I feel like every time I start a post I'm almost overwhelmed to think back to what the past few days or weeks have been like. I was hoping things would lighten up, but it feels like just the opposite! I suppose I could start by recapping Memorial Day weekend a little bit.

During the long weekend I was in desperate need for a project. My mom and dad are giving Eric and I an old dining room set that my mom had picked up. I really like the set even though my mom isn't too enthusiastic about it. Once she gave the word that it would officially be ours I decided I would like to attempt to strip the whole set and stain it a nice dark brown. God bless my mom....what a sport!! She got all the supplies together and started helping me. Some parts went farely fast while other more detailed portions were somewhat painful to get through. Long story short...after a few days we finally got one of the chairs stripped only to find that it is made of a combination of several soft woods. Nothing impressive. We stained a section to see if it was worth our while to continue...NOT AT ALL. It stained a blotchy combination of black, brown, and tan. So we headed to the store for the darkest shade of brown we could find. I've only got 2 of the chairs done at this point, but I think it's going to look great.

Eric FINALLY came home after what seemed like months of being gone. He had nothing but good things to say about the trip. Definitely a life changer. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures surface in the next few weeks. Monday was my birthday. I turned a whopping 24! I am starting to feel old believe it or not. I realize I have a lot of time ahead of me, but then again, I'm starting to get a good chunk of time behind me! I guess it's that whole mentality of looking around seeing things happen to other people and thinking, that'll never be me. It was a great birthday spent with family. Here's one reason I know I'm getting older....my parents bought me a new vaccuum...and I was STOKED! Who have I become?? I guess I'm growing up. :) Eric and I hit the road later that evening to do dinner in La Crosse on our way home. We ended up not eating until about 9:30, but it was great to be together so we didn't care. At dinner he gave me a gift card to give my wardrobe a jump start. MUCH NEEDED! I actually cried when I saw it. Once we made it to Winona we were still homeless and spent the night sleeping in a friend's basement.

Tuesday morning, 1 JUNE, he's off again. Eric's job sent him to South Carolina for the week. Eric and a friend spent the morning while I was at work putting all of our stuff in the new apartment and headed out of town to catch their flight. That night I couldn't find "my house" and drove all over creation for about 25 minutes. Finally I found the house. I came through the door to find all of our stuff...EVERYWHERE! God bless them for hauling it all over there, but there was no organization to speak of. It has been an overwhelming task to say the least...and we're still not done a week later. I guess this is a previous for moving to Texas by myself. Hmmm...

I love when I have the opportunity to see family these days. It's becoming more and more real that I am moving in a few more weeks without any real plans of coming back. What a thought! Whew! The ROTC department I work for worked the Wisconsin State Track Meet on campus so I was able to watch Eric's younger brother run the 4x200 at state! I know the older brothers love all of the success Aaron has had at such a young age. He's only a freshman and he's accomplished so much!!! The brothers always say that he is a mixture of all of their best qualities. God has big plans for him, no doubt! They qualified for finals but ended up taking 8th. Still nothing to hang your head about, he's got plenty of time.

After spending the morning at the track meet on Saturday I headed to Richland Center to pick up my mom and go get Eric from the airport. I can't tell you how happy I was to see him and have him home again. You would think that since we've had a long distance relationship all along that we would be "used" to being separated. In reality it is quite the opposite. I think it gets more and more painful with every separation. You just want it to stop happening all the time! It seems we are always on a constant countdown to the next time we will see each other. And when we are together I can't help but look ahead on the calendar to July 18th, when we'll be separated again. On the brighter side, July 18th is one of the best days of the year. I will begin my AMEDD OBLC at Fort Sam Houston TX to really start my Army Nurse Corps career. It's what I've been looking forward to since I joined ROTC as a freshman in college. Bittersweet. Leaving the airport we stopped by the mall to kill a little time before going to my cousin's graduation party. It was good to see family. We don't see the Granger side much. That side of the family just isn't really into family get togethers it seems like. If we do, it's "for grandma." It had been such a long week for all of us we didn't stay too terribly long. Besides, my brother Mark was on his way home for the first time in six months. We had a great time catching up and just spending time together. Hopefully he'll stop by our house on his way home later this week!

It's incredible how "busy" everyone is these days. No one has time for much of anything, and in your spare time you only want to spend that time on your self. We're talking major sacrifice to use that time on someone else! I know I'm guilty of thinking that way. Yet we can't understand why in society my kids have emotional and pscyhological problems. We've really lost the social element to get together instead of texting or chatting on IM. It's just so "easy." I guess it's just that the easy route really never got anyone to a better place. All of the best things in life take effort and sacrifice.

Something to think about.... Am I reaching out to others? Am I taking the easy route to relationships by only texting or emailing, never taking the time to make an in-person visit? Who in my life needs me to make some time sacrifices to spend it on them?