Many New Beginnings are on the horizon for our family. Many changes. Many goals have or will be met in the coming months. And quite frankly, while I'm glad the goals have been or soon will be met, I find myself having to resolve myself to the fact that obtaining them somehow makes me sad. I am glad for the accomplishments, but sad that the journey is coming to an end. It's like reading a really, really good book and realizing you have one page left until the end, and crying because you don't want it to end!! Does anyone else feel that way?!!?
The biggest goals that are being met both occur within days of each other....
Ashlyn will graduate from Fort Knox High School
David is retiring from 23+years of Active Duty Service with the USArmy
Exciting...yes! Joyful...yes! Proud...yes!
Sad...YES!!!
And quite frankly, this person is having a hard time with it all!!
I am super excited for Ashlyn and the goals she has reached and the new life that awaits her at Florida Southern College. But, I like her. I like being her mom. I like being around her. I have said many times before, if I weren't her mom, I'd want to be her friend. And I think we would be best friends. Goofy, silly, loving, connected, sharing, heart, real friends. We have been through things together that have bound us as mother and daughter, as sisters in Christ, that most people simply do not endure with each other. And to not see her everyday is going to be hard...for the both of us. It will make the bond stronger. But it is going to be hard.
Retiring from the Army. Funny. If you look back at postings a mere 2 years ago, things were much different.
I was going off the deep end because I had thought we were retiring at that point and my David had decided otherwise. I was so ready!!! So excited to be done with the "cloud of deployment", the fear, the unknowns, the whims of the Army. And here, today, I am sad that 23+years has passed so quickly. Oh, don't get me wrong...I'm ready for all of those things to end. But the times in which we live has me concerned and worried about what "the outside" may contain for us!! I will miss the tradition, the bugle calls, the routines, the camaraderie, the sisterhood of fellow "Army Wives". I will miss this lifestyle that I have lived for these oh, so many years. So in the next few writings, you are going to go on the journey with me. I have been writing down my thoughts and feelings in a journal and I thought I would go out on a limb and post them here. You can read about my struggles and if you feel compelled, pray for me as I'm on the journey. God is working!! He is cleaning up the HOT mess that is me. And often times, like when your tidying up a room, it gets messier BEFORE it gets clean!! Lots to share....
Come back and see...
Loving Deeply,
Stefi
1 Peter 4:8
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
