Separation

It has been a really hard year for Mike and I. Mike got his separation papers from the navy last month. It's nice to finally know how to plan for our future, but at the same time it's pretty scary. As mentioned before, Mike received a very bad back injury last year and didn't know what would happen to his aviation career. After seeing many doctors, they all told him that flying isn't something he should continue doing. Mike was pretty crushed. This has been his dream since the age of 8, when he first stepped into a plane. I feel really sad for him. He also feels so guilty about getting out. Mike hasn't had to be deployed and he feels like he didn't really pay back his time for the academy. I keep trying to remind him that it's not his fault but he still blames himself. He received his back injury from SERE school. The good news is that he has been medically discharged so we will still be able to receive some benefits from the navy.
His official last day in the navy is August 1st. For the first time in our lives, we can live wherever we want. It's quite exciting to think about. I love that I now have control over my own life. It's also kind of surreal to think about not having to ask permission to take weekend trips. Our future is in limbo right now. We don't really know what is next. Mike applied to two business schools incase this happened, and got wait listed. We were pretty disappointed, as we were hoping to have a plan for our future. It especially seemed nice to me because I love keeping calendars. Since being in the Navy, you can't really keep a calendar, or plan for the future. You never know what will come next or where they might send you. I was so excited because I thought, Mike is going to school and I can finally plan my next step. But instead, we don't know what is happening next. Luckily, we find out from the wait list in June. It's still hard as I would like to apply for jobs but I am trying to learn to let go. I realize that not everything is in my hands.
Mike and I are also planning a few back up plans. He is going to an Academy job conference in DC in a few weeks. He is going to scope out jobs and see if he finds anything that looks interesting. We both also applied to become ESL teachers in both Ecuador and China. It's funny because Mike really wants to do China, while I really want to do Ecuador. We have taught ESL for the last 8 months in our community and really loved it. We also figured we could try applying again for business school next year and just enjoy this year living abroad.
Anyway, my parents are headed up for for Memorial day week. They rented a little beach house by Bainbridge island. I am so excited to see them. My grandma, who I haven't seen in over 5 years, will also be there. I can't wait to see her because she is hilarious. My dad rented a fishing cruise for us on Saturday. I must admit, I am dreading it. It last for 8 hours and I tend to get sea-sick.
Mike has also been gone for the last week and he gets back today. I already have a date night planned out. I get to pick him up from the airport and cannot wait to see him (or give him a few kisses).

mike's graduation day (and he got his diploma from Obama:)