Goodbyes

You looked the same this morning at 3 am as you did last night at 11 pm: better by inches in a marathon of miles.

I got the call just minutes after 5 pm on Thursday evening from a Senior Chief who's name I didn't hear -- call your Aunt Patti, there's a medical emergency. It took a lot of people a lot of effort to get me on a plane less than 24 hours later on a 20 hour flight departing Narita Japan to Washington Dulles to Oklahoma City. Shelia picked me up and by the time we made it to your room it was a little after 8pm on Thursday evening. I'm not sure how the math works out either, but I walked in to your room and the microcosm of nurses and doctors and machines and waiting.

I didn't recognize you. I accepted it on faith that Shelia had brought me to this room with Dad and Betty and Sandy, and that the woman lying on the bed was you. The respiratory failure, followed by cardiac failure, complicated by disseminated intravascular coagulation left you swollen to the point of bursting.

Your face looks much better today; the swelling has come down significantly and I can see your eyes and your chin now, underneath all of that bruising--the blacks and purples and reds and plums that over-saturate your skin. The respirator tube is held in place by tape across your jaw; it keeps your mouth slightly ajar. The drainage tube down your nasal passage is taped to your nose. But for these three days I held your hand, and I kissed your face, and I spoke in your ear of how, together we would get through.

You died today at 1:24 pm on a Sunday afternoon. I still held your hand as you struggled through your last breaths, fragile and broken, and I cried from the unassailable sorrow. And even though your spirit had left your body days ago, I don't want you to be gone. I want you to hold a grand baby some day, and a great grand baby, too.

Your life will be celebrated by the so many who have loved you. But I shall mourn between those fond memories.



I love you.

Please Pray with Us

My mother Martha Troxel is in need of your prayers. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you,
Jason and Lilah

The Eagle Has Landed

One week and one day ago, Lilah arrived in Japan. If you've wondered why I haven't posted a blog in a while, go back and read that first sentence again, and then think about it.


Okay, we're all back and on board, yes?

Things have been hectic, downright frantic even, at work. After five days I'd seen Lilah only 10 hours. We made up for that by spending all day Saturday together in Tokyo attending a Sumo match with some friends, Jeff Sauby and John Burton.
Lilah's first week wasn't all boredom and jet lag. She had the opportunity to attend the Area Orientation Brief & Inter-cultural Relations, a required course for all new arrivals. The week completes with a written driving test, which she passed. Tomorrow she will take her driving test and there after will be a driving member of the Japanese community. You can be scared now if you want.

Okay, it's not the greatest post in the world, but it'll have to tie you over; I'm heading back into the fray with the second week of PSNS on-site work review.

My Best Friend is a Moron

So I've been a terrible blogger; besides the obvious lack of posting, I've not even been polite enough to keep rigorous tabs on the blogs of my friends. Of course we're all busy. I know I'm busy: There's that whole transition out of one household into another, the wedding in Texas (pictures to follow when the wife's computer gets here), Mock Avail II with 30+ visitors from the States all demanding my time, and oh yeah, Lilah arrives today.

Well, she was supposed to arrive yesterday, and that's an entire ordeal that I wish she hadn't needed to put up with. Seems the AMC flights are much more conservative on when they'll fly in weather conditions, to the extremity of not flying at all if there is a Typhoon warning. Now, I'll be the first to admit, Typhoons and planes shouldn't mix, unless you're one of those crazy guys in a military plane with a flying saucer on top and it's your job to fly into the heart of the storm to have your story told on the Discovery Channel. That said, the Pacific Ocean is quite large. Japan is quite large; well, at least it's very long. And if there is a Typhoon in the area, it is quite possible to fly around it. When there's not even a Typhoon, only a chance... a warning of the potential for there to possibly be a maybe Typhoon... well, I'd expect you'd fly anyway. Not the AMC.

Nope. After requiring that Lilah arrive 6 hours prior to her 9 am departure (do the math and then figure in extra time to transport to the Airport from her SEATAC Hotel while managing the dog and her luggage.) ...after requiring Lilah to get there and wait around the airport untl they canceled the flight at T minus two hours, she then had to wait for another 4 hours to get her complimentary hotel room. All I can say is that she is a Saint, because I'd probably be in a straight jacket by now.

The best friend I'm referring to decided to get back with his ex with the three kids. I just don't get why he wants to throw his life away...

Sorry for the delay in posting. I'll promise to think about trying to post more often. With Pictures. Oh, and the picture above is from Charlie and Melinda's back yard! A giant of a spider that Melinda called a "Name Writer"; as big as this guy was he could have been called Sir, or at the very least Mister. I'm not sure that the perspective is such to show that this guy was the size of about 3 of my fingers. NOT that I got my hand close enough to verify that! I get the heebee geebees just thinking of how close I had to get to take this photo with my wife's camera. Click on the photo for the high rez version.

:j

All Said and Done

The packers and movers came through like locusts carrying paper and cardboard and tape. In three days these harbingers of life changing events wrapped, packed, and strapped into crates every item that we elected to maintain ownership of in our Japanese house hold.

Three days.

Of course, we did throw away a TON and a half of trash. Seriously, 3000 pounds of Troxel trash has been given final rites and laid to rest at the Bremerton Transfer Station. We also gave away about 12 car and truck loads to the Goodwill.

We expect to see our stuff around the middle of October. It will be like an early Christmas as we watch all these boxes unpacked.

The Last Pair of Johnston & Murphy's I'll Ever Own

These shoes were 10 months old when I finally had to accept that the "Great American Shoe Company" had sold me the equivalent of a Payless Shoe store reject. The split in the sole occurred within the first three months; the separation of the shoe from the sole began around month six.

These shoes were worn at best, every other or every third day, as I have a very favorite pair of brown Santonni's that I wear more frequently. By the way, the Santonni's still look brand new.

Good bye and good riddance Mr. Johnston and Mr. Murphy. Apparently, these shoes weren't made for walking.

Moving Part E, Subsection 1.6-54

I've been doing my best to cope with the reality of the moving process. I know that one would think this would be old-hat for someone who has actually been living in Japan for four months, but in reality the sight of everything boxed and bagged has been amazingly tumultuous. Perhaps it's the reality that there is no "home" to come back to anymore; all these years of traveling have always brought me back to Lilah and the elevated view of the Port Washington Narrows. And now tomorrow will bring my last official day as a home owner and my first official day as a landlord.

There is also the entire introspective process that has accompanied the sorting and sifting of a lifetime of junk carefully accumulated and stored until now. One might call it an archaeological process that has involved the unboxing of early primitive attempts at being me. There's stacks and stacks of Army photos, the facinating timelapsed photography of "the growing of the hair", the random writings of a would be poet, the primitive facial jewelry, the tight jeans, the loose jeans, the ripped jeans, the designer jeans... a veritable time-line in denim if you will.

There were boxes of books, and bills, and magazines, and college homework. Whatever possessed me to hold onto these things has been lost over the years between then and now. But the affect has been realized in the stark reality of leaving.

The Pups have handled the process fairly well. Calla and Chase have been poked, prodded, and cut. They've had blood drawn and important bits removed. And through it all, they've been absolutely the best. Here in the hotel room Calla is munching on some kibbles from her portable hiking food bowls while Chase is reveling in the enjoyment of a very rare instance of lying on a bed (hey, it's a hotel!). We've reconnoitered the champagne bucket to serve as their water bowl and their new international flight approved kennels are waiting for me to tuck the puppies in for the night. So goodnight all.

Lilah in Action

Since I've been back, I've had an opportunity to attend 3 of Lilah's soccer games, 2 with her Poulsbo team and 1 with her Pendergast team. The photos below are from her Poulsbo team, and while Lilah looks like every bit of Beckam's match, they lost this particular match. However, last night they rocked and brought home the gold with a 8 to 4 victory!

Of course, like any sports model, Lilah is making this stuff look much easier than it really is.

She got the mad skills.

And she even doubles as a fill-in goalie.

So, in all honesty, this is yet another one of those self-serving posts. It kind of displays my need for a new camera, it definitely displays my affection for my wife, and it certainly displays Lilah's affinity toward soccer. Does this appeal to the masses? Neh. But I'm okay with that.

Case of the Missing Prius

I've used Ebay for a number of years now. Not as a professional seller mind you, but to get rid of a few things here and there, to buy a hard to find such and such, what not. So, when I listed the Prius on Craigs List I didn't think much of it. And two days ago we sold it to one of the only two people who responded to the ad. A free ad, I might, umm... add.

So, we're packing. And we're packing... and packing. Today we finished our long term storage shipment. As Lilah said, everything that's left either goes with us or goes to the trash. A true en"lightening" experience; on Saturday when we made a dump run in our rented Uhaul, we disposed of a ton of trash... literally.

Anyway, not everything has been thrown away. Some of the cleaning turned up some long un-developed insta-matics. Enjoy these pieces of history--

Jason in JapanThe 1000 word version