Update

So I never finished the Cook visit week, but I will. Promise. It just seems like I have more time to write while...errrrr....at work...(don't tell anyone) than at home with my computer that has the pictures, which definitely MAKES the posts. Alas, no pictures, but I suppose our lives have been somewhat interesting lately, so I'll just talk about it and you can imagine our lives in your head.

We'll start with July 31st, since it was my b-day, and since it's the day that I started (life), we'll start there. (Such a good sentence.) Zac promised me he would finish packing before my birthday, and he did, so we were able to spend the whole day enjoying ourselves. Zac was such a great husband and brought me doughnuts and a caramel macchiato in bed. Then I got to see my whole family on Skype...I think they were having a birthday party for me...without me...in Katy. That was super fun, and I can't believe how much all those little nieces and nephews are getting! Please stop growing, niece and nephews, until I move back to the states...k thanks.

Then we headed off to lunch at one of my favorite places, (which will soon be featured WITH PICTURES in a Cook visit post) Transit Cafe. It's a little cafe right on the seawall with delicious food and drinks and a great view. We stuffed ourselves with cheese fondue, bellinis, teriyaki chicken naan pizza, open faced sandwiches, etc. YUM-O. After that, we checked out Chula-U, which I guess you could say is a cross between a country club pool, spa, and bath house. It had a couple of pools, a hot spring pool ("healing waters"), sauna, and public baths and more. We did not participate in the public baths...we're not that brave or Japanese yet. It was fun, but a little too crowded and crazy. The hot spring pool would be awesome in the winter. The regular pool had tons of kids crazing around, but when you put your head underwater there was some very relaxing Asian tunes playing underwater! So to make my underwater escape, I floated while Zac kept me from floating into other people. We also tried Dr. Fish, which is where you put your feet in a tub with a bunch of small fish and they eat the dead skin on your feet. It was crazy and ticklish. I'm glad I tried it, but I think I'll stick to conventional pedicures in the future. 

We were going to try a new place, Sam's by the Sea, a teppanyaki (or hibachi for your Americans) place for dinner. There are tons of "Sam's" restaurants on the island...kind of the Japanese equivalent of Landry's or Pappa's lines of restaurants. But we were still so stuffed from lunch we didn't want to go out for a big dinner. So we ate some cheesecake with our friends Jon and Alayna and ended up having a great, light sushi dinner at one of our faves, Delicious. (Really, the name of the restaurant is Delicious.)  I was glad that Zac got to have some sushi before he left, too, so it really worked out perfectly! Overall the day was relaxing and fun, and most importantly I got to spend some wonderful, last-minute, quality time with Zac.

We woke up nice and early the next day (4:15 am to be exact) to head off to the airport. Zac loaded up his 4 huge bags into my little Will (that's the make of my car, I didn't name it) and left behind apartment 306 for the Middle East. I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't emotional. But I tried my very best to put on my brave face as he left. You can't really prepare for how you will feel when you're saying goodbye for ~7 months, but we survived. I think it still hits me (and will continue to hit me) in waves. Our best way to deal with it, though, is to just live in the present and enjoy the life that we have because no amount of wishing or hoping will change anything!

An enormous blessing to me has been the amazing support system around me. Thoughts and prayers from the states mean so much, but it's the friends here that are physically with me to support and distract(!) me that really keep me going. The morning Zac left, two other girls went to brunch with me. It was perfect so I didn't start the whole deployment thing out sulking at home...just jumped in and got busy! We sat around, ate like crazy, and talked for almost 3 hours! Afterwards, we did a little grocery shopping, I did some other shopping, and one of them cooked dinner for us. It was so perfect, I hardly noticed Zac was gone!

Throughout the first week, I literally had something every night, whether a kind dinner invitation from a neighbor, or bible study, girls night, cook out, etc. It made the week fly by! I couldn't have imagined how much easier it all is with a couple of good buddies and lots-o-plans (oh, and a little wine splashed in there doesn't hurt either!)!

This week hasn't been bad...but perhaps a bit more emotional. I think when things around me are going good, it's easy to move through it, but when they're not, it magnifies the "missing him syndrome." Yesterday was one of those days - some "difficult" people at work and horrible weather because Okinawa was being side-swiped by a typhoon - just made for one of "those days." But I think that we all have "those days" and they are normal and you eat Ben and Jerry's & pizza and chat with a neighbor and move on tomorrow. And I'm ok with that.

So anyway, that's a little glimpse into life as of late. I've chosen to enjoy my married-bachelorette-dom and just keep on living...