Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Remembrance


On June 11th, 2009, I posted this blog:

http://gibandlaura.blogspot.com/2010/06/gone-but-never-forgotten.html

With a heavy heart and tears streaming down my cheeks, I am writing again of their unit--the loss of 6 men. One of the wives I mentioned, lost her Hero. Her son lost his Hero. His daughter lost her Hero. He was a wonderful father, an amazing husband, and one heck of a man. I have never met him, but through his wife and their pictures, it is beyond evident that he loved his children and his wife with every ounce of his being. There are couples out there that you know love each other, and then there are couples out there that you can see it in every photo they take how in love they are. That was this couple.

My thought for this post is remembrance. Just to emphasize what I wrote on June 11th, 2009.

Just because they are supposed to be home soon, doesn't mean they are out of danger yet. Just because people hate the war, doesn't mean there aren't brave men and women sacrificing their lives for us. Just because the war has been going on for so long and people are coming back, doesn't mean that they all will. There is no guarantee that people will hear from their loved ones again. That dads and moms will come home and give their children hugs and put them to bed at night. That husbands and wives will get to kiss and feel each other's touch again.

It is important to always keep these Hero's in our thoughts and prayers, regardless of the time of year or the holiday. Rejoice when they come home and pray for comfort when they don't. I truly believe that there are things in life that I will never fully understand. The tragic loss of life, especially when they are so close to being home, is at the top of my list. Instead of planning for a homecoming, families are planning a funeral.

When I woke up this morning, I expected today to be one of happiness and full of getting things done. But, this was just not so. Tears have blurred my vision since I first learned of this tragedy, my stomach turning and my heart breaking for these families. There are so many lives changed by this loss. These men are true American Hero's and will never be forgotten. In both our minds and our hearts they will live on. Pictures and memories are what is left to hold on to. Heaven now has 6 more angels to join the others that I mentioned in June. They will watch over us and they will protect us, just like they did while they were on Earth.



Sunday, March 13, 2011

From December to Now

Lets start with Christmas and New Years. Gib's unit (in typical form) denied his leave, so our first Christmas together has been postponed to Dec 2011. Southwest Airlines was a God send, as they transfered his tickets to me and then cancelled my NY to AZ flight...all without any charge! So after spending 2 weeks with my family, I flew to WA for 8 days to see Gib. We opened presents and I made Christmas quiche for breakfast. Gib bought me some books and a Kindle!! I am soooo enjoying it! And he got mostly clothes, I also bought him a Carhart coat because he didn't own a winter coat that wasn't Army issued.
After returning to Tucson, I got back on the boat and started my last semester of graduate classes. With my thesis in full swing I have been running subjects like crazy. We also received our comprehensive exam case questions. While my case presentation went well, the other half did not go as planned for me, so I am getting a second chance. I will basically present cases and what I would do and why. The redo will happen sometime in April. I am also working on papers and readings for all of my other classes. Clinic is going well....for the most part. I have my good days where things go well and then there are days where I feel like a complete idiot, but overall, I think I am doing alright.

For Gib, he has been put on light duty, meaning mainly custodial work and long hours doing watches. He has worked on and off through the weekends for the past few months. His knee keeps him in constant pain. He is now having back and hip problems because he is favoring one knee over the other. Gib has officially finished all of his appointments with the VA so we are playing the waiting game, waiting for the VA to make their official decision on how much disability he gets. Once they make their decision he will have a date that he will be officially out of the Army....which means he will finally be able to start interviewing for jobs. We are kinda hoping for a job at SeaTac (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport), but we will see.

With everything that has been going on, running has taken the back burner....well less of a back burner and more of in the dishwasher position. Since my 10k in December, I did a 5k in Tempe....Skirt Sports Skirt Chaser 5k! While it was fun, I was sick, I hadn't been running like I should have, and it was quite warm...so overall it was a really bad run for me. I walked the Midtown Sertoma 5k For Better Hearing yesterday with a group of people, it got my legs itching for a run. So today after I do some work at school I am going to go for a nice relaxed jog around Reid Park. We will see how it goes, but I am ready to bring running back out and put it on the front burners again.

Externship wise, I secured an externship at Evergreen Speech and Hearing in Seattle, WA. I am scheduled to start the beginning of July. I was able to visit the Redmond office in January and was able to meet the office manager and one of the audiologists. I am really excited to begin this externship and I feel really lucky that I was able to find a site in the area where me and Gib really love to be. I am hoping to move up there the 2nd week of May. We are planning a trip to NY sometime in June before my externship starts. It will only be for a week or so but Gib hasn't been back to NY since we were married and I really want to see everyone prior to Christmas.

Hopefully, it won't be another 5 months before another update, but such is life.