Sleepiness Is a Feeling, Right?

Seriously though, sleepiness is a feeling isn’t it? Like, you can “feel sleepy” can’t you? Well, if it’s not considered a feeling, my grade for this post probably won’t be considered passing. That being said, let me describe one of my past experiences to you, the homecoming of my brother from across the seas in Fallujah. This experience probably would have been filled with emotional and heartwarming moments and what not, if it wasn’t for the fact that insomnia can overpower human emotions.

This interesting story of my brother, David, and his return began with a simple occurrence, finding out when my brother’s return was. The date set for the trip back was tentative, but was set around the 2^nd weekend in May. However, any hopes of this date to be accurate were quickly crushed as a funny little string of news appeared. The contract between the Military forces and the airline company they had currently signed ended, this caused the airline to declare bankruptcy, which then resulted in the Military to refund the airlines due to some smaller font of the contract, as well as find a new airline. As poorly described as that was, I continue; the airline problem pretty much just caused the whole thing to be pushed back week…ish. I say weekish because my family nor I did not know when the new expected arrival was until the new day was announced Wednesday of the following week. Which then we were told it would be on Thursday, at around 9 PM. Not the most time to prepare, but my family thought we could pull it off. However, this thought ended up making my dad push the rest of the family to get ready up until about 1 AM getting ready. How I would regret missing out on that a good night sleep.

I woke up around 6 AM as I still had to go to school the next day, which I was okay with, I’d had shorter nights of sleep. After school, my dad was ready for an early start as it could be quite a long way to Jacksonville, NC, and it was around 4 PM already. On the other hand, neither my mom nor sister were ready, so my dad and I left by ourselves. Halfway to our destination, we received word that the expected arrival of the Battery was to be around 10 instead of 9, which was good as it gave us more time. However, at this time, I had started to feel the lack of sleep catch up to be as my father and I continued to travel the long road. It was around 9:30 when we finally arrived, which we then panicked briefly as we realized how short time had run. These thoughts were soon put to rest though as we heard from my mother that the estimated arrival had been pushed back yet again, this time to around 12 AM. Oh goodies, more time! Now my dad and I had some time to tour this city! After around 3 minutes, we finished. The city was no more than two parallel roads intersected by a perpendicular road. It seriously looked like this “=|=”. That was the entire city. There weren’t even any interesting stores. There was nothing at all. Nothing!

So after the disappointing sight-seeing, we decided to check into the hotel we would be staying at, which was a rather painless experience, a first for me, as usually checking into hotels seems to be a preview of the apocalypse. Then, we went to go see the “On-base Registration Visitor Station” due to the fact one needs to register in order to go on base grounds. Again, it was another painless trip. Unfortunately, one of my contacts seemed to shrivel up and die. I don’t know what really happened to it, or where it went, it just sort of disappeared. Oh well, it’s happened before. Then my father and I decided to get something to eat as we realized we haven’t eaten since lunch and it was approaching 11:30. Then we realized it was 11:30. So we ditched our plans of finding any restaurants to eat at and we continued towards my brother’s barracks. Then we realized we didn’t know where the barracks were.

This rather important detail seemed to elude us up until this very moment, and upon acknowledging it, we searched frantically for any sort of person, place, or thing that could help point us in the right direction. We then saw a MRX…or maybe it’s an MXR, or MCR? Whatever, I don’t remember what it’s called, but it’s pretty much the equivalent of an on base supermarket. And better yet, it was a place, which had people, who could tell us things that would point us in the right direction. Which they so kindly did. Also while we were there, we decided to stock up on the wholesome meal of some Fritos and Powerade.

After eating our amazing dinner, we set off to find the barracks, though this task was easier said than done. The base turned out to be a labyrinth composed of a mixture of roads that seemingly led to either nowhere, or where we started. Even with the directions, trying to find the barracks was becoming exceptionally difficult. On top of that, not having much sleep from the previous night before, and the long trip here was making me rather sleepy.

We finally found the barracks, which were appropriately decorated with banners and pennants etc. Although we did see a rather disappointing sight. Marines were already standing around as well with as loading trucks and other signs of an arrival. We looked at the clock and saw that it was 11:50, could it be possible that they were slightly early and my father and I had missed their entrance?

Of course not, Marines are lazy. Lazy as in the not showing up on time lazy, not the lazy lazy. The Marines that we saw were actually just a part of, I don’t really know actually, they were just sort of there. Anyways, they told us that the arrival wasn’t supposed to be till 4 AM. Awesome. Another 4 hours and I’m already exhausted. At least the extra time gave us some room to get something to eat, as well as a chance to get some sleep.

Again, the troublesome design of the base proved too much for my father and I as we were once again lost in the maze. Fortunately enough, we were able to spot the MCX (I googled it by the way, it is MCX, ‘Marine Corps Exchange’) and we were able to find the exit from there. Upon returning to the off base part of the city, we my father and I spotted a 24/7 Golden Corral. Not the best place to eat, but it was about the only place open, and it was right across the street from the hotel. So after eating, we went to our rooms in the hotel, unpacked, and fell asleep at 2:37 AM (we lost a lot of time getting when we got lost, and we also took a decent amount of time eating.) At 2:40 AM the hotel manage woke us up, apologized, and then told us they accidentally gave us a room that was already reserved, even though we also reserved a room, however the room next door was free. So instead of having the people who arrived at 2:40 have the room that was completely identical to the room that we were currently in, my father and I had to switch. So after repacking, switching rooms, and unpacking again, it was already 3:00, but we attempted to make the best of it as we slept for a solid 20 minutes. Then it was off to the base again. However, I realized something after I woke up, it seemed that now my remaining contact lens managed to fall out during my sleep, leaving me practically blind. To give a short description of what practically blind means, around 5 inches. This is going to be fun.

We now knew how to get there roughly, and we managed to do so without much hassle. Also, as we arrived, we saw a lot more people there, but not any Marines, which was a good sign. And thus the wait began. Everyone seemed very anxious about their loved ones returning, however I was guilty of being anxious for this to hurry up and end so I could get some sleep. I decided to past the time by listening to good ol’ classic “Can’t touch this” by MC Hammer. Don’t judge me. Back on topic, it was around 5 AM when everyone jumped at the sight of 4 18-wheelers. Wait. What the hell? Did they just pack the men in the back? That’s when most people realized that those trucks were just carrying the belongings. There were a few people however frantically waving at the truck till logic finally struck them. But at least seeing the trucks were a sign that they were coming. Soon. I hope. Then at around 5:30, the buses finally approached. However, they took the back road which seemingly appears from nowhere, which managed to surprise a decent amount of folks, except for the few people still thinking that their loved ones were shoved into the back of the trucks. Anyways, I finally got to see my brother after 7 months. And oh my, he had changed. Then I realized I was staring at the wrong person. Stupid eyesight. I had wondered why my brother had greeted me speaking fluent Spanish. So… Then began the long process of unpacking. Which took around an hour or so. Seriously. Why did it have to take so long? Then once that was finished, we all set out to the hotel, which now was ‘serving’ breakfast in the main lobby due to the fact that it was 7:30. I say ‘serving’ though loosely, it was more like they were offering McDonald’s breakfast menu, however you were the person who unwrapped the food and microwave it, removing any false hope that the food was at all natural, which you can sometimes acquire at the real place. Sometimes.

Anywho, after eating breakfast, I realized that the place also had a tea and coffee stand. Now I’m not much of a coffee drinker so I stuck with the tea. Tea with lots of sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. After finishing my herb-flavored sugar my dad and brother walked into the lobby looking for me as they were wondering where I was. Then they said that we were going to go to Golden Corral again. Well, I learned from Deadliest Catch that you can replace sleep with calories, so I decided to test if that was true. So off we went to eat which took again around an hour, and when we were back at the hotel it was around 9:30. At least I got to get some sleep finally…

At 9:40 there was a knocking on the door. I think I may have cried. I really, really thought I was going to get some sleep. At the door was the rest of my family, my mom and sister. Both of which stayed up late the night before, waiting for news of David’s return. However, they got like 2 hours of sleep, and they said they were tired, and wondered why we were the ones sleeping. The nerve, I tell you. Despite the lack of sleep, I had another cup of sugar and my third breakfast. As the day continued it seemed a bit surreal, as we met and visited some of David’s fellow Battery members and some other things, but nothing to interesting. Despite how non-interesting these things were though, they continued late until the night, until we finally retired at around 2 AM. Yes. After going for 44 hours, and only 5 hours of sleep the last time I rested, I finally got to sleep.

The rest of the visit consisted of more sleep. Not much more, but enough. Aided with my crackified tea, I was able to survive.

About this post: In retrospect, I see that this isn’t the best formatted post, or even a decent one for that matter. It also didn’t have too many feelings in it either. Oh well, it’s the first post and I tired. Tried* Ha. You get it? It’s funny.