Who's not 22 anymore?

Me! Me! Me!

Today is my birthday and previously I've been a little wary of letting people know that. Mostly because my husband/boyfriend/best friend has either been on deployment, on work-up or at training, in short he's been very far away. And of course when you're busy preparing for war, or actually in a war, you don't remember things like birthdays. So while he was away training and fighting I had to go through my own battery of lessons that a Navy Wife needs.

First Lesson: Don't pay attention to dates. There is a man in the Navy who has a crummy job. I believe he is little, because I just happen to picture a little man, with a comb-over, and those awful glasses everyone in the military has to wear. He sits in a small cubicle in the smallest office, with no windows, and his light flickers. It is his job to go through file after file after file and make crazy schedules for crazy things. He's very systematic in this. He goes through each name and picks them out thinking "Ah, Petty Officer and Mrs. So and So...we haven't screwed them in a month. Into the 'you're f***ed' pile you go." Because he is truly sadistic he makes it a point to write down the important dates that civilians put so much worth in and there is a little buzzer in each file that goes off when those dates come up - meaning he will never miss a Birthday/Anniversary/Due date for a newborn/Funeral/Graduation/First-childs First step to truly make life miserable for all Navy families. When you are the said 'f***ed' family you learn that any day you get to spend with your sailor is an event and that birthdays and anniversaries mean diddly.

If I don't pay attention to the fact that everyone else thinks this is a special day I don't feel so bad that my husband forgot the day. Which is why I didn't like telling other people it was my birthday...so they wouldn't wish me happy birthday and I wouldn't get that icky feeling that I hadn't heard from my sailor in a week. And thus I have trained myself to become that rare girl who is totally okay with not being told "Happy Birthday" from my guy, and there are no hurt feelings and no fights in the future.

This year however, everything is different, because we've been on shore-duty for the past year and a half, and he's finally getting a hold of it. Last year it was awful. His Chiefs were terrible, the work sucked, he felt bad because he wanted to back to the Gulf and keep doing work he knew was important. He just couldn't find his footing in the environment. This year it's much better, he's definitely found his nitch there and is doing work he believes in. And I believe in too.

And he's home.

And he remembered my birthday. Yesterday he reminded me that I can have dinner where ever I'd like (provided it's the French place) and he promised champagne.

So I don't mind letting people know it's my birthday. I don't feel sad or jealous when I see happy people. I feel happy too. Today is a good day, today we have a real special day to spend together. Today I get to turn 23 and I'm not alone.

It's nice to not be afraid of caring about the silly things for once.