...is how appreciative you become of little things. right now all i need to be happy is a steady stream of reading material, clean sheets from time to time and for people to be quiet every once in awhile so i can sleep late. we get some cool-guy toys from time to time, and those are always fun, but life is just really distilled to the basics here. so things like those movies coming in the other day, or my new running shoes showing up today can totally have me happy for the entire day. all day today, even during the stressful times i was singing my "i've got my new shoes, i've got my new shoes" song today. hell, i was so happy to have them, i even went for a run!
when i'm at home i'm always looking for something stupid to spend money on. fortunately i've become ALOT better at just looking instead of buying, but i'm such a freaking gadget freak. granted it's good in some ways because of my job, but largely that's just an excuse i use to justify buying new stuff.
the last deployment i was on was even more of a shock to me. i kind of knew what to expect this time, but last time we had no power for a large portion of my time in afghanistan. no power meant no tv, no laptops, no movies... and early bedtimes or reading by flashlight. we just sat outside and watched the sunset every night. it was awesome. this time we've got juice, but i still just don't have time to veg like i do at home. cheers has really been my guilty indulgence lately, and it's only two or three episodes a night, and usually i'm working while i'm watching.
it's not just the fact that we had to pack light to get over here. it's going out into the local towns and seeing how little the folks here have. it really makes you re-evaluate the tons of useless junk you've collected at home, and realize just how lucky you really are.
anyways, it recenters you and your focus in alot of ways and really gets your priorities straight. that's never a bad thing. people pay serious money for this back in the states... and their insurance doesn't cover ammo!
2 comments:
julie... bah, i'm going to have to give up that perk soon. i might actually have to break down and buy some kind of something. i'm shooting really, really well right now and don't want to lose that.
You know, I am bitching and moaning about being sick over here in the states in my gorgeous soft bed with air conditioning and access to whatever meds I need, and y'all are over there doing without.
Thanks for reminding me how really good I have it.
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