I’ll be going to bed early tonight so I can get enough sleep to be ready for a 4 a.m. wake-up Saturday to take photos of the third annual Boston Marathon in Iraq. There are an expected 300-plus participants registered to race the 26.2-mile route, which will pass by the iconic Ziggurat of Ur temple near our base. It promises to be a great event, and I’m more than happy to be photographing it rather than running it. After it’s finished, I’ll be sure to provide a quick rundown (pun fully intended) of the event and post some photos.

Trip to Japan

In other news, I finally got confirmed dates for my “R&R” trip to Japan early next month. It’s going to take a lot of preparation and paperwork before everything gets squared away, but from there I’ll have 15 days of vacation time with Noriko, Rachel and my parents-in-law at their house in the Tsukui countryside.

I had to attend a mandatory briefing this afternoon with a large group of fellow soldiers who will be taking R&R around the same time as me. An Army chaplain was the first person to speak to us, and he told us our two-week reunions with our families might not be all hugs, kisses and carefree relaxation like we might be expecting. My first thought was, “Uhh ... yes it will. I’ll get to see my wife and daughter for the first time in nine months. What’s not to like?”

Then the chaplain started to explain himself further, saying our families have readjusted to life without us in the weeks and months since we’ve been gone. They’ve taken on new and different responsibilities in our absence and in some cases have had a tough time doing it. I’ve had the fortune of knowing Noriko and Rachel have been in the best of care since they boarded a plane to Japan and I headed to South Carolina last July. My in-laws are wonderful people, and I’m extremely thankful they agreed to take on the additional burden of two extra tenants – one of them an endlessly energetic little girl – living in their long-empty house for an indefinite amount of time.

As for Rachel, she just turned 4 years old and won’t understand any explanation my wife or I give her as to why her Dada has been gone for so long. However, the chaplain said children between the ages of 4 and 11 are old enough to remember their parents after an extended absence and will be, for the most part, extremely excited to see them.

By far, the biggest change I’ll have to adjust to when I first arrive is the fact that, since being in Japan for the last nine months, Rachel has become completely and exclusively fluent in Japanese. Before we left El Paso she was fairly proficient in both of her parents’ home languages (and a bit of Spanish), but not anymore. I’m not worried; she’s a sharp girl and I’m sure she’ll be able to pick English back up once we return to the U.S.

I can’t wait until R&R, and I’m sure we’ll all have a great time, but it was nice to be made aware of all the facts beforehand.