Matt Maupin

I spent a long time in Iraq, and now it’s tough for me to read the news some days. I still have loved ones and friends who are my military family over there. And so when I saw the headlines saying that an Ohio soldier’s remains were identified, it was one of those times when I couldn’t click on the link.

It’s for the same reason I only watch happy movies and TV shows right now, I guess. I’ve had a whole lot of negative going on, including “boyfriend in Iraq” stuff, so reading the news there can be pretty grim on a personal level.

So when I finally did click on the link and found that it was Matt Maupin’s remains, I rocked back on my heels.

You see, back in Iraq, I ran a Matt Maupin computer lab, so the troops could contact home. We had three of them on base at Anaconda, and they were the most popular places there. And they were all possible, because Matt’s parents donated the computers themselves.

That’s right. In the middle of worrying over their son who was missing in action, the Maupins pulled together nearly 90 desktop computers and monitors and shipped them to Iraq. And the troops used the hell out of those machines.

Every monitor displayed Matt’s picture on the backdrop. Every computer lab bore his name. Every soldier who logged on remembered “gone but not forgotten.”

I can’t imagine that will change, either.

Peace be with you, Matt Maupin, and with your family as well.

Drama Schrama

I know, I know. I haven’t written, again. I swear I’m going to get back into the habit of it, though, eventually. Maybe.

The thing is, about a month ago, I flew home to Texas for a quick vacation. That was great, and we had some big fun. I’d been struggling a little bit at work, due to some personality issues, and so going home was just the break I needed. Plus Mom and I went shopping for some wicked cool costumes for me, I got my hair done, and hugged on the nieces a bit. There’s never enough time with the nieces, unfortunately, because they’re as busy as I am.

After that weekend, I came back to work recharged and struggling a bit less. I know I’m no picnic to work with sometimes, but I also know I wasn’t the one initiating the problems. I certainly might have overreacted to them a bit, but not to the extremes I was accused of by the other parties. It was a vicious circle, but the circle was lessening because I realized the drama just wasn’t something I needed to engage in. I decided to set a goal to communicate less, because I have a wicked bad habit of explaining things to the death. It’s something that will help me here at work, and probably in life.

Anyway, that next week back at work was good, better than it had been, because the week before I left, I wasn’t sure I was coming back from Texas. It was as if there were big attitude changes from more than just me, though, and it made it easy to have fun. I don’t expect work to be fun constantly. That’s just not going to happen. But I don’t expect to be miserable either. Sure, I was tired of being on the phone, because I was conducting three to nine telephone interviews a day for potential summer staff, but that wasn’t misery. That was part of the dirty deeds which have to be done to get through camp.

So I interviewed a lot, and then we had a family weekend. Then I got the call in the early part of the week about Uncle Tim, and it was a scramble to get to Pittsburgh and back. When I came back on Saturday, we were in the middle of a family weekend, so I immediately went to work after the seven hour drive giving me a 17 hour day. And then, because I’m still a “new hire” and don’t have any vacation or sick time yet, I had to put in ten and twelve hour days Sunday through Wednesday. Because on Thursday, I was cutting out at lunch time to fly home for Easter.

But right before I left, there was an announcement made that my boss was leaving the camp. Not necessarily by choice, either, and that he’d be gone a week later. So sure, bosses come and go all the time, and it makes some chaos. In the camping industry, though, it’s a problem when the camp director is leaving two months before the summer camp staff start to arrive. It’s a problem when the summer camp staff expect to be working under the person who hires them, only to find the rug pulled out from under their feet before they arrive. So there was a ton of drama there, as we all rallied together and counseled them that they come to camp for the magic, not any one particular person.

There were a great many other mis-steps that happened along the way this past month. Some of them were huge, some were small. Every single one of them though, has brought me to the point where I committed to work through the summer, to make it the best possible summer here. And then I’ll re-evaluate the situation and see if being here is still a healthy thing for me.

For now though, I see a great summer ahead, for all the kids. A lot of work for myself, but nothing I can’t handle. Because the potential of this place is amazing. The potential in myself isn’t too bad, either.

In remembrance

I haven’t written in a while and I was going to be all over it today, as I had the day off. And then I got a phone call from home telling me that my favorite uncle passed away. So now I’m scrambling to clear my schedule and get to Pittsburgh tomorrow. It’s all worked out, though, and I’ll be there to say goodbye to Big Tim.

He was a great man. Life wasn’t always kind to him, and he didn’t always make the best choices back in the day, but he continued to grow, to improve and to correct his mistakes. I only knew him later in his life, after he got over the rocky years, and he was a great uncle to me.

When I was skydiving, he was thrilled, and would tell me about when he tested HALO rigs for the Army. He had a lot of broken bones back then, but it never stopped his love of skydiving.

When I went to Iraq and had some attitude problems come toward me from the troops and co-workers, he told me how to handle them. Usually with a straight forward “f-off” and then continuing with whatever task I was doing, now that I think about it. But having someone say that was a huge support.

When he’d visit Texas with my aunt, he’d dance with the dog teaching her to do a little shuffle step she’d only do with him. And he’d steal cigarette breaks out on the back porch, pretending to hide them from his wife, who pretended to not see what he was doing. His kids would do the same song and dance with my aunt, with everyone having fun pretending to not do or see what was going on.

Big Tim retired from teaching this winter, and left us suddenly, peacefully, last night. There was no sign anything was wrong, no indicator he was ill. The big man upstairs just decided he needed someone to argue politics with, though, and called him home to Heaven a bit earlier than we’d all have liked.

You will be missed Uncle Tim.

Love,
Keira