Expectations, Faith and Life Lessons...

When we moved here almost 2 years ago, I had such high expectations. Big.Mistake.

This move was going to be different. We were going to be near family. This time-frame was going to be one of the highlights of Army Guy's career. We were living off post for the first time. All would be grand! No worries about housing wait list, no worries about knowing people in the area, no worries about fitting in with the group, no worries at all.

Then life showed up and faith reminded me of several things that my expectations let me forget.

I'd forgotten that geography doesn't matter in friendships. You can have friends that live 10 minutes from you that you see pretty regularly who know nothing about who you REALLY are. Geography doesn't make you friends--your life experiences, personalities, and God make you friends. It's okay if you just don't click with the people that you're currently stationed with, sometimes that happens. Life is not a friendship contest.

I'd forgotten that just because other people had an awesome time during this time in their career doesn't mean we would. They had different leadership, scenarios, locations, etc. Army varies from every day, to every post, to every leader, to everything, every minute. And that's okay. It's about looking at this as a learning experience. If nothing else, we've learned lots of how not to be.

I'd forgotten that every deployment is different. I've spent so much time trying to figure where I belong during this deployment. Wondering where to volunteer, how to volunteer, when to volunteer, that I'd missed "do you want to volunteer?" Turns out, I didn't. And that's okay. There are so many opportunities where we are, but when I looked at where I was needed, it turns out I was needed at home--kiddos have loved having fresh cookies and I've enjoyed it too.

My faith in God is one of my strong points, but this time in my life has been a true test of that. And so while I continue to countdown the time until we are done here, I also am grateful for all of the things that I learned and was reminded of during this time.

I don't regret a minute of it. :)