G.I. Jules

Twas the night before ship out and all through my sack, zip lock bags were bursting of undergarments of white and toiletries all tagged.

I can’t believe tomorrow’s the day I’m shipping out.  It’s FINALLY here.  The build up has been huge and I’ve said goodbye to…well basically everything and everyone.  Some goodbyes are sweet, like the one to my niece who gave me a homemade walkie talkie connected to her heart so she can always hear me.  Some are full of flair, like waving my hand out the window all the way down School Road until out of sight from my mom.  Some are uneasy, like the one to my grandfather who’s getting up in years.  But almost all have been full of tears.  Enough, I’m emotionally exhausted!

Therefore, this is the last post I will be able to enter personally.  From here my parents, Pam and Tom, will upload letters I have sent them.  I’ll try to maintain my wit and proper grammar, but the letters will be penned under flashlight by a girl with very heavy eyelids and sore muscles.  From here on it might be more of a journal/time line style.

As soon as my address has been issued, it will be posted here.  Please don’t be shy, send MANY letters!  My only ask is that they be letters and photos only.  However much I love you, I don’t want to have to do extra push ups for receiving contraband.  I have a feeling I’ll miss being connected to the news and tabloid world, so any info from the outside will be gladly gobbled up.  Like, will Pawlenty make a run in 2012 and will LiLohan make it through 2011?  Also, I’ll really miss music.  I’d love to receive song lyrics so I can rock out in my head.  Really, just anything you have to say will be soaked up.

I like to be all tough and feisty, but this is a challenge guaranteed to have definite low points.  I ask you to keep all the love and prayers flowing in my direction, they will surely be much needed.

With that, here I go! Love you all!

This past month has been a whirl.  I knew that packing up my things would be quite the task.  With my ship date just about 24 hours away, the contents of my civilian life are all tied up in neat little packages.  Envelopes, binders, Rubbermaid bins, boxes, totes.  Loaded into cars and trucks and stored in a variety of places; mom and dad’s, Rebecca and Paulo’s, the storage unit.  A huge thank you to all my friends that helped me with that ginormous task.  Really, I couldn’t have done it without you.

So, I’m down to just three backpacks; one for this weekend, one for Basic Training, and one for my Army Guard drills when I come back.  It feels pretty wierd to be traveling so light.  But at the same time, it’s liberating.  While packing up all my belongings, I realized how much we allow the things in our life define us.  Our things are comforting, and that’s not all bad.  At the end of a long day, it’s nice to know that our favorite slippers will be waiting next to the comfy couch and our special mug can be filled with hot cocoa.  But really, it’s just stuff.  The people in our lives are the richest comforts.

I’ve said this before, but one of the greatest things to already have come out of this experience is the relationships, old and new, that have grown and flourished.  I’m a pretty independent person, but I can’t move a couch by myself.  Being homeless since December 20th, I’ve had to call upon friends for couches, showers, and even once a change of clothes!  But you know what, the people in my life have stepped up each time.  And starting tomorrow, I’ll be car-less so my friends will even have to drive me around.

In life you can’t do it alone, and you don’t have to.  God puts people in our lives to fill in where we have voids.  In this team I have become a part of, each one of us will have talents that make us shine.  We will all have strenghts and weaknesses that will require us to work together for the benefit of our country.  I’m excited to see what I can bring to the plate.  And I won’t need my bed, Netflix, or even cute socks to do it.

On June 9, 2010, Adjutant General Larry Shellito announced he would be retiring and stepping down from his position as commander of the Minnesota National Guard.  Now he is one incredible American.  I was standing in the back of the Governor’s Reception Room at the State Capitol, observing the General and the Governor carry on a press conference, and I heard it.  In our lives, God doesn’t talk to us in clear terms very frequently.  So when he does, you really have to listen. “You should do this. There’s no reason you can’t serve too.”  Hello?  What?  Hmm.  Okay.

For the rest of the summer I poured myself into researching Army life.  Okay, I did look into the Air Force too, but my heart said Army.  I bought books, read blogs, downloaded apps, had informational interviews, I was a little obsessive.  Because of my position with the Governor, I was so fortunate to have the very top of the Minnesota Guard guiding and assisting me.  Specifically, Brigadier General Kelly, the Assistant Adjutant General.  He was an amazing help, putting me in touch with so many resources and contacts and always being an email or phone call away.  I probably made this decision with more information than any other recruit in history.

I woke up the morning of October 8, 2010, the day I swore in, and thought, “Today, I’m marrying America.”  It sounds funny, but it was serious stuff.  No backing out.  I was nervous, but really excited.  Since that day, the nervous-excited emotion has remained pretty constant and I don’t see it dying down any time soon.

I love this country.  I love this country so much.  I cry during the Star Spangled Banner.  I tear up during the Pledge of Allegiance.  I wear cowboy boots with my Levi jeans while eating buffalo wings and drinking beer.  The sight of tractors out on the farm kinda takes my breath away.  I’ve been known to boot scoot n’ boogie, but I always make it to church on Sunday.  That’s America to me.  I think you get it.  I love this country.

I am so excited to take that love and give back.  My favorite quote is by Erma Bombeck, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.” I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna squeeze every bit of adventure out of life.  Serving in the military is going to give me so many opportunities to use what I’ve been given, to shine my light, and just to rock on.

Tomorrow morning I’ll say farewell to the parents and drive back to Minnesota.  The goodbyes are so hard, but it’s also made me feel so immensely blessed.  I have so much love in my life.  I’ve been sounding like a broken record lately, but truly, my friends and family are the greatest in the world.  You all make me feel so full, I’m overflowing with blessings.

With all the support I’ve been given, there’s no way I’m not going to succeed at this.  I’ll have so much support that I’m sure to have extra that I can pour on to my fellow soldiers and that’s pretty cool.  I am now a member of the greatest team…the United States Army.  HOOAH!!