Nothing really

It's been an interesting 3 months, we've had floors put into the house, we've celebrated 2 years together, we've celebrated our birthdays, the seasons have changed and we're starting to get into the Summer. I have gone from waking up and leaving when it's pitch black and getting home when it's almost as dark, to leaving when there's enough light that I don't kill myself walking down the porch steps and I get home when there's still enough light to do yard work.

That's something that I never thought that I'd like doing when I was a kid, yard work. It's not that I didn't like being outside, it was almost impossible to get me either out of the pool or find me when my friends weren't off on vacation somewhere exotic like Yuma AZ. This was of course before I got hooked on video games or later in life, girls.

This Summer I get to watch 2 of my nieces graduate (hopefully if it doesn't rain), while my oldest niece gets married. That's a very touchy subject within my family, the marriage, not the graduations. Darth Older Brother feels that she's making a mistake which will lead to her ruining her life, I had to remind him that even though we have the experience on our side, she's still a teen (19) and I also reminded him about being a teen and our parents trying to tell us that something we were about to embark on would be a mistake, but we didn't listen, we knew what we were doing and that we were right only to find out that experience is the best teacher. MN (Married Niece) is in that position right now, right or wrong, she's made her decision to marry a nice kid who is in the Navy fresh out of boot camp and in Nuke school. I made the suggestion that they wait until he's out of school and the Navy before getting married so that he can do his Navy stuff without guilt, as I'm sure did her mom, dad, and younger sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles on her dad's side, friends and probably other assorted strangers who were on the fringe of the conversation, she wasn't having any of that. She's chosen to take a difficult path in life, her husband is planning on making sure that she continues and completes school to get her degrees, now if she'll just listen to him. :) 

One thing that almost everyone probably forgot to ask was one question, is this a head, heart or gut decision. It was a gut decision, with that there is only one thing to do, love her and her new husband, wish them well and be there for when she has questions.

Now that the easy part is over, the I Do's have been said, now comes the hard part, Life. She's hard headed enough to survive out there, they seem to be commited enough to each other to stick it out. Hopefully she'll make friends before he goes out to the fleet for the 1 1/2 years on a carrier and the additional 6 months on tours in either WestPac or EastAtl depending on where he's stationed.

The one thing that can be done and should be done is that her parents should take solice in the thought that they, like our parents, have given the tools to survive, thrive and prosper.