Bremerton Ferry

This morning I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to Physical Therapy at the Army hospital near my house. The good part about the Army is the amazing health insurance, the bad part is all the waiting and crazy appointment times, like 7:30am. The more I think about it though, the more I realize that I might be more prepared for socialized healthcare than most (even if I don't want it after seeing all its "disfunctions" in Europe). I got a call yesterday about having a class on my new allergy shots, and the lady informed me the first opening was in late May. Maybe I should schedule my sicknesses more carefully to work with the Tricare system; psychic ability would be a fantastic help at this point. In all honesty some of the delays are just an overloaded system, and other delays are because I fall under soldiers in priority for treatment. And I guess if the Army is paying them to work and be healthy, then they probably should be seen first. I just am impatient and want everything super fast, like the rest of my microwave generation. One thing I did notice this morning at PT was that the more I looked around at the soldiers in there with me, the less sorry I could feel for myself and my little knee problem. This last Monday in fact I had a soldier next to me that came in on a cane and had major skin grafts on both legs. I later heard him talk about his upcoming surgeries to have remaining shrapnel removed and saw how he couldn't have some of the therapies since he has no sensation in one leg. It's hard to feel sorry for myself and my one little knee problem when I am sitting next to a guy that almost had both legs blown off in Iraq or Afghanistan. Funny how humbling perspective can be. And that's in addition to the guy I see at the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays who is missing an entire leg but still does a weight workout and uses his other leg on the rowing machine. It's easier than some might guess to get so completely buried under the dependent/spouse/family side of the Army that you forget the real and dangerous side the soldiers go through.

That said, I have been enjoying my side of the Army life the last couple of weeks. Besides going to Physical Therapy and harassing my therapist, I have been enjoying the first bits of spring here. We still are getting the typical Seattle weather with tons of rain and overcast skies, but last week was especially beautiful and I even got to jog around the track in t-shirt and shorts one day! The biggest accomplishment of late is that we have had our first official dinner guest, and I chalk it up to a success since nothing caught on fire and to date no one has any reported food poisoning. I feel like a cheat in saying "official dinner guest" since we had our friend Aaron over, the guy that Dereck replaced in 570th Co. and had taken us to his church one weekend. I decided to make the infamous Cheese Celebration Soup since Dereck only had a little bowl the night I took it to bible study and came back empty-handed, and it's a crockpot cooking soup- can you say easy? So, Aaron came over, we ate a yummy dinner, and then ended up playing "Settlers of Qatan" or whatever the heck it is called. Again, it's a super popular boardgame with the deployed crew, and while Dereck and Aaron strategized and played the game with deep thought, I just decided to block as much of the board as I could so they could earn less points. I call it strategy, they called it mean. We rounded out the night talking about budgeting and financial planning- am I becoming an old fart or what? Overall, I am happy that our first dinner with a guest went well, and it forced me to clean the house beyond the normal standard. Thursday night we went out to dinner with our friends Rick and Scarlett. Scarlett is the friend I met way back at the Newcomer Orientation and has been my buddy at lots of events on post. The best part about having dinner with them is that they are in the same shoes as us (Dereck and Rick went to school together, they are also newlyweds) and so we have tons in common. The dinner was bittersweet in that it was the last time we would see Rick before his deployment to Iraq, again solidifying to me that there is a heavier side to this lifestyle. As we hugged him bye that night it was hard to comprehend that it will be a good while before we see him again. His wife is handling things beautifully though, and I am so impressed with her faith and maturity about the whole situation. You hear so many stories about the wives who collapse in on themselves when the husband deploys and live in dark caves of houses for the entire year he is gone. I am incredibly proud of her for not being a victim of the deployment, and for understanding that being sad is totally fine, but digging into a hole of pity is not. I can only pray I do that well whenever Dereck's time comes up (which keeps changing, so I have stopped trying to plan).

Friday night I met up with some of the women from the Wednesday morning Bible study I go to, and I had the best time. Going into it I was nervous to say the least. I barely knew the women Jenny who invited me and Heather who was hosting, as for everyone else there, complete strangers to me beforehand. Luckily, from the moment I walked in these women were nothing but inviting and friendly, and funny. I drove home that night with my cheeks aching and my sides sore from laughing, something I am so thankful for. Last week was a little slow for me, so the girl time was invaluable and much needed. I ate till I was throughly stuffed and sat there chit-chating until I decided I should go home and check on Dereck, who ended up being sound asleep on the couch. He had been a busy beaver while I was gone, and I came in to notice a beautiful arrangement of flowers and a birthday cake, funfetti of course. I have to admit that I am proud and surprised at Dereck's baking skills. The cake was delicious and not burnt- there are pictures on facebook to prove it! And to top off all his hard work, he had put my bicycle together- woohoo! It finally made the trek from Alabama and is currently sitting in my guest bedroom waiting to be fitted at Tacoma Bike. I love that bicycle and cannot wait for good weather to hit the roads here.

Saturday was my actual birthday, with me hitting the unimpressive 23. I feel like that is one in-between number in life. It shows that I am out of college and living the adult life somewhat, but still lacks that weight of older age and wisdom. I wonder if I will feel that way until I hit 40 and suddenly feel old instead of wise. When do I hit the age of confidence in the adult world? The day started off with a bang, or cinnamon rolls to be more exact. Again, facebook has photo evidence of the whole day, so check it out. The cinnamon rolls were huge, unhealthy, and delicious and made the perfect treat before driving to the ferry. Seattle can be reached by driving 50 min up the interstate, or by driving 30min to the port of Bremerton, and then taking a 45min ferry ride, and believe it or not, the ferry is 100% more worth the trip. The bay is beautiful and between the huge mountains to the east and watching the Seattle skyline come into focus, we were mesmerized on the deck. That's right, we stood on the deck in freezing weather with our Starbucks (like good Seattle folk) simply for the view. When we drove our car onto the pier we headed for the Coast Guard station. Parking in Seattle is nothing short of an expensive nightmare (think $10 or more for deck parking with street spots never open), so free parking at a guarded military base sounded like a great idea. The only catch? We had to walk 2.5 miles round trip from the heart of Seattle's Pike Place to the station, but to Dereck and me, it was a great option. The only time I regretted it was at the end of the day when I was tired and hungry and faced the walk back. We spent most of the day exploring the market and the downtown shopping area. The fresh floral arrangements are everywhere and tulips and daffodils are the "flowers du jour" right now. North of Seattle is a famous spot called Skagit Valley that holds annual tulip festivals, and I am trying to plan a trip with friends right now. We also stood looking at all the different stalls of seafood, fruits, veggies, and any other weird hippie item you can imagine. We even saw someone get proposed to in front of a street band, and that was pretty awesome. Once we finally made the trek back to the car and got home, we got ready for a nice dinner out, and topped off my birthday in great style with a fondue meal at Melting Pot. Nothing says love like hot chocolate/peanut butter and strawberries. Nothing.

Sunday I experienced a first in my life. We went to a new church in Puyallup that had been recommend to me, and to that end it shall remain unnamed. We love the Mars Hill Church, but I wanted to try this church also since it never hurts to be sure that we are going to the best church for us. There are several reasons I should have been worried from the beginning at the this church, and they go something like this: 1) The bulletin only had 4 blanks for the topic sermon of "pressure"- Dereck and I like pastors to preach on the Bible, not "4 ways to do this" or "5 steps to that," and it was Palm Sunday to boot. 2) The pastor came out and had props on the tables, and 3) he was using the props to loosely explain pressure while throwing in random scripture. It was at this point the first came into play; I thought I could sit through the bad sermon and we could runaway at the end, but the more he spoke, the more we realized this guy was a nut and it made me sad to see so many people enthralled with what he was saying. So I scribbled a note to Dereck and we left in the middle of the service. When we got to the car all we could do was laugh in disbelief at what we had just seen, and so we went home to watch a Mars Hill sermon online. At least the new church solidified our previous choice of Mars Hill. Who hammers plates inside a bag to demonstrate pressure during a sermon? I am laughing and shaking my head even as I write this.

And so the blog rolls into this week. Dereck's mom and sister are coming Thursday afternoon to visit over the weekend, and I am seriously behind in getting ready for their arrival. I haven't cleaned any, need to buy groceries, and need to plan what exactly we are doing with our days. At least I have the laundry going, or that's how I validate sitting here and writing in the blog rather than being productive. Dereck and I did get curtains up in most of rooms last night, so I will add that to the tally of tasks complete. Denial can be such a lovely state, and typing at my desk allows me to be a creeper and watch people walk by outside. Call me the crazy neighbor, it's okay- at least I have curtains now.