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New and improved blog coming soon... I think.

as soon as I can get my ducks in a row.

Look what I just bought!!

Patriotic Preschoolers

The Truth About Me (and a bunch of other people)

*The average age of the military wife/girlfriend is 20 years old.

*She probably never saw herself loving a man who was in the military, but she loves him regardless.

*Her penmanship has improved over the last few months, due to the excessive letter writing she has been doing.

*She cries a lot, because she misses the man she swore to love. Her life isn't complete without him.

*She looks very tired, because of her many nights without sleep, due to a late night phone call that never came or a call that came and kept her up all night, just because she heard his voice, she is too overjoyed to sleep.

*As a wife, she is classified as a dependent, but she is totally independent.

*She tends to her household, her kids, her school work, and her job, all without her husband/boyfriend.

*She manages to wear a smile, even though inside she's crying.

*She understands that the man she loves has to go far away.

*She understands that he can be taken away from her in a moments notice.

*She feels a great sense of pride and probably cries whenever she hears the National Anthem, sees a flag blowing in the breeze, or watches the news and hears about another death in Iraq or Afghanistan or some where else, she worries that it might be him.

*She goes weeks without a call or a letter, but she writes him whenever she gets a free moment.

*She knows how to convert civilian time into military time.

*Before he left she used to complain if she didn't see him for a day or two, but now she gets annoyed when she hears someone complaining about not seeing their boyfriends for a couple of hours.

*She may not have seen him for months but she remembers everything about him, every scar he has, the way he smells, whether or not he snores.

*She has every picture of him and they are out and in frames, she stares at them for hours on end.

*She has read every letter at least 40 times.

*Even though her man is a half a world away, she still manages to go on with her life, as he would want her to.

*She is the one who has to remain strong, and explain to the children why daddy hasn't been home.

*She's the one who has to deal with bachelor's on the prowl, because her man is in another state or country, and can't protect her.

*She's the married woman who takes out the trash, pays all the bills, fixes things, carries all the groceries in, and kids and their stuff, fills the gas tank, and opens her own door.

*Military couples are put to the true test of love. Faithfulness. Not just yo man going out with the guys. Therefore making the relationship deeper.

*She keeps in touch with his family and friends because he cannot.

*She is truly in love, to do all this for her man, and never give up.

Some advice

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Class of 2006

The Faculty of the College of Arts and Letters
of Old Dominion University announces that

YOURS TRULY

is a candidate for the degree of
Bachelor of Science
with a major in Interdisciplinary Studies,
a minor in Special Education and
a concentration in Early Childhood Education.
Commencement exercises will be held
at the Ted Constant Convocation Center
on Saturday, May 6, 2006.