Well, I have been here in Boardman now for a little while...over a month now. I am missing home and these 12 hour days, 7 days a week have caused me to go insane. Kate has come to see me three times now...which is really nice. Mostly because I get to see and hang out with someone I know and love, but also because she takes care of things for me during the day that I cannot do, because of the hours that I am working. I start work at 6am, and then I rarely get home before 6:30pm...and in this small town, places are closed by 5pm. So...it is nice to have her come and hang out with me after I get off work.
Well, the weather here is not too bad, although the wind is starting to get a little annoying. It has rained and I have had nice weather here also...but that is usually coupled with 50mph winds! :) I think we have had one day here that was nice with no wind at all.
My job is really boring. I check people in all day, and then check them out when they leave the secure area, making sure that they do not have anything in their pockets that they shouldn't. Yeah...really interesting right? lol Although, it is not hard, your mind can get real numb, really quick. I am definitely looking forward to coming back home and hang out with friends and family again.
Ok...now to the point of this blog. In a little over 13 hours, I will be turning 30 years old! Yep...no more 20's...I will be into my 30's? "Am I that old?", I seem to ask myself. Not that 30 years old is OLD by any means...but it kind of feels that way when I do not remember turning 25...let alone 29!
As I look back, I see a lot of mistakes that I have made along the way, and I also see a lot of triumphs and success. Here are the things that I remember above all else over these last 30 years....starting at the beginning.
1) When I was two I broke my leg. I was in a body cast for a while...and even though I was two...I seem to remember a lot of that time of my life.
2) Getting lost for my first time in Disneyland. Yep....another memory that seems to stick with me really well. lol
3) One night, I remember my parents letting me stay up and watch a late movie after everyone else went to bed. I know...doesn't seem that cool....but I remember I watched it on my parents old black and white tv, and that made it all that much better.
4) Hanging out with all the family at BBQ's and playing a made up game we called "Chase." Yep...with ALL my cousins involved, back when we all lived in the same town. :) Good times.
5) Being taught a lesson from Mr. Eakin in the church I grew up in, but did not learn the lesson until I was in college. "All people are important, and the small(young) one's are special...treat everyone with respect. This is something that I have always carried with me through life. Thank you Mr. Eakin for teaching me how to treat others, by giving me a living example.
6) My dad taking me fishing, by ourselves at Suttle Lake. The amount of fish we caught, and the lack of fish everyone around us was catching.
7) The day I caught my dad praying with his eyes open by himself. When I asked him if I could talk to God too, he sat me up on the piled up railroad ties, and we just sat there and looked at the sky. I remember thinking that God was in the clouds right above us. With the faith of a child, I remember feeling a little bit of fear and wonder that God was up in the clouds, and my dad could hear Him, but I couldn't.
8) My first bb gun!! What little boy doesn't remember this!? Plus...I have both my eyes, so no...I did not shoot my eye out! :)
9) The day I found out I had a bone disease...and the places I went with my crutches...ie..Mexico, a couple beach trips, camping, and a few other places.
10) The day I joined the Air Force, and the look on my dads face...a look that I had never seen before, that of pride, yet pain.
11) My first time I got my name put on an F-16...another shot of pride.
12) Flying a fighter jet at over twice the speed of sound, and pulling 9.2 g's!!! No roller coaster ride will ever compare.
13) Seeing my daughter born, and holding her for the first time. Alyssa, I love you, and no one will ever take you from me. You are daddy's little girl, and will always be my Squirmy!! Reading books to her every night as she fell asleep. The feeling she gave me when she said her first word..."chicken." :)
14) Going through a divorce, where the family I thought I had was ripped apart. The pain after that. Being homeless for a couple months, and not having the heart to tell family.
15) Coming home after getting out of the Air Force.
16) The day Alyssa told me that I was just not her daddy, but that I was her Superman. I will never forget sitting outside Justin Packs apartment in the pool when she called. Friends all left and went somewhere...and I stayed and cried.
17) The time where I felt God had saved me...from a place that I would not have been able to recover from...the day I left working on wind turbines and I came HOME.
18) The day I saw Kate. The way with one look she was able to erase every bad feeling about love I had built up from my past.
19) The struggle to get her to be my girlfriend, and the emotional pain and sacrifice I felt when I told her that I WOULD just be her friend if that it what she needed. Then, her telling me later that she wants nothing more then to be my girlfriend. (of course the extreme relief that I didn't have to JUST be a friend) LOL
20) Sitting on Kate's porch, the night I knew I truly loved her with all my heart.
Well, that about sums my life up in the last 30 years. I am sure there are plenty more events I am going to think of after I close this out. But, I have to get to bed. I still have to be at work at 6, up by 4:30....so I had better get to bed. For those of you who have been there these past 30 years...thank you. For it is you who has helped create the man I am today...hahaha....it's all your fault if I turned out weird. LOL For those of you who have not been in my life long....I am looking forward to the upcoming thirty years. May God bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment