Vacation? Riiight.

I spent last week in Michigan for work. It was 200 miles away from where my family is so it by no means was a time that I was able to go see them. I was excited for the training thinking I would get done early and have time to shop at the huge mall by where I was staying, order room service, watch TV in bed, and not have to wake up for Eli’s 2am potty break. I was completely wrong…

When I arrived after traveling all day (five minutes prior to registration) we were given a schedule of the week and on it were scheduled eleven hour training days! So the whole week looked something like this…

Wake up at 5am to get ready

Catch the shuttle by 7am

Presentations, certifications, paperwork, speeches, etc. all day

Catch the shuttle at 6pm back to hotel

Do surveys and “evening assignments”

…and then do my own homework at 9pm until sometimes midnight for school

My nights were nothing like the fantasy I dreamed of. In fact by the time I packed to catch my ride at 5am for my early flight home I realized I only turned the TV on in my room ONCE the night I arrived.

Phew, I was exhausted. I did learn one thing…

I hate to admit it, but I have no idea how J gets up every morning at 4:30am and gets home at 9:00pm or so at night AND has school. You’re my hero mister.

Ohh and Eli no worries mama is programmed for your 2am wakeup call because I woke up every night that I was away like clockwork…

…and I thought that was going to be a vacation? Ha!

Hello Happiness

When we were first married our house consisted of nothing...no really, nothing. When we moved J into our new home from the barracks before household goods got there we had a TV, laptop, a few plates, two pots, a pan, and some random broken silverware. Life was beautiful...especially when payday came and we could afford a futon to sleep on...

We spent hours each weekend at the laundromat doing our laundry. It was six weeks before our household goods from my apartment finally arrived and although we didn't have enough to fill a house we were ecstatic to finally have more AND a mattress to sleep on. That futon was going to be the death of me.

It was a few more weeks until we decided to splurge and buy a washer and dryer with whatever savings we had because of how much we were spending on the laundromat each week. That was our first big purchase together other than the Sportage J bought right before we were married. Life was good!

It is hard to believe that was only a few years ago and how far we have come since. Today we have everything we could desire to have and no longer have to wait until payday to purchase something or pay one of our bills or debate if we have enough money to go out to dinner this weekend. However, I am forever thankful for those struggles at the beginning of our marriage because they came with a very important lesson…

Happiness isn't about the material items it is about the people you spend your life with. Sometimes it is hard for others to imagine that as they play the "poor her she can't have kids card" on me, but honestly at the end of the day if I have nothing, no babies (two cute dogs though), a futon for a bed again, three dollars in savings, I know that I have the person I love to share my life with.

I could go back to nothing and do my laundry forever at the laundromat if it meant I was doing it with J,