Catch Up

Things have been super busy around here lately. Last week, Luke and I went to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball (unfortunately not the one with JT in attendance...), and we had a great time! Luke's command is relatively small, so there were about 250 people there. The speaker was General Tryon, and I gotta tell you, I loved what he had to say. He commented on how the WWII generation has been called the "Greatest Generation," but he said that he considers this generation to be "The Most Important Generation." With all of the turmoil and unpredictability in the world right now, our generation has the opportunity to have a great impact on the world. Some may call me a pessimist for this, but I think I am just a realist. While I do believe his statements regarding this generation's opportunity for impact in the world, I am doubtful about this generation's willingness to make any sort of impact. With <1% of the nation's population having any sort of military experience, it seems that our nation has become completely apathetic regarding the job that our military is doing right now. And I think that is very sad. While I can't speak firsthand about the WWII generation, I have gathered from my grandparents and great-uncle that everyone was concerned and interested in the job of the military because every single person had someone they knew/loved in the military. Now we can always get into debates about the draft, but that isn't my point. My point is that their generation cared about the turmoil in the world because they were all involved. It's all too easy now to be uninvolved, and I truly believe that is only impacting our country and our world in negative ways.

On a lighter note... Over the weekend, Luke and I headed south for my sweet sweet nephew's 6th birthday party. It was seriously one of the most fun weekends we have had in a long time. It's amazing how quickly kids grow and develop in such small periods of time. We last saw my nephew at our wedding a little over 4 months ago, and he has since started Kindergarten - I was amazed by his vocabulary, his new personality features, his sense of humor, and his inquisitive nature (he kept asking me to define words I used that he didn't know - so cute!). We went to an arcade-type place for the party, and he had such a wonderful time. It really just warmed my heart to hear him laugh and be excited all day long. Leaving on Sunday was probably the hardest time I've ever had leaving my family. While it isn't easy to say goodbye to my parents and my sister, I know that they understand the process of goodbye, but I was so sad to tell my nephew goodbye. A 6 year old just doesn't understand why his aunt can't come to all of his hockey and soccer games or come over to play Legos anytime. On the drive home, I was thinking about all the things I'll miss out on as he grows up as a result of being far away, and I felt really discouraged. I tried to remind myself that making the most of the time I do have with him is the best that I can do, and I love my husband so I chose this life, and it helps a little, but let's be honest. Missing out on things with family sucks even when you're missing it because you're with a husband you love dearly. I don't have a neat little package to wrap that in, so I guess I'll just leave it at that.