The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[2Jedismom]

Good morning, Ksen!

I love getting his updates...he's the gabbiest chaplain I've ever dealt with! The first one I dealt with in Kosovo was pretty gabby, but he didn't stay long enough for me to get to know him. The second one never wrote. ( sent care packages with Patriciaruth...about one a month, there for a while.)

Now this guy just cracks me up!

[2Jedismom]

Don't feel blue! We're all happy to see ya!

[2Jedismom]

Sounds like maybe we should do another snack package sometime soon? Sounds like those were a BIG hit!

Yep, I knew it would be. I saved it for last of the three care packages.

When does The Two Towers come out? We'll need to make sure they get a copy of even the theatrical release. Suzi pointed out to me that there may actually be guys over there that never got to see it, because of their deployment.

[Corin Stormhands]

I'm not really blue. I just want to be somewhere else. Doing something else.

Funny, when our new boss got here he said "I want you to feel like you're doing something, not just that you have something to do..."

I do things. I complete tasks. I do more things. But it would hardly be noticed if I didn't do them. Not trying to be a downer. Just part of this whole self examination process I've been going through. All of the skill and gift and life assessments I've ever done show that I am very driven when I have a purpose, a cause to work for. I just don't have that here.

I know I can't re-write the past, but I can affect the future. And I know there are things I must accomplish to get to a position that is more meaningful. Trouble is, I want change now...and that's just not going to happen.

BTW, I'll be mailing something out to you later today.

[2Jedismom]

I know what you mean, I think. Perhaps it has something to do with being in our 40s now?

I have things I want to do and the Lord just says "Yes, but not now...wait." I want to do THIS, but the time isn't right. I'm mom now and need to stick with that. But I feel definitly called and there will be time.

[Wneighbor]

Just put my first atomic fireball in my mouth this morning. It goes with the first cup of coffee. Tell you what, I believe I'll just step up to the plate and volunteer to keep the Renegade Chaplain supplied in Fireballs. It seems that he likes them as much and my friends and I do.

Morning everyone! Time for me to go to class.

What am I going to torture students with today????????

[Corin Stormhands]

Perhaps it has something to do with being in our 40s now?

Well, I've been in my 40s a bit longer.

I came to the realization several years back that I don't need to do anything on a grand scale. But I want to feel like I'm accomplishing something. I just see what I'm doing now as absolutely worthless bureaucracy.

Still, it allows me to do some things I really want to do, like spending time with my boys and being in our church Music and Fine Arts programs.

I think the bottom line is that it bugs me because there are so many thing I could be doing right now that would make a difference. But I have to be here.

[Wneighbor]

Wow 2J, Myranda has felt that call too. Ever since those earthquakes in Turkey a few years ago she's said that someday she will be doing that.

Confession - I have felt a call to minister to women in Afghanistan for about 10 years now. So, this deal with the 82nd really sings in my soul.

[Overtaxed]

Good Morning!

It'll be in the 80's today with thunderstorms this evening.

The "QA Lady" is auditing my rice stuff today so I have limited FReep opportunities.

[2Jedismom]

I've noticed that the Hole Dwellers are all very motivated people. Just another reason the Hole is such a great place on Free Republic. I wonder if Jim Robinson has any idea what a jewel he's got here with the Hobbit Hole! This is the best place on the internet in my opinion!

Good morning OT!!

[Sam Cree]

"Perhaps it has something to do with being in our 40s now?"

Seems awfully young. Just kidding.

It's true, at a certain age, the idea of accomplishing something to look back on later suddenly becomes more important. I would go so far as to say that doing so is a basic human requirement for being at some sort of internal peace.

But being with your kids and doing the best for them is the first, and probably the most important, accomplishment IMO. And you guys are good at that.

Still, now that my kids are pretty well grown, and away, the idea of being a decent artist has suddenly grown very important to me. I know, what have I been smoking?

Still, I have figured out that learning to draw is not something that I will suddenly just "master," it's something that I'll be learning how to do for the rest of my life.

There must be a lesson for me somewhere in all that aimless rambling ;-)

[2Jedismom]

Yes! That's just exactly what I was trying to say to Corin. Even though I've only been 40 a few weeks, I still have been looking forward past this phase of my life to see what I will be accomplishing after it.

I'm a nurse. I like the idea of being a nurse, but I hate the actual job. When I worked in the hospital, all of my training was irrelevant, I was nothing more than a waitress most of the time that patients often felt should be striving for a tip. I was cowed by domineering "powermonger" women managers.

When I saw that picture of that nurse in the Desert Devil Dispatch (did you see that, where she was holding up the injured soldier's hand?) I thought, "Now there's a nurse that's accomplishing something!"

I can do that, perhaps not in that situation, but in the disaster relief field!

[SuziQ]

I think the bottom line is that it bugs me because there are so many thing I could be doing right now that would make a difference. But I have to be here.

Has it ever occurred to you , Corin, that being there for your boys is EXACTLY the thing that you need to be doing? Talk about changing the world! Giving those boys yourself during this time in their lives is a precious gift! It is something they both will treasure; yes, even Jr.!

[Corin Stormhands]

There must be a lesson for me somewhere in all that aimless rambling ;-)

I just hope the lesson isn't that we're all worthless until we're as old as Sam! ;-)

I do actually have a lot going the right way. I hope to get into a graduate program in the fall. The weight loss (currently stuck in neutral at the moment) is a good thing. And we're getting things taken care of around the house.

I'm just whining about the day to day grind. And I just need to be patient until some of those other things kick in.

[Sam Cree]

My Mom always said that bringing the next generation into the world, and then being their for them, so they would be there for yet the next generation, was the most important thing in life.

I've always thought she was right.

[2Jedismom]

OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (AFPN) -- Capt. Kristen McCabe holds a soldier's hand and talks to him during his flight to Germany. The special forces soldier was seriously injured in an ambush in southern Afghanistan recently. McCabe is a Critical Care Aeromedical Transport Team nurse with the 438th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Keith Kluwe)

[Sam Cree]

Being an RN is cool. Do you guys really keep the bedpans in the refrigerator?

Although these days I bet they aren't made of steel anymore, so perhaps they wouldn't be so cold.

[Sam Cree]

Yes, I remember the picture.

It is inspiring, but it's also inspiring hearing about the Jedis and their Mom.

A nurse can do alot, it's true.

[2Jedismom]

To the layperson, this nurse is holding his hand. Actually, I suspect she is helping him keep it elevated to reduce swelling and bleeding. The bandage is soaked with blood underneath the layers of gauze.

He also has a nasogastric tube. This is one seriously injured soldier.

This nurse is my hero.

You can see a higher res version of the photo here...

http://www.af.mil/photos/images/030410-F-0000C-002.jpg

[2Jedismom]

LOL!! No, we don't keep them in the fridge any more...not as effective now that they are plastic.

But we do keep the suppositories in the fridge!