I'm actually back home now, on leave for about a week and a half, and heading down to Jax by the 22nd. On Thursday after lunch, I heard rumors circulating that I was on the outdoc list (opposite of indoc), and myself and some of my better friends that were originally gonna be stuck here started the outdoc process. I didn't want to post anything about it for two reasons: 1) I wasn't sure it would really happen 'till I was actually in the cab on the way to the airport; 2) I wanted to surprise some people here, since it was such a surprise to me to be coming home, really.

So I DID get to go to the Garlic Festival, and had a wonderful time there with the friends I go with every year. Sceauncia came all the way to Raleigh to pick me up and we had a nice couple-of-hours' drive home to catch up and shoot the breeze and oh-my-goodness-it's-a-conversation-IN-PERSON-with-someone-I've-known-more-than-a-few-weeks!

Of course, I had a couple of those with my mother and Mary and with Beth, Josh, and Kaly and with Jim when he came to MS, but here I was almost on home turf (and then, finally, there) and in her familiar Kia and on roads I drive all the time, and I'm directing her around (since she didn't make the Burg-to-Raleigh trip too often previously), and it was just fabulous.

Sunday, I went to River's Edge, the church I'd been going to since mostly leaving Grace. Only two people there (including Sceauncia) knew I was gonna be there, so it was fun to be a ghost-from-the-past, as it were, and to see most of the people that had become so close to me there. Tonight, I'll be going to the RE small group I used to go to, and maybe some of the people I missed on Sunday will be there. And on Sunday, I also got to hold a baby for the first time since before I left for bootcamp.. goodness, a HUGE baby! Owen and Grant (twin bouncing baby boys) are about two months old now, and their mommy was Ginormous when I left. They are both large, but Grant was about 14 lbs and much larger than the over-4-month-old baby girl that Alyssa and Joel had right before I left. (I forget exactly how to spell her name, but it's pronounced Kiera.. a name I love.) Grant fell asleep shortly after I stole him from one of the Mike's there, and although he was amazingly big and heavy, it was so wonderful and peaceful holding this tiny-fingered being in my arms. And a lot more peaceful once I sat down so that not all his weight was on my arms.

And then Monday I picked up the Suburu I'm borrowing from Sceaunce's Mike, since my Volvo's plate decals have somehow expired while I've been gone, and the taillight is still broken from that hit-and-run. The Suburu is a wagon and has been really fun and exciting to drive, since either I or it seems to be a magnet for near-collisions.. one very nice car almost pulling out of its driveway into me while I was on my way outta Mike's neighborhood, and another SUV-type fortunately missing when the traffic at a stoplight was backed up to the curve and there's no indicator of a red-light-ahead (that's one of the most dangerous intersections in town for that reason.. I'd forgotten that in my absence). Anyway, it's been nice driving by myself and being independent and being home. Everything's so familiar here. Although I did say a very thorough goodbye to the town as an entity before I left, if not to some of the people in it. I don't feel attached to this town anymore, despite feeling more at home than ever at River's Edge on Sunday.

So, I'm ready for Jacksonville. I'm glad that the government will take care of my move for me, so I've only just got a certain amount of work to do on my apartment during my stay, and then it'll all be packed up and moved for me.

Whether I keep my Volvo (which, if I do, I'll definitely be registering in FL where they're not commonwealthies) or get a different car, and whether I get a different car here or there if I decide not to keep the Volvo.. both of those remain to be decided. And whether I'll be able to live off-base or have to live in barracks or what has yet to be found out. But most other things are either decided or the natural flow by this point, so I'm really ready to have my life there.

And during my time home, I also need to do some work in the Recruiting station so that I can get less of my leave actually charged against my leave account. I'm glad they made that program up, 'cause it'll make it possible to have more leave later on.

So, I'm off to do that now.