In the months following the doctor's visit I began to slip into a deep depression. I stopped going out with my friends and the only communication I had with the outside world was at work, but even then I kept to myself barely speaking to anyone if at all and only interacted with other when I was forced to. With my social life nonexistent and locking myself away in my room I began to get lonely. Even though I felt depressed and lonely I refused to leave my room for anything other than my job and having to use the bathroom. I barely even ate and when I did it was only enough to keep myself from starving or becoming malnourished.
One day as I sat in my cold dark room zoning out as though I wasn't even there Tanner busted through my barracks room door. As he turned on the light I became disoriented and blinded by the sudden rush of bright light. He sounds very worried as he begins to yell out questions, as if we were standing at opposite ends of a very long hallway. In my disorientation I can barely understand what he is saying. After a minute or two he begins to calm down and speaks in a normal conversational tone. .
I remember being angered at his outburst and barely listening to half of what he said. By the time an hour or so passed he had finally convinced me to leave my sanctum of depression and loneliness. We went to his house had dinner and discussed why I was depressed and lonely. Although he kept convincing me to go out and do things with him, it wasn't until late October that I was able to shed my depressed and loneliness.
I may have left my depression and loneliness behind me, but excepting my situation meant I had another dilemma. What was I going to do after the Army? Was I to leave and return home to Texas or stay in Washington to be with my girlfriend? Tanner presented me with many ideas he had of things I could do in both states and how they would benefit me, but none of them really appealed to me.