It's been a couple days since my last blog, but in that time, I have been taking account of everything in my life. I tend to do this every couple weeks, sometimes more, but I feel it is necessary to keep my priorities in line.
This week has been a turning point for me as I have taken the more difficult steps in finishing my degree. It has been about 20 months since I left the Army, and now that I have completed the application and ordered my transcripts, all I can do now is wait for an acceptance and starts school in the spring. Now of course I want to finish school for myself, but even moreso, just like most decisions I make in my life, I did it because I know it will help me to provide for my family and give them all the things they want and deserve.
I am a family driven person, and though I sometimes lose sight of the end goal, I always have them in mind when I make a decision that could be a life changer. This is because my family is my life. My kids are my imprint on this earth. When they become who they are eventually going to be, they will be a reflection of the things my wife and I have taught them, and knowing that, I know, I can't afford to fail them. I can't afford to give them anything less than the best of me. I never want to find out that my kids are not everything they could be because of something I did or did not do.
Then there is my wife. And I reference her second not because she is less important, but exactly the opposite. My wife Amanda, is everything to me. She is the one person that I truly believe I was meant to be with. After four and a half years of marriage, I know this fact more everyday. I know this because she married me and stood by me when I chose to enlist in the Army while she was pregnant with my daughter. She left everything she knew to move across the country when I got stationed out west. She is the first person I remember seeing when I woke up from my back surgery, which was one of the scariest experiences of my life. After every argument, and fight, and hard times, and the worst times, she has never left. Even when we both thought maybe it wasn't going to work, she stayed, and we worked together to keep going. We have been a team since the beginning, and hopefully will be until the end. She is a wonderful mother, always checking to make sure I haven't forgotten anything(which I do quite often), and an amazing wife, always trying to do for me anything she can to make me happy. And she does this continuously knowing that I don't always do the same(which is why I have to constantly reassess my priorities to make sure she remains on top).
I, by no means, am a perfect person. I have made my fair share of mistakes as we all have. I have wronged my family on several occasions, and yet, there they are everyday, always there to make me smile and remind me what this life is all about.
My wife said something to me the other day. We were in the truck with our daughter, who was just talking away, and I made a comment jokingly about how she probably wouldn't stop talking until she went to bed. My wife said, and I'm paraphrasing, it doesn't last forever, so enjoy it now. And that was the beginning of my mind reassessment. She was right. It doesn't last forever. Just a week away from my daughter's 4th birthday, and I'm watching her grow so fast, and I know, it won't last. Nothing lasts. But it is how we choose to enjoy the experiences that we have with our families that makes the difference. I am thankful everyday for just getting one more day with them, because it could be over in a second. All I can really do is cherish every moment I have with my kids, and hope that I get to spend a long, happy life with the person I love most in this world. Because it doesn't last forever.
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