Buses

My posts recently have been about shoes, technology and other quite-the-opposite-of deep content. Mind you, they have value in their own right, but I didn't start this blog in order to journal about my favorite shoes of the moment.

I started it for therapy. To have someone to talk to who would always listen.

I started it while Al was deployed, I was finishing my first year of law school and I was emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted.

It was the best decision I've ever made.

Al's home from deployment now, but the challenges in my life aren't over. We still live in a long-distance relationship. It will be that way for at least another year, more likely 2.

School presents a whole other bag of goodies to write about.

But mostly, navigating life in general, through the crazy, tragic, beautiful mess of a journey that it is, is what this blog is about.

That said, I have an interesting story for you.

On my way home from work today, I got stuck behind a school bus.

Now, there are many traffic laws that befuddle me (stop signs in parking lots, for one) but stopping for a school bus is not one of them. It's about the kids, darn it!

So I obligingly stop.

The bus pulls forward after letting all the kids off and I turn the corner. I get to a stop sign only to get stuck behind the same bus again. We followed the same routine and I turn onto my street. For the third time, I run into the same bus and wait again before pulling up to my house.

This got me thinking about the Army. Sometimes I feel like the Army is a bus that I cannot get around. No matter what street I turn down, the Army is waiting to get in my way. Just like it was frustrating to get stuck behind the bus three times in the course of 5 minutes, I find myself frustrated with the Army.

I just need to remind myself why the bus is there. The cute girl in pig-tails who lives on my street smiled at me when she got off the bus and trotted into her yard. Kids going to school, experiencing life and getting an education is what those buses represent.

Likewise, the Army represents my education. Sure, I'm in law school getting my vocational and academic education, but that's nothing compared to the life-education (life-ucation doesn't work, does it?!) that I'm getting from this Army life. The Army constantly tests me in ways I never thought possible. My strength, patience, resilience and outlook on life are all tested regularly. I think I'm doing a darn good job.

That soldier, my best friend and future husband, asked (tricked/coerced/drugged and dragged) me to be a part of this life with him. I chose to join the Army life. And even though I curse it on occasion, I am lucky to get stuck behind the bus sometimes.

It gives me a dose of reality.

It reminds me why I do it.

It keeps me humble, human and happy.