That special wife of mine has done it again! I was planning on today being just another day over here at Salerno. Sure, 31 years ago today I joined the world as a newborn, but that was no cause for celebration today since I couldn't celebrate with my family....right? WRONG!!! I got greetings from everyone that I work with which I wasn't expecting. Then, to top it all off, I got called into the office and was wondering, "Now what is this all about". My friend Rick said, "I have to talk to you in private. Lets go somewhere quiet." I'm thinking to myself, "Now what in the world is this all about?" However, knowing Rick as well as I do, I decided that the serious look on his face must mean that this is really important. I followed him into the conference room. As soon as the door opened, I heard a loud "SURPRISE!!!!!!". There were "Happy Birthday" streamers, Happy Birthday plates/cups, cake, cards, balloons, a table cloth, chips, dips, the flavored crackers that I love, and just about everything a surprise birthday should have. They were even blowing the little things that make that funny noise and roll out at you....can't remember for the life of me what those are. Need-less-to-say, I was really astonished. I said, "Thank you all so much". SGT Ward informed me that my wife is the one that I need to thank. That really started to choke me up. I couldn't believe it because all of her emails kept saying that she was sorry that she couldn't make this birthday more special. Well honey, you were wrong. You made this one of the, if not the most memorable birthday I have ever had. Granted, nothing could be as good as being home with my family, but this one will go down in the books as one of the most special birthdays I've ever had. She even emailed me pictures of my birthday presents. I can't tell you how excited it made me and how surprised I was to see that this much though, this much love, compassion, and caring went into this special day for me. Oh....to explain a little further. My wife had contacted SGT Ward and arranged to mail her all of the birthday accessories. She even included a bunch of Betty Crocker microwave cakes since she didn't know if I would be able to get cake in any other way. My wife always sends my lunch on my birthday and she was saying how she was going to miss sending me lunch on my birthday. Well honey....you did one even better. Thank you so much!!!! Thought everyone else might like to hear this story and see just how creative, wonderful, and loving my wife truly is! I love you honey!
For those of you that may be wondering, there is a very good reason why I haven't posted in a while. I WAS AT HOME ON MY MID-TOUR R&R WITH MY FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a wonderful experience to see them all again. My wife and daughters were there to greet me at the airport. Each had some kind of "soldier dad"/"soldier husband" shirt on. We all had such a great time. I got back a couple of weeks ago but we have been really busy AND I forgot the password to the site. Luckily I had saved the email that had it...lol. Things are pretty much the same here. Its still hot, its still stinks, and its still a war zone. Things have been fairly busy the past couple of weeks. It comes in spurts. I must say that it is nice knowing that our time here is getting shorter and shorter. I can't wait to get back to my family. Thank you all for your words of kindness and your support. I wish there was more to say, but its basically the same old - same old here. Take Care!!!
