Mariah’s Reemergence

Today started off…ummm…more or less without us.  The phone rang at 265 Mologne at roughly 0915 hours and a drill sergeant (One of Mariah’s squad leaders) barked in my ear,

 “Mr Steinwinter!” 
  “who..wha..oh..umm..*yawn*..yes..oh…yes, sir?”
  “You and Cpt. Kochavi aren’t on leave, are you?”
  “no, sir, we are right here at the Mologne house”
  “You two are supposed to be at Formation across from bldg 14 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays if the Capt. has no other scheduled appointment!  She is able troop and formation is mandatory. You are her non-medical attendant and need to stay on top of this stuff”

…like I said, the day started without us, but luckily the army seems to recognize that brother Clay is not exactly hard-core army material and the sergeant left the fault with me and gave Mariah a gold-star anyway (probably for dealing with me for 26 years, ha!) 

We joined mom at her house in Bethesda for lunch, where Mariah took advantage of mom’s great orthopedic bed and napped hard.  She also fielded veterinary questions that came in via the phone from a friend and from our mom concerning our slowly aging maltese-mix dog, Willie.  This has been mostly a day of rest, which came after a weekend of travel for brother, and a Sunday at the ballet in Baltimore for sister.  We rejoin forces for the week, geared up with a standing divider left by dad to separate our beds for some semblance of privacy.  (This is great because Mariah has a habit of occasionally staring at me from her pillow three feet away from my own bed until I wake up and the first thing I see is her staring at me all creepy-like.  She finds this hilarious, and I find my heartbeat after about thirty seconds.  I am going to be the youngest man ever to go in to cardiac arrest just from waking in the am.)  Happy Holidays to everyone, and thank you all for the cards, the Greetings, the peaceful wishes, and always for all the love.

Love and Light,
Clay