Weekly

Oh dear, I am getting bad at this weekly updating thing. This week, though, I have a good excuse! I had my post all typed up and ready to go, and then wham. My laptop charger decided to short out, cause a giant spark, and scare me half to death. So, I've been waiting, laptop-less, to get my charger in the mail. Everything in that post now seems so outdated, and really, nothing out of the ordinary happened. I got sick of looking at the post, trying to decide how to spice things up, so I scratched it out and started over.

The last couple of weeks have been very, "normal"... at least in the TBS way. What once seemed unusual and hard to get used to, has now become the way of life. " The normal in our lives is, quite honestly, abnormality. Our life together is no longer the routine way that we used to live in Iowa- working during the day, supper together at 7:00, playing pool, watching The Office, going to bed, and doing whatever we pleased on the weekends. It's not Thursday suppers at Dave and Kay's with the whole family, or going to church at the same time every Sunday. Now, it's adjusting to the schedule of the Marines and making the most of every minute we get together. What does that look like? Well, in the past week (and a half, now), we have:

• Enjoyed 5 minutes together, in my car, in the parking lot on base, because Keagan's company got released late and he only had time for me to bring him supper and sleep in the barracks.
• Enjoyed a very quickly put together supper of brats, mac and cheese, and canned green beans, while watching Psych at 3 AM, because that's when Keagan got home, and he was hungry. 
• Enjoyed sitting next to each other all day on Sunday, even though Keagan was working on his orders for Field Exercises all day.
• Enjoyed meals that were made two days earlier, but due to unforeseen schedule changes, Keagan wasn't able to come home.
• Enjoyed a spontaneous hour or so walking around Fredericksburg on a Sunday.

If you see a pattern, our time together often centers around food. :) Honestly, I'm starting to not mind this "schedule" of ours so much. At first, it was really frustrating for me, being a schedule-junkie. I didn't like not knowing if Keagan would be home at 6, 7, 8, 9, or the next night. I didn't like making meals because we heard the guys would be coming home early, and then putting them in the fridge to reheat later when Keagan finally got news he could head home. At first, everything was really frustrating. Now, it's just an "oh well." The schedule does get very tiring and I don't like seeing Keagan so tired all the time, but I do like how hard he works, with minimal complaining. My respect for him has flown through the roof the past couple of months. Yes, I think we're both ready for TBS to be over and to move on to the next phase of training- one that applies more towards what Keagan will actually be doing and will hopefully be more organized, but we're trying to enjoy this part while we're here.

For me, I'm starting to come to grips with the insecurities and emotions that come with being home alone so often, without a real job or even solid plans for what's next for me. I plan to write more on this later, but I've been enjoying the little things that each day in this season of life brings. I've been learning to enjoy the power of "choosing" what to accomplish (I've never had this in my life before, at least to the same extent). I've been working on letting go of the guilt that I feel when I shouldn't. New things are in the works for me, and new things have begun. I've been able to start baby-sitting for another military spouse fairly regularly, which has been a blessing. I'm just trying to focus on the here and now and the blessings it brings.

We're working on the flexibility, adaptability, and perseverance...characteristics that the Marines are obviously trying to instill in us through how TBS is run. Welcome to the Marine Corps- Semper Gumby.

P.S. I promise to put up a post with pictures...soon.