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Celebrating Alabama style Nick Hartman The telephone rang, and we all ran for the living room. Dad, as usual, got there first. “Hello? Oh, hello, Doug. I did? That’s great! I’ll be ready to go in a few days, then. Okay. Talk to you later. Bye.” He hung up the phone, and turned to me. “That was Doug. He found out that I was selected to go to Alabama for some more flight training. Now, I’m going to earn my Warrant Officer Three rating.” “Cool,” I said. “Let’s go tell Mom and Caitlyn.” That phone call happened about a month before Christmas of 2000. Dad was to go back to Fort Rucker to take a few more flying lessons in order to earn his CW3 rank. He left the day after my sisters’ birthday in November, and wouldn’t be back until after my birthday in January. A week before Christmas, Mom and Dad settled the dispute over Christmas vacation. We would spend Christmas in Alabama with my Dad, instead of him flying home. We packed our clothes and Gameboys, and went to the airport to get our tickets to Alabama. Life was easy on the plane. You could sleep if you wanted to and play hand-held games when the flight wasn’t too bouncy. When we arrived in Alabama, I discovered that things weren’t as expensive as in California. I guess that living in Alabama wasn’t too bad after all. When Dad came to pick us up, it was cold and icy outside. We immediately put on our coats. The car was on the 5th floor of the parking garage. One the way up, Caitlyn and I were having a blast sliding on the ice, and Mom was talking to Dad. Dad mentioned that it was a two-hour drive back to Fort Rucker, so I took a little snooze on the way there. When we arrived at the dormitory that Dad was staying in for his training, he said that if you heard a knock on the door in the middle of the night, you were to get a bowl from the kitchen, fill it with dog food, and set it outside. Sure enough, I discovered that raccoons lived nearby. Dad had bought a Christmas tree before we arrived, and it was decorated with a lot of lights and a few ornaments that he had bought, and eventually, some that we made while we were there. A few presents were under the tree. We added more presents that we had brought with us to the pile, and went to bed. It was finally Christmas! I woke up at 3 a.m., but was too tired so I went back to sleep. When I woke again, it was noon and everyone else was awake. We had breakfast, opened presents, packed up some clothes and drove to Florida. During the next few days, we visited Daytona Beach, and walked on some of the finest sand in the world. Saw Fantasy of Flight, where we learned a little about the Wright brothers and W.W.II aircraft, the Kennedy Space Center, where you can see life-sized models of all of the U.S. spacecrafts, and the Astronaut Hall of Fame, where we learned what a G-Force really feels like. Finally, on New Year’s, we spent the night at a hotel. Dad and I went out to watch the fireworks while Mom and Caitlyn stayed at the hotel and watched them on television. On January 2nd, Dad gave me my birthday presents to take home with me to unwrap the next day. Then Dad said good-bye to us at the gate and Mom, Caitlyn and I went home. These were the events of the first time I ever spent Christmas away from home. I must be honest, and state that I had more fun celebrating Christmas away from home than I Lodinews Home | News | Sports
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