Dave has been gone one month today. If you count a month as in from date to date rather than four weeks, which was actually a few days ago. Sunday, to be exact. Not that I'm counting or anything.. I still can't say when he'll be home of course, OPSEC & all. I think it's okay to say that our halfway night dinner is coming up. There are a lot of things you realize during a deployment, & the one that always hits me hardest is that even our worst day when we're together is better than my best day without him.
In happier news, I've gotten a few grades back. Call the dog tags chiche' if you will, but I'm telling you friend, they work! My math midterm was last Thursday. Chop had commandeered his daddy's tags & chain, so I found the single loose tag that's kept in my jewelry box & stashed it in the back pocket of my jeans. I was on the verge of hyperventilating the whole time I was taking the test. Math is not my strong suit. I kinda suck at it to be honest. I left knowing I'd completely bombed it. My professor emailed the class tonight to let us know he'd graded them & posted our scores. I thought I could check it out all by myself, but when the site pulled up, I seriously thought my heart might stop. I had to turn off the screen & call Jen to be "with" me. Because that makes total sense, rightttt? No. It turned out to be anxiety over nada - I got an 89! Whoo hoooo! Jen got so excited with me, both of us were screaming & I thought for sure she was about to go into labor. My research paper for philosophy almost drive me insane because I went back & forth over just the right topic for weeks & still ended up having to ask for an extension (although that was due to things unrelated to my procrastination) & wrote the entire thing the night before it was due. I got my grade back for that last night - 9 out of 10! I'm starting to see that I stress a lot over school stuff that I really shouldn't stress that much over. I spend too much time coming up with the perfect answer, or paper, or response, when yes, thought is required, but it's not something to completely wig out over.
My philosophy & psych classes will be over next weekend. So weird to think of how quickly the semester has passed & yet this patrol has gone by sooooo slow. I registered for next semester's classes this week. The next algebra, human biology, & medical terminology. I wish I could do more prereqs, but until I knock out the rest of my math prereqs, I can't take the other requirements - chemistry & such. Seems like this college gig may take a little longer than I'd thought..
We're making Thansgiving plans around here. It'll be our first Thanksgiving without Dave, but we're still doing it up. My dad has bought a smoker & we have BIG plans for it, involving a turkey & a ham. I've invited some fellow boat wives over so it should by a lively good time. Lotsss of food. Yum.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Happy Veterans Day
It's Veterans Day! Did you thank a vet today?
I come from a long line of military vets. My great grandfather came over from the Netherlands to fight for the US during WWII. My grandfather was in the Army, stationed in the Phillipines during the Korean war. My great uncle was on the USS Enterprise, & my uncle was in the Air Force. My dad was in the ANG during Vietnam. I'm the first female in my family to serve, which I did in the Coast Guard after 9/11, & I'm married to a Navy submariner. Yep.. That's a long line.
It was a pretty solemn day around here. We watched the memorial for the victims of the Ft. Hood yesterday, & the families of those at Ft. Lewis weighed heavy on my heart today. I try to take holidays like this to help Shelbye understand everything that's going on. She gets that her dad is gone & that it's just part of life, but she doesn't understand the real reasons behind it. She doesn't get that there's a war raging, or how many Americans are involved in it or have been lost to it. She really doesn't understand the events at Ft. Hood. She couldn't get why I was crying over people I've never met. Part of me wants to help her understand, but the larger part thinks it's best that she doesn't get it. Her life is affected enough by it all by losing her dad for six months out of the year; she should be shielded from the worst of it for as long as possible. So today's conversation basically consisted of explaining that our freedoms are protected by people like Dave who leave their families behind & make sacrifices so that they can keep us safe. I told her that the military is like a big family, & if someone dies, it doesn't matter if we actually knew them, it's still losing a part of our big military family.
So thank you, to those who have served & are serving now. Thank you to the wives of those who are away, those who are holding their breath wishing their deployment wouldn't come, & those who won't be coming home
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -- JFK
I come from a long line of military vets. My great grandfather came over from the Netherlands to fight for the US during WWII. My grandfather was in the Army, stationed in the Phillipines during the Korean war. My great uncle was on the USS Enterprise, & my uncle was in the Air Force. My dad was in the ANG during Vietnam. I'm the first female in my family to serve, which I did in the Coast Guard after 9/11, & I'm married to a Navy submariner. Yep.. That's a long line.
It was a pretty solemn day around here. We watched the memorial for the victims of the Ft. Hood yesterday, & the families of those at Ft. Lewis weighed heavy on my heart today. I try to take holidays like this to help Shelbye understand everything that's going on. She gets that her dad is gone & that it's just part of life, but she doesn't understand the real reasons behind it. She doesn't get that there's a war raging, or how many Americans are involved in it or have been lost to it. She really doesn't understand the events at Ft. Hood. She couldn't get why I was crying over people I've never met. Part of me wants to help her understand, but the larger part thinks it's best that she doesn't get it. Her life is affected enough by it all by losing her dad for six months out of the year; she should be shielded from the worst of it for as long as possible. So today's conversation basically consisted of explaining that our freedoms are protected by people like Dave who leave their families behind & make sacrifices so that they can keep us safe. I told her that the military is like a big family, & if someone dies, it doesn't matter if we actually knew them, it's still losing a part of our big military family.
So thank you, to those who have served & are serving now. Thank you to the wives of those who are away, those who are holding their breath wishing their deployment wouldn't come, & those who won't be coming home
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -- JFK
Friday, November 6, 2009
Ft. Hood
Please keep the families & those affected by the Fort Hood shooting yesterday in your thoughts & prayers. Another senseless act of violence. It saddens me to know that the soldiers were shot at the one place they could feel completely safe, & they will never feel safe again. Regardless of the shooter's motives, whether they were terror based or not, senseless is an understatement. There are so many other ways to make your political statement. Taking the lives of others, especially those you were trusted to protect, is incomprehensible.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween
I can't believe it's November already! Maybe that's partly because it was in the upper 80's on Halloween & today all of a sudden it's in the 60's. Not that I'm complaining, hoodie weather is the best! So Halloween has come & gone, Shelbye has a big stash of candy, & Chop is glad I'm not making him wear that costume anymore. Shelbye was a batterina, & Chase was a spider. Ohhhh the spidey cuteness! Other than Georgia losing to Florida (& the ensuing trash talk that comes from living so close to Jax), it was an awesome day. We hung out at a friend's house & trick or treated with her & her boys. Good times.
My English final came back & the dog tags worked! My final grade for the class is an A. I couldn't be happier. One class down, three to go. For this semester anyway. My math midterm is this week, & my two other classes will be over by Thanksgiving.
Today starts a new week, a much better week. A week that isn't filled with being anxious & stressed over things I can do nothing about. A week that's filled with counting blessing & not focusing on the things that are difficult. A week full of Halloween candy, pumpkin stuff, & Chop kisses. Last week was much rougher than I'd like to admit, but it's a new week, & that means seven days to do things better than I did last week, & that we're seven days closer to my love coming home. It's going to be a good week.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart’” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
My English final came back & the dog tags worked! My final grade for the class is an A. I couldn't be happier. One class down, three to go. For this semester anyway. My math midterm is this week, & my two other classes will be over by Thanksgiving.
Today starts a new week, a much better week. A week that isn't filled with being anxious & stressed over things I can do nothing about. A week that's filled with counting blessing & not focusing on the things that are difficult. A week full of Halloween candy, pumpkin stuff, & Chop kisses. Last week was much rougher than I'd like to admit, but it's a new week, & that means seven days to do things better than I did last week, & that we're seven days closer to my love coming home. It's going to be a good week.
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34).
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart’” (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
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