As another Thursday rolls around, its time for another weekly positive! I have found in the past few days that I have been spending a lot of time (when driving, or trying to sleep, etc.) thinking about what my positive will be for this week! I think it is a good thing to be always thinking about the positives, rather than dwelling on the negatives.. Shannon told me once that studies show that that generally leads to happier people!
Even though this week's positive I knew a long time ago, I also have a few more to add.
First and definitely most important: Our favorite show, Archer, had it's second season premier tonight. We have been looking forward to this for close to a year and even though I haven't watched it yet- not to worry, its on the DVR- I am absolutely giddy with excitement. Some of the fondest memories of my visits down to Knox and Benning were when Andrew and his friends would just quote Archer episodes over and over again. I'd be lucky to insert one or two lines before they would all finish the quotes for me. It was sure to put me in stitches every time.
Second: I got the contracts for the Hotel Hershey today! It needs some adjustments, but as long as we get it back to them signed, sealed and delivered by February 14th, that baby is ours!
Third: Shannon called me today and said that she was doing a lot of thinking today after being able to communicate with Andrew last night. She made me realize how lucky we are to have instant communication even though we are thousands of miles away from Andrew. I will admit, I have done my fair share of complaining about missing Andrew by a few minutes or only getting to say a few things to him each night, but when you think about it that way, we've been spoiled rotten! I would never trade places with a military family from a previous war and have to wait weeks or even months for a single letter... heck, we all know how crazy that made me after only 15 weeks of Ranger School this summer. And that was with a phone call every few weeks, as well as a 3 week period with phone calls almost every night.
I also thought a lot about my maternal grandparents. (Background: My mother's entire family is German, she was born and raised there, just like all the previous generations of her ancestors. She came to the US for a temporary job in her late twenties, met my dad and after a few years of dating and her moving back and forth from there to here, they got married, had us kids and the rest is history) My grandfather was a Luftwaffe pilot in the Second World War. He flew over 1,000 combat missions and was one of the most decorated German pilots of his time. I have a lot of pride in what he did for his country, but also know that the people who were leading that country were very bad people and did a lot of bad things, which leads to me having a lot of mixed emotions on the subject. But, as Andrew always tells people- he fought mainly on the Eastern Front, so he was just ahead of his time-- he wasn't bombing any Americans, so we should really be thanking him.
My grandparents were engaged in November of 1944 and 13 days later they were married. He had two days leave and then it was back to war. Just before the war ended he was actually captured by the Allied Forces and held as a Prisoner of War. When the war ended, because he was so honored- by friend and foe, alike- he was released. (I have been told they later killed all of the POWs where he was held, but I really don't know the validity of that story.) He walked (and I'm guessing somehow caught rides with people) back to Germany to his wife, who for 6 weeks had no idea if he had survived. She often tells me how hard it was in those days and how she would wait weeks for a letter. Their story is heart-wrenching and I ache for her, because I can only imagine the pain she must have gone through in those weeks, and throughout that entire war.
So the next time I go a day or two without talking to my soldier, you can bet I will be counting my blessings that we live in an era of instant communication and lots of planes bringing letters and care packages galore to and from Afghanistan almost every day!
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