So we’re on vacation. I have a lot of previous stuff that I should write about, but I don’t think that I’m going to get to that today. I’m happy up here, on vacation seeing family and friends and at the cabin with Greg and his grandparents. But I’m sad because I know that it’s going to come to an end. At some point we’re going to have to go back to Colorado.
When we go back we’re only going to have about a month, give or take a few days, before Greg will have to be shipped out. I’ve found out that he is proud of his job and what he does – being in the army and all. So he’s okay with going. He’s doing his job – what he signed up for. But it will keep us apart for a year + traveling time. I don’t want him to go at all, but he can’t change that – and again, this is what he signed up to do, if given the choice he would likely still choose to go. None of that really makes the process of going through deployment any easier. I don’t really want to be on my own in my funny new home state.
I’m pretty overwhelmed with everything. This will be the first time that I’ve really lived on my own. And being so far from family and friends makes it really alone. We have two vehicles and a whole lot of other things that Greg expects me to keep very well maintained over the months with out him and I really don’t know what I’m doing. After we get back from vacation I’m going to see if some temp agency can find me work out there. I’d rather go through the whole thing of finding a job and figuring out how to work with temp agencies while Greg’s still here with me than without him. But at the same time I don’t want a job to take time away from us being together before he leaves. Greg tells me that I shouldn’t worry about that though because as they load up and get prepared to leave they’ll be working longer hours and even if he’s home before I get home he’ll enjoy the quite down time.
So much keeps changing. It’s overwhelming. New home, new city, new state, new church, new roles in church, adjusting to being married and a new loud kitty is all a lot to deal with. Greg’s had constant job changes and hour changes – as soon as I get used to how one works – he gets a new assignment and it starts all over again. We’ve had the Pastor leave our church and our church have to find a new building, and working with a new worship leader. We still haven’t found a new Pastor and one of the two guys (of course it’s the one that I really like and feel closest too) that have been standing in will be leaving because he’s been offered a full time position as a Pastor in Illinois. Now, on top of all that I’ll be finding a new job and be adjusting to all of that. And I’ll be getting used to the new period of our relationship – the new hubby’s deployment. After just over a year apart we will then be facing another new period - the rejoining our lives together after deployment.
I hate the idea of losing Greg over there while he’s deployed, obviously, but we’re not going to go any further down that road. I’m also worried about what it will be like getting used to each other again after he’s been in a war zone for a year. They say that that changes the guys. The army has all sorts of training and such about that – the reintegrating of families after deployment. But that still doesn’t give me any clue about what it’s going to be like to have Greg back. Like I said, they say deployment changes people, but they also say that about boot camp and the army life in general. I’ve seen and heard other stories about how any aspect of the military will change people. I’ve personally seen at least 3 people’s personalities be drastically changed from just going to boot camp. But Greg was different. He came back from boot camp just about the same. The only thing I noticed that was different in Greg was that he was a little more mature and his faith was a little more settled and outspoken. It was actually a really good experience for him – in my opinion. The same can be said of him being just a part of the day-to-day army culture. There was actually one guy that Greg went to boot camp with and then came to Colorado and the same unit here and all. He was a Christian and actually his family was in ministry, but the army life changed him. He drinks and smokes and whatever else and actually cussed while on the phone with his mom and made her cry. But for Greg being part of the army culture has made him stronger, more mature and more outspoken in his faith and other than being tired hasn’t changed him in a bad way that I’ve seen. So given all of this – I wonder what it will be like to have Greg back in my life after deployment. Will he be the same or will deployment break him? Oh the thoughts and the stories that can be found…
I guess that’s got to be it for today.
And this one -
July 6, 2008
So within the last 24 hours (probably less than that) some very big ideas have been posed to me for the not to distant future. Both have amazing possibilities and require pretty big commitments.
The first idea was proposed by Greg. His grandma was talking about all of the alternative business opportunities that Greg’s parents had instead of taking on the now failed coffee shop. She said that they (the grandparents) offered to sell Greg’s parents their apartments on a land contract with a very reasonable down payment, but they refused because they preferred the coffee shop. Greg in reply asked if they would be willing to sell the apartments to us. She replied yes.
Greg and I had talked about wanting to be like our grandparents in some ways as we get older; specifically being so well off as they came retirement. Greg has expressed the desire have a business investment that would allow us to continue to work and earn money even as we aged, to have apartments like his grandparents. So this really is an amazing opportunity. Greg said that there are 10 apartments in total and ranging in rental costs.
The only problem for me is that I have no idea what goes into running apartments! Greg may very well know much more than I do, but I’m sure there’s much more to it than either one of us really understand. I know there’s going to be taxes to pay and insurance and maintenance costs and payments to his grandparents on the land contract, but I know very little about how all of that works. So there is a lot to learn. I’m sure that I’ll be spending a lot of time learning from his Grandparents.
What I’m excited about is that owning the apartments would keep us in Michigan and near the Lansing area, something Greg hasn’t committed to doing otherwise after getting out of the army. He hasn’t said that he doesn’t want to come back here after the Army – he just keeps talking possibilities.
Also, working with the apartments would allow Greg to receive and income and still take classes. He’s got a lot of money that he can use for school from the army, but on top of other things he doesn’t know how he can go to school full time and work (in order for him to use the money from the Army he has to take classes full time). He’d much rather just go to school but he wants to be sure to provide for me. I really think that he could complete the maintenance that the apartments require (with or without my help really) and still go to school. I know that even with studying he’d definitely want to get out and do something productive with more tangible accomplishments. I think it would be good all the way around.
I’m sure from seeing how well Greg’s grandparents are doing that the investment of money and energy into the apartments will be worth it. So as a couple, Greg and I now have a new goal – to save the money for the down payment and various other costs by the time that Greg is out of the military.
The best way to come up the money and the best way to handle the money as we save it will be to invest the money and continue investing after we’ve started with the apartments. I have no idea how to start investing. I guess that will require a lot of research too.
It’s a lot to think about. It’s a lot to learn. It’s a lot to do. But it really is doable. The only thing that could hinder this possibility is if another member of Greg’s family wants to make the investment – but we’ll what happens when the time comes.
The other idea is one that hit me last night as I was trying to fall asleep. What if I set a big goal for myself to accomplish? Like, a really big goal… bigger than I would normally set for myself and more personal than saving the money for investing into the apartments. I think I’m going to train for a marathon. Seriously!
I have a year to train. I’ll have a whole year to get my speed and my distance up to what I’d need. I have a whole year all on my own, so I won’t have to feel like I’m sacrificing time with Greg to train. So if I’m ever going to run a marathon – this would be a great time to do it. Really! I would be happy with being under six hours. I would love to be under 5, but we’ll see how training goes.
I can build up my racing distances as my training increases. I’ll run a 5k, then a 10k, then a race in between if I can find one at the right time, then a 13.1 or a ½ marathon and then a full marathon in late August or early September of 2009. It’s a whole year. I already knew that wanted to do everything thing that I can to lose the rest of the extra weight that I have on me while Greg is gone; this goal gives another point and purpose to the training and exercising. Once I do one, I’ve done it – I’ve completed a marathon. If I like it great – if not that’s fine too, I can drop my racing distances back down and it’ll be good.
Now I just have to pick a marathon and find and figure out a training schedule and keep to it. I may want to think about joining a gym and maybe taking fitness classes so that I can really do strength training and that I’ll have a good treadmill to run on in the winter months in Colorado so that on the days that I really don’t want to face the cold – I won’t have to. But I’m sure after a few long runs on a treadmill – I’ll be more than willing to face the cold than that wall for that long again!
Another thing that I really want to do is find a good bible reading plan that will take you through the bible in a year and complete that while Greg’s gone. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a while but I haven’t found a good reading plan yet and haven’t been able to keep with the ones that I have found.
From the sounds of this I’m going to be keeping myself very busy while Greg is gone. I can get up early and read the bible and journal a little bit. Then I’ll be off to work so that I can help earn the money to invest in the apartments. After I’m home from work time for the running for marathon training! Busy, busy, busy. But it’ll be really cool. It should make for a really awesome year.
So that's what I've got for now. Sorry it's so long. When you have a couple of days of deep thoughts to post all together I guess it's just bound to get long.So there are my thoughts! Thanks for reading. Feel free to reply or send me an email if you have any thoughts on these things!
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