Day 177 - Christmas Eve On Base

Chris is walking around wearing a Santa hat. There are red and green chain-linked paper rings strewn across the lounge / smoking area. Max was at the market today shopping for tomorrow's feast. Christmas is definitely in effect at the All Hands base.

It never being a holiday I much enjoyed, for reasons I don't really know, Christmas has a way of making me sad. Today I feel that way. Part of it is complete fatigue, as I've gotten very little sleep the last few days. Part of it is the fact that three of my favorite people here left this morning - Leslie, Dani & Jessica. Jessica got here the same day I did - July 1st. Strange to see her go. Going to miss her laugh. She has a great one. Dani is a Colombian bundle of smiles and dancing and wild hair. Love her energy. Leslie, a beautiful Chinese girl from North Carolina and my BSF partner in crime, put up with more shenanigans from me than any one person should ever have to. Funny enough, it just made us closer. I don't think anyone else on base made me crack up as much as she did. I'll miss that.

Leslie on All Hands Prom Night once again having to deal with shenanigans from yours truly.

Again, this is all part of the way of life here - the comings and goings - but to lose all three at once, especially given Leslie and Jess helped me a ton with biosand filter fun, hurts. But hey, three weeks and I'll be following. Don't know what's next from there. I'm second-guessing whether London should be in my immediate future any more. Time and distance, doing what time and distance do, have taken what was once a very simple idea in my head and injected it with a hard dose of reality. And while my feelings for the person I'd be going to see there haven't changed, a more practical side of myself is beginning to tell the romantic in me to take a step back, as incredibly frustrating as that is. I'm not a practical man. I don't ever want to be. It's the safe route. I'd rather risk it.

So yes, Christmas. I wish all of those I love and have been loved by a beautiful one. Me? I'm on the hammock hunt come lunch time - sleep time - then James and the local guys have recruited me to be part of their party committee. They're throwin' a proper shindig tonight. The timing couldn't be better. I could use a cold beer or ten.