Human beings are hardwired to hope. We all hope for different things and plan for all the things we want out of life. We make those plans because we are hopeful that we don't get sick, that a tragic accident doesn't happen, that we don't lose our job, that after we go to school there is a good job waiting for us, that we find someone to love. If we didn't have hope, we wouldn't plan. Without hope, there would be bunches of uneducated people sitting around in their underwear, eating bacon, drinking beer and watching Jerry Springer.
But we don't. We plan for the best outcome in life because we are hopeful. Because dropping out of school, sitting around in your panties, eating bad food, drinking too early and watching trashy television, well, nothing good is going to come out of that picture.
Coupled with the hope and plans come countdowns. We all mark the time for different events, whether it be a holiday, an anniversary, when school gets out, the weekend or maybe until the end of a work day. In Afghanistan, there are typically two big countdowns:
1. When you go on your R&R's.
2. When you get on a plane for the last time out of here.
I'm on countdown #2. We work seven days a week, so the days blend together and it doesn't really matter what day of the week it is, but you have to watch the time slip by somehow. I'm not a sports fan, but every sport season's passing scratches more x's and o's off of the calendar. Basketball has finished and now it's started up again, baseball has come and gone - all good news for me. I was really looking forward to football season, because the ending of football season corresponds closely with my fly date. They're still playing that silly game and I'm still here. Each completed pass and each first down brings me closer to to the end game.
Then there's the moon. I watch the cycles of the moon a lot more intently now. I get up when it's dark, come home when it's dark, the moon cycles just tick that time off naturally. I'm a big waning crescent fan. I only have three more full moons left in Afghanistan, and I'll fly on the first day of a waxing crescent. Tick tock, tick tock.
I'm looking forward to, for the first time ever in my life - winter. It is already quite nippy here, in the mid 30's (0 - 3C) at night, getting up to the 50's (12 - 15C) in the day, and it's making that morning bike ride around the base a few degrees on the left side of brisk. I've got the winter kit and plan to continue riding until there's ice. There's that planning again, and the planning is always fueled by hope. Why am I looking forward to winter? Well, the Taliban have an annual spring offensive where they ramp up and attack more bases, explode more suicide vests and lob more rockets into all of the coalition bases. We get hit about once a week. Sometimes you hear the explosion, other times, Big Voice announces the impact, if you're lucky enough to already be in a hardened structure, you wait, if not, you get to hang out in a bunker with 20 or so of your closest friends until they call the all clear. Those rascally Taliban are fond of 0100 attacks during holidays. Spring has come and gone and we are in the midst of fall. Winter? They go back into the hole they came from during the winter and the attacks are far and few between so bring on the snow, and let the temperatures plunge while you're at it. I figure I can get a few more full night's sleep out of the season and put my electric blanket to good use to boot.
They asked me yesterday what the possibility of me extending another 4 months was, if there was anything they could do to get me to stay. Slim to none, was my response. I then leaned in and said very quietly, "And Slim has left town." I've spent enough time overseas; the end of my time here is nigh, the proverbial nose of the plane has dipped. Upon graduating high school, way back in once upon a time time, my mom said, "Time is the stuff life is made of. Don't waste it." While I don't consider my time here wasted, it's certainly high time to start spending that precious commodity differently. And because I'm always hopeful and am always planning, the app I use below is just one more way to watch the time slip by.
But we don't. We plan for the best outcome in life because we are hopeful. Because dropping out of school, sitting around in your panties, eating bad food, drinking too early and watching trashy television, well, nothing good is going to come out of that picture.
Coupled with the hope and plans come countdowns. We all mark the time for different events, whether it be a holiday, an anniversary, when school gets out, the weekend or maybe until the end of a work day. In Afghanistan, there are typically two big countdowns:
1. When you go on your R&R's.
2. When you get on a plane for the last time out of here.
I'm on countdown #2. We work seven days a week, so the days blend together and it doesn't really matter what day of the week it is, but you have to watch the time slip by somehow. I'm not a sports fan, but every sport season's passing scratches more x's and o's off of the calendar. Basketball has finished and now it's started up again, baseball has come and gone - all good news for me. I was really looking forward to football season, because the ending of football season corresponds closely with my fly date. They're still playing that silly game and I'm still here. Each completed pass and each first down brings me closer to to the end game.
Then there's the moon. I watch the cycles of the moon a lot more intently now. I get up when it's dark, come home when it's dark, the moon cycles just tick that time off naturally. I'm a big waning crescent fan. I only have three more full moons left in Afghanistan, and I'll fly on the first day of a waxing crescent. Tick tock, tick tock.
I'm looking forward to, for the first time ever in my life - winter. It is already quite nippy here, in the mid 30's (0 - 3C) at night, getting up to the 50's (12 - 15C) in the day, and it's making that morning bike ride around the base a few degrees on the left side of brisk. I've got the winter kit and plan to continue riding until there's ice. There's that planning again, and the planning is always fueled by hope. Why am I looking forward to winter? Well, the Taliban have an annual spring offensive where they ramp up and attack more bases, explode more suicide vests and lob more rockets into all of the coalition bases. We get hit about once a week. Sometimes you hear the explosion, other times, Big Voice announces the impact, if you're lucky enough to already be in a hardened structure, you wait, if not, you get to hang out in a bunker with 20 or so of your closest friends until they call the all clear. Those rascally Taliban are fond of 0100 attacks during holidays. Spring has come and gone and we are in the midst of fall. Winter? They go back into the hole they came from during the winter and the attacks are far and few between so bring on the snow, and let the temperatures plunge while you're at it. I figure I can get a few more full night's sleep out of the season and put my electric blanket to good use to boot.
They asked me yesterday what the possibility of me extending another 4 months was, if there was anything they could do to get me to stay. Slim to none, was my response. I then leaned in and said very quietly, "And Slim has left town." I've spent enough time overseas; the end of my time here is nigh, the proverbial nose of the plane has dipped. Upon graduating high school, way back in once upon a time time, my mom said, "Time is the stuff life is made of. Don't waste it." While I don't consider my time here wasted, it's certainly high time to start spending that precious commodity differently. And because I'm always hopeful and am always planning, the app I use below is just one more way to watch the time slip by.
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