A spout of air

That's what I would have blown up at my bangs. If I had bangs. Which I don't. But if I did have bangs, I'd have blown a pout of air up at my bangs many times today.

In exasperaration.

It was just one of those days.

But firstly, the good news. It appears (and I use that word very loosely because after all, this is Turkey) that the strike by Turkish Airlines employees has been lifted. We aren't positive. But right now, all seems well for my flight in a few days. Praise the Lord on that one.

More good news. We had an impromptu cook-out with some of our friends here on Base this evening. Nearly all of our friends were able to come even though it was last minute. We had a wonderful time.

Those were the highlights.

And now ... on to the air blowing part.

JB's out-processing on Base has been wrought with so many frustrations, I could scream. Seriously. Scream. (And blow a spout of air up at my non-existent bangs too.) And if I feel like screaming, you can only imagine what JB feels like doing since he is the one that really has to do the out-processing.

Basically, he has to go to every single entity on Base and get "released" to move to the Azores. He has to go to the library and have them sign out stating he doesn't owe any more books. (They informed us that we were one of the largest utilizers of the Base library -- a huge compliment.) He had to sign out at the Vet. At The BX. Everywhere. All these different places have to give permission for him to leave. Why this can't be done electronically in the year 2012, I have no idea.

Because Scrubs broke a vent on a door in our house, we owed $80 to Housing. Even though we told them about this two months ago, it was yesterday that we got the bill. And today that he had to go to Finance and pay the bill to get a receipt to bring back to Housing so Housing could release him so we could move to the Azores.

JB got to Finance at 8:00am. They didn't open until 8:30am. Okay. That would work. I was due to meet Todd from Pati Pets (the off-Base American-run Vet) at 8:45am to pick up Scrubs and take him to his 9am vet appointment. Why me? Well ...

JB couldn't pick up Scrubs. He is not allowed to go off-Base in uniform. Pati Pets is not allowed to come on Base because they don't have the required clearance. This means that I had to go and meet them immediately outside the gate since I don't wear the aforementioned uniform.

8:40am. JB is supposed to meet me back at TLF. He's supposed to switch with me. Watch the kids while I jumped on the bike to pick up Scrubby. But he's not there. He calls.

Finance requires cash. There is no sign saying that Finance requires cash. But if JB is going to go to the money machine and get cash, he is not going to get back to TLF in time for me to ride my bike to the gate and pick up Scrubs.

Plan B goes into action. I put Abigail in her stroller. I put the boys in our borrowed wagon since their bikes got mailed out yesterday. I jog pushing the stroller and pulling the wagon, (with the boys asking, "Why are you running Mommy," repeatedly) to my friend Tina's house. I knock on the door. Didn't even call first. Could she watch 3 kids for just 10 minutes? She could. Could I borrow a bike to ride to the gate? I could. So I did.

I biked to the gate as fast as I could. I go through the exit security we must go through every time we leave the Base. (No idea why we have to get exit clearance, but we do.) I got there at 8:59am. Todd was there. But just barely. He had said that he was going to give it until 9:00am before he assumed we had miscommunicated and took Scrubs back to the kennel. Not good since I had a 9am appointment at the Vet to get Scrubs cleared to fly. With no cell phones, you don't really have any other options.

I paid Todd for Scrubs' four days with him (I had had to get Lira out of the money machine even though I knew JB had done it earlier since I wouldn't be able to get the needed Lira from JB), took his leash, and then biked, Scrubby running alongside me all the way around to the Base entrance. Back through security. This time in reverse. Back on the bike. Pedaled like crazy to the Vet. Only to find out that the road closure had moved since the day before. I would have to go around, two blocks, to get into the vet.

They had had to let someone go in front of me at the Vet. Understandable. When I finally left, it was nearing 10:30am. I went back to the hotel expecting to find my family there.

No JB. No kids.

Went to Tina's. The kids were still there. One and a half hours since dropping them off for a ten minute stay. Wonderful Tina. So understanding. What a friend.

JB would get back to the hotel about the same time as me. By the time he got the required cash for Finance, there was a long line. Oh and another thing they didn't have posted? Vendors could cut to the front of the line at any time between 8-10am. So every time JB got close to the front of the line, a Vendor came in to turn in their money and he was ousted back a spot in line.

Big sigh ...

The middle part of the day went okay. But then it went down hill again.

Elijah and Isaac were taking turns spinning each other on the swiveling desk chair we have in TLF. JB said they should stop. Isaac informed him that "Mommy said it was okay." And I had. There isn't much to do in our tiny TLF. Spinning in a swivel chair seemed harmless enough. John acquiesced.

A few seconds later, Isaac finished spinning Elijah. Elijah stood up. He was dizzy. He stumbled. He fell. He hit his head on the coffee table.

Hard.

I opened my arms to allow him to get a comforting hug. That's when I saw the blood ... basically pouring from the back of his head.

You think I deserved an "I told you so," for that one?

John told me to find a ride. I propped Abigail on my hip and went over to the next building where Stebbs and Sarahbee are residing, their cars having not shipped out yet. Most people who are going back to the States, have a second vehicle waiting for them back home, and thus, they can ship their car at the last minute.

Not the case for us. We've been carless for almost two months now.

Sarahbee took JB and Elijah up to the Clinic while I took Abigail and Elijah over to the park to let our bbq friends know that we'd another "grill-meister" until JB could return. He ended up returning in plenty of time to cook the hot dogs. It was after-hours at the Clinic so he put Elijah on his lap and promptly gave him two staples in his head to close the wound.

Peter was waiting in the hallway. He heard Elijah cry and cute little two-year-old that he is whispered, "I'm really worried."

But Elijah was fine. He showed up at the park and didn't even want to come see me and get a hug and a clean shirt. He just wanted to play. You'd never know he had cut open his head less than an hour before.

I'd like to summarize this post with something brilliant. But it's after 9pm. I'm tired. And tomorrow's a brand new day. Scrubs has been cleared to fly. We've paid our $80 for the broken door. And Elijah's wound is sutured nicely.

Nite!