A Day to Remember

FLASHBACK:

In High School I did all that I could to avoid donating blood.  First I had the legit excuse that I wasn't old enough, which was 100% true... for the first year and a half.  Then I just tried to lay low and fly under the radar and "conveniently forget" or some other ridiculous excuse.  Finally my Senior year I decided I was going to do it.  I was going to be brave and donate blood.  

The theory was good, the execution... not so much.  I ended up freaking out and didn't get past all the ridiculous questions, the finger prick, and being motioned to the chair of death.  Another guy who I graduated with ended up passing out before he could donate too.  The ironic thing about the whole thing is that both him and I have been hunting our whole lives and are not bothered one bit by animals, but can't seem to donate blood ourselves.  

PRESENT DAY:

I am absolutely terrified of needles, shots, TB tests, blood usage, ext. and would not consider donating blood in the near future regardless of how convincing of a sales person I meet.  I even shutter at the thought of having a needle stuck in my skin and have not had a shot since Jr. High.  Which is why Saturday's events were so significant. 

 I, mostly willingly, got up on Saturday morning and drove to a Medical Lab and got my blood drawn.  I didn't completely freak out, I didn't pass out, and I made it through alive and well.  All I had to give up was my Virgin Veins.  It is an event ever to be remembered in the history of Jessica Brown. 

~ Courage ~ Bravery ~ Success ~ Triumph ~

There is Beauty all Around

The summer is coming to a close.  There are, once again, many things that will be changing again here in the next couple weeks.  I truly do love my life and I am extremely happy now but I certainly will be very pleased when we finally settle down somewhere, in the same city if not the same house, for more than a year.  I think about the person I was just two years ago.  I had never been on a plane, I had lived in Arizona my entire life.  Now I am a regular at the airport and don't care to admit how much money has been spent on plane tickets for 2012.  I am now bouncing back and forth living in Alaska and Hawaii, with no idea what or where the future holds and what other adventures we will encounter on the way.  

I have spent this summer in Alaska and have had the opportunity to do many things that would not have happened otherwise.  I have found the cause and the cure to my, what seemed like chronic headaches.  Turns out it was easy as pie... or cake... or ice cream and cookie dough for that matter.  The problem was sugar.  I am pleased to report that I have been off sugar all summer and am feeling great.  It is now a rare occurrence for me to have a headache.  I don't even miss the crap I used to eat on a regular basis  :)

I was able to find a good dance studio in Anchorage that was offering adult classes this summer.  It has been a blessing in my life and a source of light and joy.  I have come to many realizations about myself and my life this summer, one of them being that I absolutely love dancing and it is something I always want to have in my life.  No matter where we live or what is going on I want to be taking classes or in a company somewhere.  Dancing is good for my soul.  

One weekend while Matt was off working, making lots of money for me to spend, I had the opportunity to attend an Air Show.  I had never been to one before, I had heard of them and seen them on tv and in movies but that was it.  Matt's parents and I decided that we would go and check it out this year, apparently the entire population of Alaska had a similar idea...  It took over 2 hours to get there,  what would normally be about a 15-20 minute drive.  

It was a fun day.  We got to explore a lot of planes and helicopters including the inside of a huge cargo plane and one of the biggest helicopters.  They also had everything from some tiny old school planes from who knows when to gigantic FedEx carriers.  In the midst of everything we managed to find ourselves a couple Reindeer dogs for lunch.  Yummo!  

The actual Air Show was sweet.  It was called Arctic Thunder, performed by the Thunderbirds.  The planes did lots of cool tricks and neat formations.  Definitely worth going to see.  It was also my first time being on the Airforce base in Anchorage.   

When the summer if officially over I will have survived 4 full months of not having a full time husband.  So while the start of school will bring business and craziness it will also allow me to have my husband back again!  WooHoo!  I can't complain too much though, I have been well taken care of and he has been preparing the way for our future.  It also enabled me to appreciate him even more when he was home for a few days here and there.  

One day when I happened to have Matt all to myself for a few hours we decided to enjoy Alaska's beautiful outdoors.  We visited a place I have driven by a million times but never actually stopped to enjoy called Potter's Marsh.  It is a place at the base of a mountain where rain water and snow runoff accumulates thus creating a marshy area.  There are a ton of birds that live here and there is a stream that runs through that holds some huge fish.  They have built a boardwalk through part of the marsh in order to make it more accessible to the public.  It made for a very nice walk in the sunshine.  

That day was funny because one half of the sky was beautiful blue skies and sunny and the other half looked like threatening rain clouds.  That and the combination of a shall we say lame camera makes for less than perfect pictures.  

I have a wonderful husband and am so grateful for the sacrifices he makes for our family.  I cannot thank him enough for supporting me and showing me love continually.  He is one awesome guy.  A guy that will be all mine in one week :)