Bling bling.
Back in town after about two weeks in Hutch. It was pretty cold outside, and pretty windy. At least there wasn't much wind when we went hunting in Wilmore. (Both for the temperature and scent pick up, lol) It was a fabulous two weeks, full of good food (and too much of it), good visits, and good everything else. Not to mention being able to see my friends. Plenty of errands for Mom, though, since Granny was in the hospital. I think Chris and I became best friends with the pharmacist at Dillons. Mom is moving to a new home which is significantly larger. That move will come around the beginning of January.
Now that the year is about to end I can't help but think about all that has happened the the past 300 and something days.
It was a strange year full of all sorts of crazy ups and downs, and sometimes just flat times which I think are worse.
It's amazing what you say you can or cannot do and what you actually accomplish can be so different. It's amazing that you don't realise that you learn who you are through other people, not just yourself. I told myself I couldn't go without Chris for so long, yet I did. I said I couldn't handle myself without hearing his voice every night, yet I did for months.
The biggest thing has been, of course, Chris and the Navy.
About halfway through the year Chris left for bootcamp. Two months of no contact with someone you are madly in love with isn't the easiest thing to do. You really learn to appreciate even the littlest, dumbest text messages when you can't even imagine where they are at.
Those were probably the busiest two months I ever had. I formulated the loose plan of my life. Not my schools or classes, or items of acquisition. After hours of thinking, I learned what I REALLY wanted out of life, and found a good policy to live by since life as I knew it was changing, and it is changing, and it will always be changing.
Graduation was great.
Several months of schooling for me and for Chris. Really, that was even more difficult. One of those "so close yet so far" ordeals. We could go weeks without a single phone call and that was a tough emotional roller coaster to ride. This is where I think I grew stronger as an individual. I learned to speak my mind better, learned to say no, and learned to let go of the people who had let me down... people I've known since high school. I stopped bending over backwards. Not saying I stopped being nice, just stopped being a push over. The biggest step in this was erasing the contacts from my phone. Symbolic of getting them out of my pocket for good perhaps.
After about seven months of minimal contact, Kansas trip. It was like time flew all of a sudden.
Now to the future.
A marriage awaits in March or April. (Mrs Carson sounds great to me. But that is a different post for a different day)
A deployment looms in June or July.
Am I ready for this?
You bet I am.
Things are great, and they're going to get even better. Even with the bumps ahead.
I'm stronger in December than I was in January, and I don't think I'm different. I act on what I think and that is just a lovely enhancement everyone should play with.