Relativity

A strange weather pattern blew through central Iraq over the last two days which abruptly dropped the temperature from 120F to about 100F. It’s strange to say, but 100F feels absolutely cool. Walking to and from work in the morning and late evening it dips into the low 80sF. It feels absolutely pleasant and foreign given the last, oh, 100+ days of searing heat. Who would have thought not sweating was so nice?

There are other, subtle signs time is moving forward, that the Iraqi summer’s iron vice is slowly easing up: the sun is no longer so high in the sky, it's getting darker earlier. Today, in the late afternoon, I took a shower after coming back from the gym and actually had to turn on a little of the hot water in my shower (there is no “cold” water in summer here).

I am in a restless mood. I have less than thirty days left in Iraq and I’m finding it hard to concentrate at work. I have finished training a co-worker to take over my projects and feel confident she will do a fine job. At this point, I want to just turnover responsibility completely but it’s hard to let go with just under a month left here.

Meanwhile, I’m looking at the detritus, books, DVDs, and toiletries collecting in my trailer and thinking about how to purge everything and start packing for the trek home. It will involve stops in Baghdad (Camp Stryker), the dreaded Passenger Terminal at Baghdad International Airport, a week in Kuwait, a stop in Germany, the east coast of the U.S., a week in San Diego, and then home by late October. Nevertheless, the psychological barrier is the start of that journey, in less than month.

I remember a year ago thinking, well, I’ll have the entire month of September to spend time with my family before I would have to leave home in October. Now, I want that same fall month to speed by so I can start the trip home.

It’s all relative.