Countdown to Plevna: 14 Days

Yesterday we spent our first Montana Valentines Day in Miles City by ourselves. We had an amazing lunch at the 600 Cafe, with the best apple pie either of us had ever tasted. I can't quite talk about the hot turkey sandwhich I had, that was covered in butter and gravy, yet. It's still too close to digestion. But we checked out the movie theater there. Every day of the week they play a movie at 6:30pm. Sometimes if it's a short movie, they will replay it at 9pm, and sometimes the movie will start at 5:30 instead of 6:30. But every day of the week they play a movie.

We also stopped in at a little bookstore. Stephan has the card with him, I'll edit this later to include the name of those nice folks. They have an open mic night every Friday at 8pm. And, as the owner said, "sometimes it's even good!" As we walked out of there, and down the one main street in Miles City, Stephan squeezed my hand and asked, "Have you ever had a Valentine's Day like this one before?" and I answered, "Baby, I've never had a Wednesday like this one before."

Before we left town we stopped at the Walmart to stock up on a few things we can't get in Baker, low-cal Apple Juice, swimming goggles, Dr. Pepper in cans, dog bones for the kids... We passed the card aisle and stopped briefly. We both picked out cute Valentine's Day cards and showed them to each other. We smiled, laughed, hugged, and put them back. It's so nice to share economic values with your partner.

AND (wow, I hope you haven't fallen asleep yet) Stephan received a package [finally] from his sister with all new scrubs! He was so excited, and so was I, and I think the other hospital staff was excited to see him in something other than the Bears Scrubs I bought him last Christmas. I think they were worried that he was a little loopy. But, Kathy, THANK YOU. Opening a box from home means a lot to Stephan, and I know it reminds him of a time when boxes and cards supplemented his once-a-month phone calls. He did get kinda quiet for a while, which I think means he misses his family. I don't want to be too much of a downer (thanks, Melanie), so I'll just say, thanks, again to everyone out there who we know is supporting us and loving us from so far away.