1. What is a weird/funny superstition that you have?
I can't start my day off right if I don't get up at an o'clock, 5 minutes after, 10 minutes after, etc. For example, I set my alarm for 7:00 a.m. today, and when it went off I changed it to going off again at 7:15 so I could lay in bed a little longer. I couldn't ever set my alarm at a weird interval like 7:08 or 7:13; it would throw my whole day off!
 
2. What are your hopes and dreams for the years AFTER the military?
First off, I want us to have a house! I'm so tired of moving around in my civilian life and I know it's possible our life in the military will involve many moves (the closest one in the future is this January), but someday in the next 10 years I want us to have a house in a nice, safe neighborhood where we can raise our family. 

I don't want my kids to have a childhood like mine where we moved a lot. It would be awesome if they had friends from kindergarten all the way up to high school so they always felt like they knew who they were and where they came from. That is what I hope for the most.

3. What is your yummiest apple recipe?
I really don't have one, to be honest. I like using apples in fruit salad or just cutting them up and eating them with peanut butter. Mmm!


4. How long have you gone as a military spouse/significant other without talking to your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend during service?
I think our record is about two weeks. This was the month Steve proposed (this past April) and he was in the field A LOT. They would be gone five days, then back for two, then gone another 10 days. It wasn't any fun because even when he was back we couldn't squeeze in all our news and updates to each other before he was gone again in No Phone Signal Land.

5. What was significant about your 17th. year of life?
Um, this will be embarrassing...I had my first kiss at age 17! Looking back, it was nothing spectacular. I feel kind of like a loser for having gone so long not having one, but I'm sure there are people out there that waited longer (or at least I hope someone out there did haha). I didn't really date until I was 16, and that relationship was short-lived. My second boyfriend was my first kiss, and it was some time in the spring of junior year.

In my 100-level Sociology class, called World Geography, my professor talked extensively Friday about various world issues and human geography, which is at the center of the course. The course is partly a filler class so I continue to remain full time and partly a class I wanted to take as a good wrap-up to my education in international studies. Anyway, on Friday, this particular professor began to speak about cultural dissonance and its impacts on various groups. His example, 9/11, led him to saying that we "fought" in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect our liberties and freedoms at home.

"Um, excuse me? Fought?! Are you blind?" was what was going through my mind at the time. It's bad enough the media feeds us misinformation about troops leaving, creating headlines that make it sound as if we have withdrawn entirely from Iraq. Luckily, many from the military community have stepped up and clarified that we are far from out of the Middle East conflict, especially in Iraq, despite what the media says. Ugh!

Later in the class, this professor also addressed the floods in Pakistan and our involvement there. He compared the flooding in Pakistan with the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti and said that our military and government aren't responding in the same way.

That may be true in the sense that Haiti is nearer to us geographically than Pakistan, but there is aid being sent there in the for of $200 million, according to this article, notwithstanding nonmilitary aid already set aside for Pakistan through Congress last year. Maybe this professor was mistaken, but there is a lot of aid being sent there, including military efforts such as the thousands of sailors and Marines being sent to Pakistan this week.

I don't know where he got HIS information, but mine, including just general knowledge I had anyway from the military community, clearly shows that his facts are not matching up with actual truth. I wish I had spoken up and corrected him in class, but I didn't really want to be "that" person, you know? I'm not a know-it-all type, and I didn't feel it was my place to say everything he said was erroneous. However, I do hope that the next time such an issue arises I'm able to speak up before everyone in the room is being taught something I know to be incorrect again.

1. If you could be a fugitive from the law for whatever reason, what would your crime be?
Good question! Hmm, I guess my crime would be loving too much and caring about others too much. I wonder if that would be a felony or a misdemeanor...

If we're talking real crimes that are on the books, I would have to say theft, for stealing Steve's heart (heehee - I know, I'm such a criminal)!

2. How long do you think you will be a military family?
Well, Steve and I begin our family together at the end of the year, and at the end of next year he will be in the Reserves. So, if you count the time we have dated, plus the Reserve duty later, we will be a military family about 8 years! At the end of this year, it will be two years since he graduated basic and left for Korea. It feels like it wasn't that long ago we began this journey!

3. What's your favorite recipe?
That's tough to answer because I'm very lazy when it comes to cooking, at least lately. But I do like making pasta! I love the smell of it and knowing that when I have it I will feel full after eating it! And I make a mean meatloaf! I don't even measure things for it; I just know the recipe by heart and can make it with no help! :)

4. What would you want your last five words to be when you leave this life?
Well, that's depressing to think about. I have too much living to think about dying! And who would I say these words to? My children? My love? A pet? A doctor?  I suppose that's not important. 

I would hope I would die surrounded by the people I love, and I would say to them, "Until we meet again, dears!" Then I would take my last breath and join other family members in heaven! At least that's what I can hope happens. We really don't know for sure, do we?

5. Where do you hope to retire?
Somewhere near my children and grandchildren, but at the same time I don't want my presence to be imposing or annoying. Somewhere in southern Missouri might be nice! I like driving around there, and there are lots of national parks to explore! I think I would also like a home at Lake of the Ozarks where I could sit on the porch and write or paint or just think near the water while Steve works on our boat or plays music or chats with me. That would be the life!