Or California. And definitely not in Santa Cruz.

We talked to Nicole last night. She sounded blue, and as usual, tired. Putting the phone to Haylee’s ears so Nicole could talk to her dog brought on tears. Life for Nicole in Air Force tech school is physically hard, and intellectually unstimulating. Once she gets to her assignment at Minot AFB in North Dakota (!) she’ll be able to mix more with peers, but right now, life with 18 year olds is getting old.

A bright spot on her horizon is that Mary is driving Nicole’s car to Texas over spring break, and then flying home. Nicole is tired of walking. Last weekend she even rented a car to get some things done.

Tech training is over mid May, and we’re hoping she’ll be home for a couple of weeks before heading to ND. Her orders haven’t come through yet, so it could be delayed; it seems you just never really know with the military. And that includes not knowing what she’ll be doing once she does get there. There still is a chance of deployment to Iraq but Nicole thinks she is assigned to the group that will remain stateside. Our fingers are crossed.