Life...

So much has gone on since I've last posted. First of all, I got screwed...MAJORLY! I fell victim to check fraud with one of my jobs. It was terrible and it put Bryan and I in a horrible spot financially and emotionally. We were both so stressed and it feels like it's been taking forever to get things back on track. I filed a police report and found out that another person here in Brighton was scammed the day before me! It still isn't much for the police to go on, so I'll just have to sit and wait and see if anything ever comes of it.

Bryan just recently turned 25 last week Thursday so we celebrated at home after he got off of work. We bought a little grill and some steaks and he made us dinner and then we watched a movie. He said he was looking forward to grilling, spending the day with his wife, and getting a discount on his insurance! Wow, he must be maturing in his older age ;)

He came home on Friday afternoon and told me he had a surprise for me. I was immediately a little worried since he usually doesn't do surprises. Lucky for me, my husband is amazing and gave me the best gift ever...my best friend!!! On Saturday morning a little after 9am he comes walking in the front door with Megan and Jeff following behind. I was standing in the kitchen doing the dishes in my pink bath robe. I was shocked and stunned and couldn't believe it!! I guess they had been planning this for the past 3 weeks. I can't begin to put into words how happy I was and just how much it meant for me to have her there. It'd been a little over 2 months since I last seen her. Let me just say 2 months is a VERY LONG TIME for me and her to be apart! It was very hard to let her go so shortly after she got here, but it was a great time nonetheless.

For the past 3 weeks or so I have been talking with Bryan about an option that I've been thinking about for the past 3 years. I had dismissed it so long ago because I didn't think that I would be able to do it. I didn't know if I could handle the distance or the physical requirements, but now that I've gone through leaving my friends and family and been without my husband for months at a time I'm starting to think that it's a real possibility. I'm talking about joining the military. Clearly I'm not jumping into this without thinking it completely through. I want to make sure that if I do this that I'd be doing it for all of the right reasons.

I've settled on the Navy as my branch of choice. I've watched more youtube videos, googled almost every piece of information on it that I can get ahold of, and talked to a few people who enlisted right after graduation from high school. I have a 4 year degree which means that I could enlist and go to officer candidate school and immediately start out with a pretty good pay grade and rank. It would help me immensely with paying for my student loans and the benefits are great. The bootcamp is shorter than the army or the marines. It still requires a trip to bootcamp for 9 weeks and at least 12 weeks or longer of A school (specialty training for your job in the navy). I'm not a personal fan of being away from my friends and family that much longer, but just like any other branch, the contracts are only 4 years long and the first half of your year is taken up with bootcamp and A school anyways. By the time I'd be done I'd be 26 or 27 and ready to settle down and start having kids. The deployments are 6 months long, so it wouldn't be too terrible. I could be stationed almost anywhere depending upon what I'd be doing.

The biggest thing I need is support. I can already see half of my family laughing at me for even thinking that I could do this. I'm not exactly the most in shape person or someone who has made it known that I'd been thinking about the military. Since Bryan has already gone through everything that I would be going through and so much more, he completely supports me and has agreed to relocate to where ever I get stationed. I guess it's his turn to be the civvie. Again, I'd miss a lot more birthdays and holidays, but it would be an amazing experience and it would provide me so many opportunities to continue my education and travel. I haven't talked to a recruiter yet because I'm only 95% sure that this is what I'm supposed to do and I don't want to go into this without absolute certainty. If there's one thing I've figured out in my life it's that I need and desire structure and certainty. I like having rules and guidelines to follow. Like I said, I just really need to know that my friends and family will be supportive of my decision. I think that's the little 5% that I'm missing. I guess it wouldn't really be too different if I decided to go to college for 4 years out of state or studying abroad. At this point, time will tell. Until I've made any more concrete decisions on the matter, I'm gonna end this ridiculously long blog. I love and miss you all!