On Saturday my nice neighbor Carl came to fix the trench that the plumbers made when they did all their work. As you know it was done in the middle of winter and even though the backhoe guy tried to cover it up best he could, it was still a mess. Carl spent a good 2 hours smoothing it over and adding some dirt where it had sunk. When he finished his wife came over to meet us. She is a very nice lady and we had a good visit. We talked about Terry leaving and she told me to call any time. Carl would help me with anything. I talked about being nervous about the first winter without him here and Carl said "Well at least you will never be snowed in". As much as I want to be on post, I appreciate the kindness of people that we really don't know very well.

My friends husband left yesterday and all evening she had people stopping by to offer help and bringing by food.

This is how we survive. It is in times of need that you find out how good most people truly are. And it is very important to have that support system. So all you civilians that want to help, just ask or even better just do something nice for someone you know that has a spouse deployed, because even though we will all say we can handle everything, having help is how we survive.

Here is Terry's address for Iraq. Please DO NOT put his rank. I am not sure how long it will take for the mail to start working, I would think a good month or so.

Clark, Terry
HHC 10th MTN DIV.
CP Victory, Iraq
APO AE 09342

April 27, 1991

Terry and I got Married 17 years ago today. Seems like only yesterday that we got married and loaded up with my cat Cleo and my parakeet Alex in the Ryder truck and headed to Fort Benning, GA. 9 states and one Foreign country later and we are still going strong. It has been a wonderful 17 years and we have 3 adorable children to show for it. 5 years ago Terry left for his 1st tour in Iraq on the 28th of April. At least this time I have him for a week after our Anniversary.

At the last minute Terry and I decided to go to he Deployment Ceremony. As we were walking up Terry noticed some guys and said look Secret Service. We knew General Cody was going to be there, but didn't think he needed Secret Service. As the Ceremony started we found out Governor Paterson was there. Wow!!!!

Everyone gave very short speeches and they were nice and to the point. It was a nice Ceremony.

We decided to have a clean up day and so we burned all the extra sticks and leaves. It was a good way to get the kids to help.

We went to visit some friends that are now stationed at West Point. We haven't seen them since we left Germany in June 2005. It is amazing how you can not talk to see people for awhile and then pick up right where you left off. They are wonderful folks and we had a wonderful visit with them.

For spring break we decided to go to NYC and visit my brother and then on the way back we stopped by West Point to visit with friends that we knew in Germany. We had a wonderful time in NYC walking and looking. We saw the Central Park zoo, small but nice then walked to the Natural History Museum thru a small part of the park. It is hard to believe how big Central park is. We then took the Subway and bus to his apartment in Queens, wow what a difference that was from being "in the city". He has a nice sized 2 bedroom apartment on a nice street. After resting there we headed to the subway, walking by the markets, seeing meat markets, fish markets and a wonderful little bakery where we stopped for some treats. (I would be so fat if I had a bakery like that around the corner) We took the Subway all the way to Chinatown where we walked around checking out all the stuff to buy and seeing all the people with "purses" for sale. A block or two over is Little Italy where we had a wonderful dinner outside. We then took a quick peek at the area near NYU, lots of people milling around.

To get to NYC we took a train from across the river from West Point. So Friday morning we walked around a bit and then off to Grand Central Station to catch the train back to West Point. At West Point we had a wonderful visit with our friends the Randalls and got to tour West Point. Very impressive.

Pictures and more stories to come later.

I never watch this show, but with all the other shows showing reruns Terry and I started to occasionally flip to it. When they picked the final 24 we were hooked and have enjoyed watching it most weeks. We were both huge fans of Michael Johns and to my huge surprise he was eliminated last night. I also must admit I have never "voted" for anyone on American Idol, so I guess I have to share the blame. Click once on the first button of the music thing at the top to pause it to watch this video.

Terry's upcoming deployment is affecting my family much more this time. I know it is because we are all still grieving. My family has had their share of stress this year and worrying about Terry and the kids and I is only adding to thier stress.

Even though I am sad that Terry is leaving and of course I am worried about him I also know he has to go. This is Terry's job, he is in the military, he made a choice over 20 years ago that he wanted to serve his country. I believe it is his turn, he has only been to Iraq one time and yes he was there for over a year at that time. We received word today that someone we knew in Germany left yesterday for his "THIRD" tour and he is slated to be gone 15 months. Since we met them in March of 2003 he has spent over 26 months in Iraq. So you will not hear me saying that I don't want Terry to go because it is not fair to the people who have already served so much time over there already.

Deployments are hard on everyone, I don't think anyone has it any easier than anyone else. We all have issues, problems and situations that make it difficult.

So even though it will be very sad and lonely for the next 15 months, the kids and I will be fine. We will have some bad days and we will have some very good days. The kids will grow and Terry will see and hear from them as much as I can possibly make it happen. Please don't worry about us we will be fine.

On a funny note Terry and I were talking about that we were glad they were going to reduce the number of troops and the length of the deployments, he then said, "knowing our luck they will do a big buildup in Afganistan" I said without missing a beat "well then I guess the Air Force and Navy better learn to patrol and learn some arabic" Okay Air Force and Navy friends please laugh now.....

I just knew Spring would be wonderful around here. We had another beautiful day. Terry and I did some shopping looking at Lowe's for a lawnmower that I can actually use (well Dylan and I). We found one we liked, but it isn't cheap. I just want one I can start and can get around the yard. We ate lunch at a little Mexican restaurant that doesn't even have a sign, just "Mexican Restaurant" painted on the front window. It wasn't too bad.

After lunch we went back on post and decided to take a walk on one of the many trails on Fort Drum. In case you don't know Fort Drum is heavily wooded with lots of streams and ponds. We went to the recreation area and looked around but I wasn't sure we were going to find a place to walk. Finally Terry spied a beaver pond and off we went. We ended up on a very good trail (in many places it still had snow on it) and went for a lovely walk, of course we cut it to close to the time when we were suppose to pick Jason up from school and had to hurry back. Really great when you have short legs and your hubby has long legs. I am very tired tonight and I have no doubt I will be very sore in the am.

It was a beautiful walk and I have to believe that this is what the Army wanted when they give soldiers time off before a deployment. We are spending quality time together and getting things done that need to be done.

We had our nicest day yet here in Upstate NY. We came home from Church and the boys and Terry worked outside in the yard. The boys jumped on the trampoline (owners left it) and we cleaned out the car. It was in the high 50's or maybe even 60 and I thought it felt 70+. Our nice neighbor that plowed alot of our snow this summer came over and talked to Terry a long time and told him his brother-in-law makes and sells pure Maple Syrup. Terry can't wait to go buy some now. He also volunteered to come smooth down the mess that the plumbers left when the dug the new line for the water. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it stayed this nice the whole month before Terry leaves....I will post pictures of our new no snow yard.

I have been thinking about Kirk alot this past week and today my Mom sent me another newspaper obituary. As I was reading it the tears were just streaming down my face. I love talking about him, I love when the kids bring his name up and I love looking back of the photos I have taken of him. I found this poem on line and again you just never know what tomorrow will bring.

If Tomorrow Never Comes
Author Unknown


If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly,
And pray the Lord your soul to keep.
If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss,
And call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
So I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,
I could spare an extra minute or two,
To stop and say "I love you,"
Instead of assuming you would know I do.

But just in case I might be wrong,
And today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you,
And I hope we never forget.

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
Young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
You get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
Why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
You'll surely regret the day.

That you didn't take that extra time
For a smile, a hug, or a kiss,
And you were too busy to grant someone
What turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,
And whisper in their ear,
That you love them very much, and
You'll always hold them dear.

Take time to say "I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "thank you" or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes,
You'll have no regrets about today.

I found out that Lifetime was replaying the series Army Wives and since I didn't watch it the first time around I thought I would watch it. I think I have watched 4 shows, and yes I am hooked and yes I cry. I know some people have said that it is too much drama, that that stuff really doesn't happen on Army post. Well I can verify alot of it does, people squabble, MP's get called to housing area's, spouses deploy, spouses get hurt. Just since being here in Drum the MP's had to shot someone in post housing, I have seen soldiers come home hurt, there is drama over housing and we have a unit deploying in a month. We do form friendships with perfect strangers just because our husbands are in the Army. Those strangers become very good friends when we are single parents and having a bad day. So I guess I will watch it when the new season comes out.

Be careful what you wish for. I was so thrilled when the snow started melting and we could see the ground, even though I knew mud would follow, but that is not all that happens when lots and lots and lots of snow melts. The water table rises, and when the water table rises, basements flood. Yes you know what I am getting at. I walked down to the basement to put some food in our freezer and guess what water everywhere. A good 2 inches or so. Only 2 weeks ago we had worked down there to organize some of the stuff. Thank goodness we did as only about four boxes were sitting in the water. I haven't had the courage to open them.
Of course Terry works in a vault and can't have his cell phone with him and half the time it doesn't work anyway. I didn't have an office number so I started calling around to see if anyone knew how I could leave a message. My wonderful FRG leaders husband was with her and gave me a number to someone that had a desk near Terry and was able to leave him a message.
Thank goodness we have a large shop vac. We were able to vacuum up most if not all of the water.

With alot of wiggling by Mom and a quick tug with Dad's pliers, the first tooth finally came out. He said it hurt, but I think he was more surprised. He has 3 more that are a little loose. Maybe we can get them out before Terry leaves.