First Flight - Again

I'll have to make this one short as I still have to finish my laundry and pack for my cross-country this weekend. 
I finally flew!  It wasn't just a backseat ride, I actually flew in the front seat, at the controls and did all kinds of maneuvers, aerobatics and landing pattern work that I remember from my student days.  It was awesome.
It was very much an instructor flight.  We briefed our flight and pretty much just hopped in and went, we were simply two Lieutenants going flying.  I did the preflight, jumped in the front and from that point everything became a weird mix of what I did in the simulator, what I remembered from being a student and the new perspectives I've gained from my 1,100 hours in the Hawkeye.
After I got it started up, I closed the canopy and even though it was clear, I felt like it clamped down tight over me.  My vision was somewhat restricted with the canopy bow in front of me, but to the sides, above and somewhat behind was totally clear... and coming from the Hawkeye, that was totally awesome.
I went through the procedures and got the plane out to the runway with little difficulty, I was really surprised at how easy it was.  Everything came back so quickly, my hands knew where to be and my fingers knew what buttons to push.  It just felt so comfortable, like getting back together with an old flame after several years apart.
We lined up on the runway, I ran up the engine and went through my spiel of final checks and released the brakes.  The plane leapt forward with an eagerness that even though I tried to anticipate still pinned me to the back of the seat.  My instructor sitting behind me in the rear cockpit will never know this, but I was grinning during the entire roll.
We got airborne and headed out to the area. I held my altitude, kept on my numbers and actually did better than I thought I would.  I flew over the familiar land and out into our working area.
We saw the brown streak from the Louisville Tornado still present like a scar on the ground.  I'm curious as to how long it'll be there.  It's still strange to look down at that from so far away.
However, there wasn't time or fuel for reflection so we rolled into our maneuver sequence. I did stalls, unusual attitudes and aerobatics.  I pulled Gs, did loops, half-cuban eights, split-s and Immelmans.  The sim helped a lot, but it was my experience and memory that kept my situational awareness high as I went through the procedures.
There was an awesome moment as I'm pulling through the vertical on a loop.  I became momentarily disoriented and then I remembered to look back.  I threw my head all the way back, as I was being crushed by the G-forces into the ejection seat and saw the horizon and the ground coming up above and behind me.  I used it to level my wings and continue the maneuver, but as I came around with the clouds by my feet, I remember having this brief, almost wordless feeling of a thought that was something to the effect of, "how is this my life?"
The landing pattern and the precautionary approach practice came back to me just as easily.  I'm not saying that I still don't have rust to shake off, I definitely do, but I felt pretty comfortable doing just about everything, so I have high hopes for my future here.
We finally stopped, packed up the jet, hopped out and debriefed.  I was a little sweaty, tired and exhilarated, but more than anything else I couldn't believe that we'd only been airborne for 1.2 hours.  I felt the same as if I'd just spent 3 hours actively flying the Hawkeye.  This plane makes you work, but it's good and I'm looking forward to many more exhausting hours before this tour is done.
New York tomorrow, I can't wait.