Since my last post, things went from pretty bad to worse for me. In addition to the divorce, my 45 year old aunt passed away, and I ended up leaving my job at the crazy place (long story- I'll post about it sometime) and finding a new one...in Afghanistan. I left Tampa in late February to begin the process of deploying overseas (I'm not in the military, I went there as a civilian doing government contract work). After several weeks of training, medical exams, and other very fun and exciting things, I traveled to Afghanistan and began my job as an Adminstrator there. Intially things were fine for me. I wasn't bothered by much at all, but after a while I started to become homesick. It sucked sitting over there missing everything and everyone here in the states. It got to the point that I couldn't even look at Facebook anymore because it just broke my heart to see everyone having fun and living life while I sat in utter boredom and misery there, and it made me miss my friends SO much it hurt.
I had an idea of what to expect- I mean, you hear the word "Afghanistan" and the Ritz Carlton doesn't exactly come to mind. A big part of being there is learning to live without. We went 5 days without hot water in very cold weather when I first got there. I lived in a plywood hut with no running water. The nearest female bathroom was a far hike from my hut. Ramen noodles were actually a luxury item, and if you could get your hands on a power strip you were in awesome shape. None of this really bothered me. I had a few comforts shipped over (my bedding was one), but all in all you just learn how to do without.
The job was great, people were fine (the ones I worked with anyway), but I just didn't belong there. I decided to come back to Florida, and I've been here about a week now.
I know it sounds crazy but I'm really glad that I went overseas. I definitely learned a lot and had a while to reflect on my life and what's really important. Before I went I was just a mess, hanging in limbo and feeling sorry for myself. While I was there I realized that I have a ton to be grateful for. Who cares about a big house and a boat? Those things won't be holding my hand when I'm 80. I realized that I needed to evaluate myself and appreciate the relationships that I have with the good people in my life.
This is me in Kuwait, preparing to fly to Afghanistan.