Monthly Archives: February 2012
A Boohoo and a Hooyah!
We acquire the strength we have overcome.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve done this once before but now that I’m doing MFF on only the first Friday of the month (which is THIS Friday, so look for questions on Thursday!), I have time to do other memes.
This meme is from A Monkey in the Navy (whose blog I love since both she AND her husband blog on it!) and is is pretty simple: one good thing and one bad thing about your week. Love it. So here I go:
Boohoo: Huzzy’s been gone several weeks now and I’m really starting to miss him (not that I don’t from the beginning, but it’s getting worse).
Hooyah: This is our last patrol before shore duty… and that’s what’s getting me through this patrol!
The Biggest Honor
Just do good, don’t worry about the road ahead.
~Monk Wansong
I don’t talk a whole lot about my job as an officer in the Navy Reserves. Frankly, that’s usually just a small part of my life. Being the wife of an active duty Sailor is what shapes my life. Huzzy’s patrol (deployment) schedule and the fact that we are here and nearly everything in our lives is touched by his service in the Navy. And as such, that’s what I tend to write about. I usually need the camaraderie and support of being a MilSpouse more than I need it in regards to my own service.
But that’s probably going to change once Huzzy heads to shore duty since he’ll be home each night (unless he has duty) and it will be a more regular schedule. Hopefully. I’m really, really hoping the hours aren’t like his last shore duty… recruiting. So when that happens, I will probably blog more about my job/life in the Navy Reserves.
I am truly honored to be able to serve my country in a small way. However, besides that, I’ve recently had the chance to do something that is truly an honor: re-enlisting and enlisting someone.
This started a month ago when I re-enlisted Huzzy. After that, I’ve enlisted two people into the Navy Reserves because there is a recruiting office on the 2nd deck of the building where I’m doing my three months of temporary active duty.
Let me tell you… enlisting or re-enlisting someone is SUCH an honor. Other than Huzzy, I was not the person’s choice… I was the officer the recruiter saw when they came downstairs looking for an enlisting officer. But regardless… it’s an honor because enlisting/re-enlisting into the Navy is a big decision. It’s something that will define a person’s life for the rest of their life, whether they are career military or in for just a few years.
Out of everything I’ve done so far, this part of being an officer is super-cool (yes, I’m a child of the 80s) and is very humbling.
Side note: When Huzzy re-enlisted, I may or may not have emphasized the part in the oath that says, “and obey the orders of ALL officers appointed over me.” He also may or may not have sworn the oath with his hand on my pink Bible. There may or may not be photographic evidence. (which, if said evidence was around, wouldn’t be released until Huzzy saw the photos first).
Wordless Wednesday: Then and Now
A cat can be trusted to purr when she is pleased, which is more than can be said for human beings.
~William Ralph Inge
Kissy is front left. Skully is right next to her. Ten days old.
Five months old yesterday.
Does He Stay Or Does He Go?
If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.
~Author Unknown
Note: This post was written CENSORED TIME ago (yeah, I try to be funny, but in reality, it’s an OPSEC thing so I can’t tell ya nuttin’!).
Last night, my husband came home and told me that in 20 minutes, he’d know if he was leaving for his patrol (deployment) the next day or possibly the day after. Cue my panic attack. He wasn’t supposed to go for another week. I know things change, but I like to have a bit of notice. Even a day or two would be good.
So I ran around trying to get his halfway box put together (which I planned to do this weekend since I actually had some days off). I hadn’t purchased everything I wanted for it, but I had enough stuff to fill it. Twenty minutes came and then an hour. Huzzy called the boat and they hadn’t heard word yet. So we went to bed.
At 0400, we got up because even if Huzzy didn’t have to leave for his multi-month patrol, he had duty and therefore had to be at work at the buttcrack of dawn. Actually, before dawn.
I drove him to the base and stopped at the bus station (since only submariners are allowed to go to lower base) and kissed him and watched him board the bus. I don’t know when I’ll see him. It could technically be tonight, if they are indeed leaving tomorrow or the next day. That is, if the other crew does “last night duty” for them. Basically, that’s where the other crew fills in duty so the guys going on deployment can spend the last night before leaving home. However, if it is, indeed, tomorrow and the other crew can’t or doesn’t want to come in to relieve the guys, I’ll see him when he gets done with his patrol. If it’s the day after, I’ll see him for a few hours (hopefully) after he gets done with duty and before he has to leave to go to the boat for the patrol.
Of course, it may still end up happening when it was originally scheduled, or anytime between now and then. Or after then. Who knows. He told me he’d call me and give me a sign (because he can’t say anything about boat schedule) if he was leaving. I haven’t heard from him. But that doesn’t mean something isn’t still happening.
I hate not knowing when I’m going to see him again. But I’m looking at Facebook and several of the wives are talking about making dinner and hoping their husbands come home in time. So I’m assuming it’s not today/tonight.
That’s one thing I dislike about submarines. The guys come and go and there’s no fanfare. No “welcome home” that most other commands and other service branches have. It’s silent. No one knows our sadness of our guys going away because we can’t tell them. And we can’t tell them until well after they are gone.
And we can’t even begin to show excitement about them returning because that would signal they WERE returning. And for a submarine, that is deadly. We silently gather on the pier and wait for them to come back. There’s no excited tweets or Facebook posts saying we are SO FREAKIN’ excited to head off to base to get our guys. Just the internal excitement. Sometimes it’s like a great secret that only you know and no one else does. But it’s a secret you just want to SHARE.
Of course, I just got the call as I was finishing this up and I know he’ll be coming home tomorrow. At least I’ll have that. He’ll tell me when he gets home what the plan is. Ya know, until it changes again! It’s always something! Such is the life of a sub wife.
*After-the-fact note: my husband ended up leaving AFTER his original scheduled date. However, between the time this was written and the time he left, the schedule changed or was threatened to change many times!
Serious Musings
There’s something in every atheist, itching to believe, and something in every believer, itching to doubt.
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966
This will be a bit different than most of my “real” postings. Now that I’m no longer doing MilSpouse Friday Fill-Ins each week, I have more time to do actual blogging.
This might become a heated debate. If it does, I’m expecting that my fantastic readers will maintain civility, even if there are opposing views. I expect that no one will attack anyone else or say negative things about other views. Differing, CIVIL opinions are welcome.
Let me preface this by saying I’m a Christian. I was brought up in a Protestant (Methodist) church and 100% believe in God. I’ve had enough things happen to me that just can’t be explained by anything except God. However, I don’t believe in pushing it down other people’s throats. I think each person is free to choose the religion–or choose not to believe in a religion–that they wish.
I’ve just recently been going back to church regularly for the first time in a while as an adult. Though I’m Christian, I believe the Bible was created and translated by humans. Meaning, there are probably errors in it, but that the general theme of a loving God, Jesus, salvation, persevering during trials and tribulations, Heaven and Hell are true.
But I have things that I believe that make people say I can’t be a true Christian. And things that make me question myself.
I 100% believe in letting those who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transsexual marry whomever they want. Seriously, what is wrong with love when it is two consenting adults? Is love really that bad, in whatever form? Frankly, I think the world needs MORE love!
Yet, this past week at church, the pastor told us his thoughts on Washington’s then-upcoming law (which, as of today, is law). He encouraged the congregation (without actually saying it) to sign the petition that will temporarily repeal it and put it on the upcoming ballot so the voters can then vote it down. He stated that there are six sexual sins of the Bible and God hates each equally: incest, bestiality, homosexuality, adultery, sex before marriage and one other than I’m not remembering at this moment.
He then said he’s looking into the legal ways they can prevent “those kind of events” happening in the church. This is where I have the issue… if God hates all sexual sins equally, then shouldn’t the church also prevent anyone who has had premarital sex or had an affair from having a wedding at the church? Is the church going to welcome GLBT’s into the congregation? If not, then why should anyone who has had premarital sex or an affair be allowed into the church? I mean… if all sexual sins are equal in God’s eyes… then why should ANYONE judge which sin is worse and which one will be discriminated against? What about “let ye who is without sin cast the first stone?”
And while I’m on this topic, we were talking about making marriages strong at the same service. He was talking about The Five Love Languages and was giving the example that his is affirmation. He said he’s vain and loves his wife to tell him he’s the best husband, man, lover, etc. Wait a minute… isn’t vanity (pride) one of the Seven Deadly Sins? I’m a bit rusty on my Bible, but doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible that God hates all sins equally? So, if homosexuality is a sin and so is vanity… who’s “more wrong?” And really… there’s no one in this entire world that is without sin. So where does that leave us? Why does a church choose one “sin” to rail against?
Now, I can see the argument that marriage is something that is biblical in nature and therefore meant for a man and a woman. But if using that logic, ONLY a member of the clergy should be able to marry you. If you are “married” by a judge, captain of a ship, etc… it should be a civil union. And if the church wants to preserve the sanctity of marriage as only for one man and one woman, I can maybe be okay with that. BUT ONLY IF CIVIL UNIONS RECEIVE THE SAME LEGAL RIGHTS THAT MARRIAGE DOES. Because, if marriage between one man and one woman is based on biblical teachings and it’s those who follow the teachings to the letter, then what in the WORLD is anyone other than a pastor/reverend/member of the clergy doing marrying people? (by the way, don’t tell our family, but Huzzy and I were married legally 15 days before our wedding in the courthouse… which, under this logic would be a civil union.. and I’m fine with that).
Also, if marriage is based on the Bible, then why does that give anyone legal rights? Aren’t we supposed to have separation of church and state? Isn’t that the foundation of our country?
Wouldn’t it stop a lot of the “marriage is for one man and one woman” and “the gays are ruining the meaning of marriage” <insert eye roll from me here> if MARRIAGE was a church ceremony, but a civil union was what everyone had to have in order to be given the legalities provided by the state/federal governments, including insurance and legal rights? Then the church could keep marriage to one man and one woman… without infringing on the rights of others.
I’m not arguing one way or another. I really am struggling with these questions. I will never change my stance that two consenting adults who are legally able to make their own decisions should be able to be with whomever they want and get the same legal protections as anyone else. But I’m trying to figure out why we focus on certain things in the Bible and emphasize certain things.
I would think that if the church is against homosexuality and wants to make it (or keep it) so that it is against the law… shouldn’t they also be pushing for adultery and pre-marital sex to also be the law?
Does anyone have any way to clear this up for me? You will not change my views on being a Christian. I am one. You will not also change my views on gay rights. But what I’m looking for… is explanations. I’m horribly confused. Other than the above, I really do love the church.
