THE END OF “THE” Life!!!!!
That does it. The all uppercase and the extra exclamation points really drove it home. Now don’t worry. This is not the end of my life. I am not going all stupid “I am going to kill myself” on you. Come on, you know I am too damn cute for all of that. But it is the end of “The Life”
What the hell am I talking about? Well if you know me well you already know, but for those that don’t know me all that well…
Nope getting way to ahead of myself.
Okay so first some housekeeping of sorts. So how long has it been. Days? Weeks? Months?
Try like over a year. Yeah I think it has been that long. Now tell me, how have you done it? How have you gone on ever day without being able to read about all of my stupid crap. My great ramblings. My long speeches about “The Life”? Oh that’s right we all have Facebook and Plurk and E-mail. Okay you are forgiven for not freaking out.
So what have I been up to? Well a lot. Three trips home, twice to The Park. A trip out to Idaho and a trip to Phoenix. Tons of fun and exciting things and lots of pictures to go along with it all. And that kid. Yeah remember her. Sam I think is her name. Well she has been growing like freaking crazy.
She walks, she talks (kind of), She screams a TON, and she is a lot of fun. But really for now all of that will take a back seat. I promise I will come back to everything we have done at some point. Okay so I really don’t promise that, but I will do my best. Really I think about putting stuff down for you all, all the time, but that kid again. She really takes some time. Who knew that raising a child and trying to do it well would take so much energy?
So back to the topic at hand.
So the end as I was saying. The end I am talking about is “The Life In Tan And Green”. Yep it is all over, or it will be in just over a month. So as of the time that I am typing this, I have been doing this for 14 years, 4 months, and 24 days. That is a long damn time. Really, think about it. What were you doing 14 years ago? Do you even remember 14 years ago. Hell I hardly do. I never thought I would be doing this for so long. I joined the ARMY because I did not know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had no clue what I even wanted to do for the next month. I had no skills and no prospects for life. So I signed up. I am really glad I did. then 3.5 years later I was looking at getting out. But I still had no clue what the heck I wanted to be when I grew up. So I signed up again, and again, AND AGAIN! And now finally I know what I want to be when I grow up. Well at least I know what I want to do for the next 14 (maybe) years until I make my millions. So that is what I am doing. I am going to get out and go to school. And I am going to learn to be a Motorcycle Mechanic. That will be the next chapter. But again that will come later.
So what have I done over the past 14 + years? Where have I been?
I have lived in 6 States. South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Texas, California, and Washington. I have lived in 4 Countries. The USA, South Korea, Kuwait, and Iraq. I have spent short amounts of time in 2 other countries. Greece and Egypt. I have seen so many places and done so many things that I never would have been able to do without the ARMY. I helped fight a forest fire in Colorado. I touched the gates of Babylon, I have helped with flood relief in Crete, Greece. I have swam with dolphins and got stung by a jelly fish in the Suez Canal. I have run a half marathon in a 130 degree desert. I have seen life taken and given. I have seen men fight for people they will never meet, and die for their beliefs. I have seen a simple act turn into the miracle of life which has become the most important thing in the world to me. And none of this would have happened if I had not joined.
So I can say that I am very happy to have served. I am very proud that I have served. And given the opportunity to go back and do it all again, I would.
So here I am a simple Sergeant standing on what to me is the edge of life. Ready to jump. Let’s see how I land.
Back to “The Life”
