Old Friends

Yesterday we made what is hopefully our final trip to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. I must say that I would highly recommend the hospital and its doctors to anyone who might be stationed here or at McGuire AFB. They are not only exceptionally capable but are also wonderful, kind people with hearts for children.

Garin had his surgical follow-up appointment and got the all-clear from his pediatric urologist. They want him to see a urologist again at age 13 to be instructed on how to perform a testicular self-exam because he will be at higher risk for cancer than the general population. They also suggest that he visit again at age 18 to discuss the fertility issues that can arise. Although either complication is unlikely, it will be good for him to know how to deal with them should they occur.

Karl has his handgun refresher course today and will be leaving on a mission tomorrow. He has been home for several weeks now due to the AFSO21 course he was coordinating, but now that it is over, he's back on the road. We've gotten spoiled and will certainly miss him while he's gone. He has a cold right now, and we're hoping he's feeling better before he leaves. Flying schedules can be grueling, especially for someone who is already feeling bad.

Isn't it nice to hear from someone you haven't talked to in years? Last August I saw the name of a friend from high school/college on classmates.com and sent him an email. I never heard anything and assumed it was no longer a good email address or something. Last night, Karl told me I had an email on his classmates.com account, so I came downstairs to see. I was so excited to get a response, and poor Karl had to listen to me go on and on about all these people he's never met while I sort through old pictures because for some reason I think he needs to see them all. He assured me that he enjoys listening to my stories and that he thinks it's cute that I'm so excited. I think he's just being nice, but I appreciate it. As much as I enjoy meeting new people and living in new places, I've never found it easy to forget the people who have been part of my life and often wonder how they are, what they're doing and if they're doing well.

We're supposed to reach 50 degrees today! It will be the first comfortable day we've seen in weeks. I doubt it will last long, but the groundhog did promise a quick end to winter this year.