Wednesday - we went out to lunch at Furrs Cafeteria and then browsed around the complex and shopped in a few stores. We then took a drive around town and learned that Ft Bliss has a HUGE new training area - in fact as we left the area it said "Now leaving Ft Bliss Reservation" The military installation is really growing! Dinner was Fudruckers .. if you have never eaten there the portions are HUGE!!!! unfortunately halfway through dinner the damn Migraine came back :( So we went back to the hotel and just spent time together and hubby rubbed my back trying to help me get rid of the headache - in the end he had to go find meds and eventually it went away (Yeah!)

Thursday - ok so for the life of me I cannot remember what we had for lunch lol But Dinner was Olive Garden - one of our Fav places to eat :) The day was pretty lazy and we just spent time together!

Friday - Well we thought this would be our last day together - we went to Chili's for lunch - silly pics below

For dinner we had heard about this lil Fish N Chips place so we went there - it was very good in fact - it was called Tug Boats! After dinner we went back to post and Will picked up the last few things he needed from the PX .. we then went back to the hotel and Will took 1 last shower and packed all of his things and then we started on the 90 min drive out to his camp.

It was hard to say goodbye and drive back to the hotel but we do what we must do - I was holding out hope that we would get to steal some time away .. even if it was just me driving all the way back out to his camp and having dinner together Sat .. so I sat around the hotel all day and relaxed and then to my surprise I get a call at 3pm asking if i can be there by 4 .. I had just gotten out of the shower so I rushed to get ready and went and picked him and another soldier up. Well apparently the 1st Sgt found out that myself and the other wife had stayed in town and sent the guys on a "secret mission" lol so we got one last night together!

Well I had looked around to see what was going on in town for the heck of it and found a Ghost Tour! It was a lot of fun! Here are a few pics ..

This is where the tour started .. well the very beginning was in a lil courtyard in front of the library which is actually the location of the 1st ever graveyard in El Paso! The headstones were moved.. but not the bodies! The 2nd Photo used to be a very elegant hotel and Liz Taylor once rented the entire top floor for a month!


In this Photo we have a clock that has never stopped working! it has been around since the 1800's!


This is the Group that took us on this amazing tour http://www.ghosts915.com/..
Downtown's San Jacinto Plaza was home to alligators from 1883 to the 1960s. In the old days drunks would catch the gators take them back to the saloon and then release them in the AM - they werent sure if the gators could handle the cold nights! Today, there is a very large commemorative statue of the beloved gators at the plaza.