Aviator Wings

Josh sent me a presnt for Christmas, which technically means I opened it up too early. I honestly didn't know if it was the present he mentioned or not, by the way it was packaged. I had an idea of what he was going to get me. When Josh got his Aviator Wings in 2003, he bought me some wings just like in the picture (as all good aviators do for their wives!) that I wore for 3 years. Well this past summer I took it off when we were going swimming and somehow lost it. I was very upset. To me, the wings were not only his accomplishment but they were mine as well. He joined the Navy, but so did I. The two years of flight school were tough for him, and they were tough for me. The wings meant that he was done with school and was a pilot, and finally felt like he was really part of the Navy! To me it represented a chapter of our lives that seemed never ending, and was finally over, but just beginning. It meant a lot to me that today of all days I got this package in the mail. It reminded me that our decision for Josh to join the Navy was the correct decision, and that after finding out today that he didn't get into the Olmstead program (for graduate school) that he really had wanted to get into; that things happen for a reason. He loves to fly, and I've loved being able to live in the different places we've lived. We've been blessed with all the friends that we've been able to make along the way. Today was a terrible day for me, I won't go into it because in the end it really won't matter in 30 years. To me these little wings of gold represent how far we've come in this Navy career, and how far we will go, and that we have an unknown adventure ahead of us. When Josh joined the Navy, the slogan on their commercials was, "Let the Journey Begin", truly that's exactly how it has been. A Journey, an Adventure.