Very Busy

So the count is winding down. We are leaving very soon. I am hectically trying to gather everything up that I am going to need to live on a ship for 6 months. It is really the little things that you don't think of. Extra toothbrush in case I drop one on the deck (not picking it up), soap, batteries. And then there are the big things. All the necessary uniform items, the equipment that I will need for training and qualifications, and of course my books. :) Every time I go onboard the ship and talk to my roommates they suggest something else that I did not think of to bring along. Another trip to the NEX or Walmart. And I have to shine my shoes, iron my uniforms, and do all the laundry I need to do before Sunday. Plus, I am trying my best to stay in contact with everyone that means so much to me. A tough task since I have amazing friends and the best family this side of St Peters' Gate. And all of this is after work, where I am busy training and trying to get qualified. But I love it. I am so excited.

All of it, the busy-work, the hustle, the correspondance is all part of the experience that I have anticipated for four and a half years. This deployment marks the first-step of a journy that I have been pursuing since sophomore year of high school. In a way its a culmination of the preperation of all that time at Madison and ROTC. And at the same time it is only the beginning of my Navy adventure. I feel like I am standing on the first page of a new, grand story. And plus i am such a romantic that i can't wait to get out onto the open sea, working with my men, finally joining that great fraternity of sea-faring men who brave the wide, wild ocean to do what other men shake their heads at in wonder. I cannot wait to see it all, take it all in, and tell you all about it. Until then, pray for me and my ship, to keep us safe. I will keep you posted.