I arrived back in the States late on Saturday night. By the time I got to bed at the hotel the Army has me staying in, it was almost midnight by the clock in the room.
That meant that I had gotten up to start my journey more than 26 hours earlier.
As I've mentioned often in this blog, I don't sleep in moving vehicles unless I'm driving. This trip was not much different. I'd been assigned a middle seat for the 8.5-hour transatlantic flight, four rows from the back of the very large plane.
By some grace or other, a married couple had the seats on either side of my assigned seat, so they offered me the aisle. Hooray!! (Thank you, God!) That at least meant that I could get up and stretch my legs whenever I needed to. On the flight back to Kuwait after my mid-tour leave this past January, I felt trapped in my seat for most of the flight by the very large and completely insensate Soldier in the seat between me and the aisle.
I don't think he'd have have awakened had I had a bullhorn up to his ear and sung a high "G" into it.
It was a delight to be met at the airport by my friend Holly, who's the daughter-in-law of my friend Hildie, whom I believe I've mentioned in this blog. We went out for dinner before I checked into the hotel. Lester, her husband, had scored a ticket to the playoffs, so he was off in another city. I'll see him this coming weekend.
I managed to sleep a fair amount yesterday, but even still, getting up this morning was very difficult. The good news is that I usually experience only a little jet lag when I'm flying east to west.
The bad news is that, as I grow older, my west-to-east jet lag gets more and more prolonged and pronounced.
Oh well, I'll cross that ocean when I come to it. For the time being, it's off to my Army course and the adventures waiting for me.
I'm really tired, but glad to be here. Hooray!
Blessings and peace to one and all,
Fr. Tim, SJ
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