I blinked my eyes and stepped out of bed for the second time this morning- but the difference at this hour was that I now had the luxury of natural light peeking around the sun-blocking hotel curtains. I pad over to the wall-length window and look out at the activity unfolding below. The sun has just crawled above a horizon of sandy buildings that are dominated by a modestly superior minaret reaching highest skyward.

I notice the city tram rolling across its bridge, and instinctively my body tells me that I should be reaching for my camera. I want to capture this moment of significance- not for myself, but for a friend of mine who might want some photographic evidence of this space and time.

The bed on the other side of the hotel room is mussed bed and a mostly-consumed 1.5 liter bottle of mineral water is the only thing sitting on the nightstand. Vestiges of a recently departed resident of this fine city- one who most likely has left forever and now stands on the threshold of a new page in her life: a new set of orders, a new house, a happy reunion with her fiancé- all things that we as service members love to dream about when we feel our time is growing short.

I look down at my watch- 6:30AM. She’s probably sitting on the floor of the airport in familiar anticipation of another battery of daisy chain flights that may or may not get her to America with luggage in tow. Just an hour earlier, I was being bid goodbye as she assured my sleep-saturated brain that I too would soon be standing where she now stood: vacating a place that was strangely ingratiating, accommodating, and even from time to time inspiring. 

These moments of quiet observation are few and far between- and as I stand here alone in this anonymous hotel room- a physical representation of our human transition- I am sad, happy and perhaps even a bit anxious over my past, present and unknowable future- emotions that have all passed through me in exactly that order over the past three years. 

Maybe all humans experience this emotional transition as we make our way through the different stages of our lives- but for us, the Olmsted scholars of America’s multi-colored military, we really do leave this assignment with an ineffable appreciation for how significant this time out of uniform has been.

The future, like this day, is looking pretty bright.