It's been far too long since I wrote an update to our blog post. Originally I was going to just write a summary of what's been happening with us as a couple lately, and really, it's been months since we did one of those. So, briefly, here goes:
Yain and I spent a wonderful Thanksgiving together following my graduation from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. We were able to visit my family in Arizona. Then it was back to work at a new base in Texas for a month before Christmas, where we passed two busy weeks; still our longest time spent together since our wedding. A few difficult months later (whose relationship doesn't have a difficult time or two?), we were AT LAST able to meet up in Hawaii and make a home for ourselves and get settled in together. For a week. The Army sent Yain off to Washington for a language refresher course just after I arrived on the island. So that brings us to today. Still together, but still very much apart. But the sun is starting to peek out over the edge of the dark horizon. In just a few short weeks, we'll be reunited, and hopefully, after fourteen months of waiting, we'll finally be able to start living a real life. Like real married people. Doing real people things. Like going to work. And doing dishes. And laundry. Or something.That's what real people do, right? I guess we'll find out soon.
Back to the title. Maybe it's time for a rewind. This is something I've been thinking about lately. Since we have a house located between our two bases in opposite directions, I find myself with sometimes nearly three hours of driving time every day. Driving alone is interesting. It seems to go in phases. At first it's exciting and new. Then the vibrations wear on you and sort of dull you to the experience you're having. Maybe you stop paying attention to what you're actually doing. Maybe you start to get sleepy. Maybe you zone out. After this phase you realize you're not doing yourself any favors by driving sleepily at seventy miles an hour in a metal box, so you maybe roll the windows down or turn the music up. Then through the course of your drive you exhaust every single one of the tracks on the album of your choice and you don't really feel like starting a new one. It's at this point that your mental state is kinda interesting. You chased the tired away with the wind in your hair, your mind is active now because of the void it's trying to fill from the lack of music blasting your eardrums into oblivion, and you make a startling realization: I'm thinking.
Maybe it's just me, but have you ever taken time to stop a second and realize that it's been a while since you've had time to actually think about anything? In your busy life, how often do you take a moment to consider anything? I had this epiphany a few days ago while making the drive home, and I was stunned to come to the same realization myself. I have a somewhat hectic life. Typically, I'm up around 4am or on a bad day, 3:45 so that I can make it to where I need to be at five. I go to work, which in any given day may consist of taking online courses, going to a meeting, preparing to be dropped in water while strapped into an upside-down helicopter, studying Chinese, running a few miles, or cleaning a warehouse (Oh wait... That was just today). After all this, I'm usually home around 5:30 or 6pm, at which point I still have a few chores to do around the house before trying to get to bed early so I'm not too tired the next day. Don't misunderstand: we're all this busy. Some of you are even mothers, for crying out loud! Heaven bless your souls. And if you're reading this and don't understand what I mean about mothers being the busiest people in... ever... Don't worry. You just are clearly not a mother.
The point I'm getting at is this: In our busy lives, do we ever take time to reflect? Do we take time to rewind this artificial clock we've set for ourselves that we somehow set to tick faster as it goes? Believe it or not, there's a person underneath all the things we do. We aren't just what a compilation of the activities we fill our days with. No, quite to the contrary, there is actually a brilliant and glorious being inside of us, waiting for the moment that we glance it's way, knowing that we will someday, and hoping that we do it sooner rather than later. Maybe it's time that we reconnect with the one that knows us best. Ourselves. Just today, on the drive home, I was thinking about this and had a wonderful several minutes, just imagining things. Silly things. Fantastical things. Dreams of mine. And I loved every minute of it.
When I was younger, I used to spend the entire day playing. Just running around and imagining I was doing some pretty crazy things. One day I might be an astronaut, and the next, I might be a cowboy. Or a spy. Or a gymnast. Or the President of the United States. Honestly, who didn't play like that? And as I grew older, I kinda just... Stopped. I think we've labelled this as "growing up" and praise those who do it quickly. Maybe once we've achieved this "grown up" state, we tell ourselves that we're done with those things. But are we really? Based on my daydreaming today, I'd be inclined to think that we didn't ever actually outgrow this part of ourselves, but instead suppressed it by giving our brain other things to think about. We filled our time with so many activities that our minds didn't have any wiggle room within which to function.
Am I suggesting we abandon our lives and spend our every day fantasizing about worlds and times beyond our own? No. But I do tend to believe that if we were to occasionally set aside some of the artificial things we fill our time with and reach back to that earlier, simpler time where the only version of us that existed was the real one, well... We might like what we find. Maybe it's time for a rewind?
Yain and I spent a wonderful Thanksgiving together following my graduation from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. We were able to visit my family in Arizona. Then it was back to work at a new base in Texas for a month before Christmas, where we passed two busy weeks; still our longest time spent together since our wedding. A few difficult months later (whose relationship doesn't have a difficult time or two?), we were AT LAST able to meet up in Hawaii and make a home for ourselves and get settled in together. For a week. The Army sent Yain off to Washington for a language refresher course just after I arrived on the island. So that brings us to today. Still together, but still very much apart. But the sun is starting to peek out over the edge of the dark horizon. In just a few short weeks, we'll be reunited, and hopefully, after fourteen months of waiting, we'll finally be able to start living a real life. Like real married people. Doing real people things. Like going to work. And doing dishes. And laundry. Or something.That's what real people do, right? I guess we'll find out soon.
Back to the title. Maybe it's time for a rewind. This is something I've been thinking about lately. Since we have a house located between our two bases in opposite directions, I find myself with sometimes nearly three hours of driving time every day. Driving alone is interesting. It seems to go in phases. At first it's exciting and new. Then the vibrations wear on you and sort of dull you to the experience you're having. Maybe you stop paying attention to what you're actually doing. Maybe you start to get sleepy. Maybe you zone out. After this phase you realize you're not doing yourself any favors by driving sleepily at seventy miles an hour in a metal box, so you maybe roll the windows down or turn the music up. Then through the course of your drive you exhaust every single one of the tracks on the album of your choice and you don't really feel like starting a new one. It's at this point that your mental state is kinda interesting. You chased the tired away with the wind in your hair, your mind is active now because of the void it's trying to fill from the lack of music blasting your eardrums into oblivion, and you make a startling realization: I'm thinking.
Maybe it's just me, but have you ever taken time to stop a second and realize that it's been a while since you've had time to actually think about anything? In your busy life, how often do you take a moment to consider anything? I had this epiphany a few days ago while making the drive home, and I was stunned to come to the same realization myself. I have a somewhat hectic life. Typically, I'm up around 4am or on a bad day, 3:45 so that I can make it to where I need to be at five. I go to work, which in any given day may consist of taking online courses, going to a meeting, preparing to be dropped in water while strapped into an upside-down helicopter, studying Chinese, running a few miles, or cleaning a warehouse (Oh wait... That was just today). After all this, I'm usually home around 5:30 or 6pm, at which point I still have a few chores to do around the house before trying to get to bed early so I'm not too tired the next day. Don't misunderstand: we're all this busy. Some of you are even mothers, for crying out loud! Heaven bless your souls. And if you're reading this and don't understand what I mean about mothers being the busiest people in... ever... Don't worry. You just are clearly not a mother.
The point I'm getting at is this: In our busy lives, do we ever take time to reflect? Do we take time to rewind this artificial clock we've set for ourselves that we somehow set to tick faster as it goes? Believe it or not, there's a person underneath all the things we do. We aren't just what a compilation of the activities we fill our days with. No, quite to the contrary, there is actually a brilliant and glorious being inside of us, waiting for the moment that we glance it's way, knowing that we will someday, and hoping that we do it sooner rather than later. Maybe it's time that we reconnect with the one that knows us best. Ourselves. Just today, on the drive home, I was thinking about this and had a wonderful several minutes, just imagining things. Silly things. Fantastical things. Dreams of mine. And I loved every minute of it.
When I was younger, I used to spend the entire day playing. Just running around and imagining I was doing some pretty crazy things. One day I might be an astronaut, and the next, I might be a cowboy. Or a spy. Or a gymnast. Or the President of the United States. Honestly, who didn't play like that? And as I grew older, I kinda just... Stopped. I think we've labelled this as "growing up" and praise those who do it quickly. Maybe once we've achieved this "grown up" state, we tell ourselves that we're done with those things. But are we really? Based on my daydreaming today, I'd be inclined to think that we didn't ever actually outgrow this part of ourselves, but instead suppressed it by giving our brain other things to think about. We filled our time with so many activities that our minds didn't have any wiggle room within which to function.
Am I suggesting we abandon our lives and spend our every day fantasizing about worlds and times beyond our own? No. But I do tend to believe that if we were to occasionally set aside some of the artificial things we fill our time with and reach back to that earlier, simpler time where the only version of us that existed was the real one, well... We might like what we find. Maybe it's time for a rewind?
