Monthly Archives: June 2012

Deep Musings

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Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not. 
~Samuel Johnson

So the other day I was thinking some deep thoughts. Actually, I’m not sure if they were THAT deep of thoughts because they were thoughts of Kevin Bacon. Or rather, six degrees of separation… which made me think of six degrees of Kevin Bacon.

LOL, but I digress.

So the other day, there were some climbers on nearby Mt. Rainier who fell and needed rescuing. While being rescued, a park ranger fell himself and was killed. The climbers all ended up being okay. However, I saw on my Facebook that my friend’s coworker’s niece was one of the climbers. And that got me thinking. I had no idea who these climbers were yet now I find out I’m only three degrees separated by these climbers (and by reading my blog, YOU are only four degrees separated).

Here I am listening to the news and then BAM! I have a connection to a national news story. And it makes it hit quite a bit closer to home. It makes those climbers… real and not just a story you hear.

So I got to thinking… what if everyone in this world started thinking along the terms of six degrees of separation? If you think about other people in terms of that, you are most likely closely connected to them… just a few “degrees” away.  Makes what they go through hit a lot closer to home, doesn’t it?

What if everyone in this world thought that way? What if, instead of seeing someone and noticing that they were SO DIFFERENT from you, be it Democrat, Republican, man, woman, black, white, rich, poor, American or Afghani… what if we thought about them in terms of six degrees of separation? They aren’t just some stranger on the street or some story on the news or someone who just doesn’t “get” whatever you think they don’t get. They are connected to you. Quite closely, most likely.

What if we started treating people that way? Treated them like they were close to us? What would this world look like? What would living in a kinder world be like? One where instead of thinking the worst of someone or dismissing them because they are different in some way you find important… what if we treated every stranger as someone who is closely connected to us?

And that, my friends, is my deep musing of the day. Or week. Or probably month. Brought to you from 36,218ft in the air and flying at 577mph somewhere over the state of North Dakota (I’m off to do reserve duty at Boston Navy Week and scored some free wifi thanks to an online contest).

Bad, Bad Blogger

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Doing things is not the same as getting things done.  ~Jared Silver

I haven’t been around much, and I’m sorry for that. It’s just…  I feel  a bit out of place and disconnected. Huzzy is on shore duty and there’s just not much about it that is feels “Navy.”  I mean, I see him get in his uniform and leave every day, but he’s usually home before noon and doesn’t work weekends. This week, however, will be a bit different as he is the “duty driver” for some inspection that is happening and so he won’t get off work until 1800. Um… okay. He’s still home by dinner, so it’s no big deal.

That will eventually change as once he gets fully checked in (this command it takes upwards of two months due to the qualifications they have to achieve first). Once that happens, he’ll be working normal days (0600-1600 or so), but will still rarely work weekends. Apparently, he’ll have 24-hour duty every four or five weeks, so he MAY work a day on the weekend then if it rotates that way. Of course, he’s also been told that there are certain duties that they will have to be there for the working day and can go home at night as long as they are tethered to a cell phone and can make it into work easily. Shouldn’t be too hard as we live less than 10 miles from the base.

It’s really feeling like he’s a civilian. It’s totally weird. I’m definitely  not complaining… I’m just still trying to get used to it.

I mean, his last “shore duty” was recruiting during that awful time in Navy Recruiting where they’d be lucky to get home by 2000. In fact, if he WAS home by then, I’d ask him what happened that he was home so early. Normally, it was because he had to have a new recruit at the MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) by 0500 the next day… and that was an hour drive away.

He’s been in for 13 ½ years and this is his first “real” shore duty (I saw him more when he was on a sea billet than in recruiting, so I don’t consider that recruiting duty as shore duty). It’s definitely different and definitely welcome. He’s been home for two and a half months now and I feel myself thinking of things to do in the months ahead and my natural reaction is to still check myself and ask myself if he’s even going to be there that month. But of course… he is.

I can make long-term plans. There’s no boat schedule that he has to abide by. Nothing that’s going to change last-minute and have him out of here for weeks and months at a time. He’s home for three years and I still can’t wrap my head around that. But I’m happy. Very, very happy.

Three Years…

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For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if frFor what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?  
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Whoa. I almost missed the date. It’s nearly 9 p.m. and I just realized it is June 5th.

Three years ago today, I raised my hand, swore to defend the Constitution of the United States of America and officially became an officer in the Navy Reserve.

Wow. What a ride these last three years have been. I’ve learned SO much since then. And I know I have a lot more to learn. I’m looking forward to what else may come my way.

The Navy owns me. (Photo from my commissioning ceremony, which happened two weeks after my actual commissioning date of 5JUN2009)

 

MilSpouse (first) Friday Fill-In #72

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It is the flag just as much of the man who was naturalized yesterday as of the men whose people have been here many generations.
~Henry Cabot Lodge

(please feel free to use this!)

I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers. So I created a weekly meme, which has now morphed into a monthly meme. This happens the first Friday of every month. To do this, I’ll post a list of questions the day before (on Thursday so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday (like today!) and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky below so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs. Please leave a comment too! And please feel free to use the button above!

1. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?
I couldn’t change the miscarriage, so I guess I’d change… hmm. There were a few times I could have been more patient with Huzzy. Other than that, I wouldn’t change anything that I have control of.

2. What was your favorite thing that happened in May? 
Huzzy went on shore duty for 30 days! We bought all new floors! We bought a couch (that isn’t here yet). LOL It was an expensive 30 days.

3. June includes the first day of summer… what are your plans for the summer?
Well, right now I am going to be traveling about six weeks out of the summer. Two for the Navy Reserves and four for my Navy civilian job! Other than that… yeah, not too many plans.

4. Do you use the services on base (gym, financial planning, family services, daycare)? And if so, what’s your favorite one? (thanks to Shanon at Modern Meets Traditional for this question!)
I would like to start using the gym, but I’m still having to work out at home with my shoulder injury. I have used family services (called Fleet and Family Support Center in the Navy) and it’s absolutely awesome! They help with SO many things from job searches to house hunting help to learning about the area and financial counseling. LOVE FFSC!

5. What are you looking forward to in June?
Sure isn’t my 30th birthday! Hmm… I’m looking forward to hopefully warmer weather that will be in the 70s every day.