JANUARY
The year 2011 started with my eyes closed. Literally. I went to bed at 11:00 pm on New Year's Eve. I know. Kind of lame, but it's what I do. I spent the first two days or so of the New Year at home with my family before packing up my car to drive back down to Florida for our Return Staff Training in Yulee. I broke up my drive by first going to Columbus, Ohio, to pick up Jeremiah at his sister's house then we stopped in South Carolina near Charleston to camp for the night before finishing the drive to Yulee.
The first two days (or was it three?) of Return Staff were spent at the outdoor community pool doing Emergency Water Safety training with Amy A and Jon Howard. Luckily, the pool was heated, but that didn't keep my knees, hands, and feet from turning purple. Most of the skills and concepts we learned were review for me from lifeguarding. The next six days of Return Staff were spent out on the St. Mary's River on expedition with my other wonderful intern friends and assistant instructors. Katie Dalbey, Csilla, and Adam acted as our trainers and put us through the paces. We spent a lot of time focusing on diversity, which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, the last two days we were out were cold, wet, and miserable, but we persevered (unlike the group of lead instructors who called it quits a day early and only paddled about 7 miles total) and ended up having a really great time. To finish up Return Staff, several of us went through PAR training. I don't think our instructor Craig ever thought I was listening because Nick and I were having too much fun putting each other into restraints, but I passed the test with flying colors.
From Return Staff, Jeremiah and I loaded up my car and drove down to Sarasota, Florida, on the west coast, and spent about five or six days with my grandparents. It was a really relaxing week spent going to the beach, going for runs, and lounging around. At the end of our stay, we drove up to Tampa, stopping at the Tampa Electric Company to see all the manatees floating in the warm water, and stayed with my aunt and uncle for a night. The next morning, I took Jeremiah to the bus stop to head back to Yulee while I stayed another night before catching a flight home to Wisconsin for a quick weeklong visit.
FEBRUARY
I flew back to Florida the first Friday of February and immediately got in my car and drove to Yulee for Superbowl weekend. For those of you who don't remember, the Packers won. =) That Monday, I then made my way west to Alabama, stopping to pick up my co-instructor Sue Polege along the way.
We started brief for FRS20 and soon had 10 teenage boys on our hands. It started off as a bit of a crazy course and three of our students were removed (two after epic runaway chases down the highway for about five miles...my Chacos held up great!), but after bringing in some extra help and having a motivational re-tone set with our boys, the rest of the course from river visit on went super well. I have never had a group be so successful at Shipwreck. I think I was beaming the entire night as I sat and watched them go through their evening. I was super proud of those boys.
MARCH
My birthday started with a wonderful 4.5 mile PCE through Fairhope neighborhoods. I actually managed to finish it three times with three different sets of my boys. I think seeing them run into their parents' arms is still one of my favorite moments of course. The rest of the afternoon I spent cleaning gear, talking on the phone to family and friends, and going out to dinner with my co-instructors (along with a little bit of paperwork...what can I say, it's me!). Our follow-up went relatively smooth, minus two of our kids not finishing.
The day after we finished up, I caught an early flight to Milwaukee to go to my grandparents to take care of them for a week as my grandpa was recovering from a partial foot amputation and my grandma had recently fallen and broken her arm. I spent the week helping around the house and driving them too and from appointments. It was really great to get to have this time with them.
To get back down south, my parents and brother drove me, making pit stops in Milwaukee (for a snowmobile race) Indianapolis and Nashville along the way for some sightseeing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (we kissed the bricks), the NCAA museum (or something like that), and some live music at a bar near our hotel (we got to hear a woman play the banjo who used to be on a tv show back when my parents were kids). We ended in Fairhope, where I got to show my family the base and Fairhope as well as Gulf Shores and the beach there (which is beautiful...no wonder so many people from Appleton go down there for spring break!).
Before my family left to go back to Wisconsin, we drove to New Orleans where we met my uncle, who works in the financial department for the University of Wisconsin-Madison athletic department, and went to the Sweet Sixteen games between BYU v. Connecticut and Wisconsin v. Butler. Unfortunately, neither of the teams I wanted to win did, but it was still a fun time. The next day, my family headed north while I headed east on Highway 10 to Yulee to see Jeremiah for the first time in almost six weeks.
I spent the next three weeks (or something like that) in Yulee spending time with Jeremiah and other instructors at the beach house. Jeremiah and I and three friends headed down to Gainsville for a day to go climbing at a gym there. We also took a road trip up to Savannah, Georgia, and explored the city as well as neighboring Tybee Island (where the movie The Last Song was filmed for you Nicholas Sparks fans). I also went for a long weekend up to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to visit my dear childhood friend, Jenny Kneezel, for a few days as well as spend a night with some family friends, the Clares.
APRIL
When I got back from my adventure to North Carolina, I picked up Jeremiah and we headed south to Key Largo for Glades Training with the infamous Amy A, Kim Reid, and Dan Starks. It was a week full of laughter and good times along with a lot of learning (we got hopelessly lost in the Labyrinth for several hours) and some epic paddling. I loved the Glades as it reminded me a lot of being out in the Boundary Waters with its remoteness. Our group definitely made the trip as well (there were six of us trainees). We managed to paddle the Gauntlet (which is about a 30+ mile paddle) in, I think, 17 hours, including stops for lunch, dinner, and a quick 45-minute nap at about 3am.
After Glades Training, Jeremiah and I road tripped north, making stops in Fernandina at the beach house as well as Asheville, NC at his friend Mike's family's lake house, before arriving in Sunman, Indiana, at his parents house. We spent several days there with his family, celebrating Easter, then drove up to Appleton for him to meet my family. We kept ourselves pretty busy in Appleton, and before I knew it, it was time for me to drop him off in Columbus, OH, and head back south to Scottsmoor for my next course. It was an extremely hard good-bye for me and a big part of me just wanted to stay there with him. But, I made myself get in my car and head for my next OB adventure.
MAY
I was extremely nervous for my Scottsmoor course as I hadn't been in the field with kids in a lllllllooooooonnnnnnggggg time (about six weeks). Our brief was extremely laid back, which was nice and helped me feel more comfortable, but our course proved otherwise. It was an extremely challenging course, probably my worst course ever and my least favorite, but I survived. It was an endurance test and a test of patience, which was good for me. I was a happy girl when follow-up was done, especially since I was going to Ohio.
JUNE
I flew to Ohio the first weekend of June to be with Jeremiah for his younger sister Nikki's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony and day, and I enjoyed getting to meet all of Jeremiah's family. I stayed with him until the Wednesday after the wedding then once again boarded the plane to fly back to Miami to start brief for my next course in Key Largo the following day.
KLF192 was a stellar course and just the course I needed after such a rough one. I got to work with some absolutely awesome people (Phil Rosa, Alex Tiberio, and Hope McArthur) and had a fun group of boys. We had some pretty crazy weather while we were out (which seemed to come every night we started on a new river or any night we had mac n cheese), but also had a lot of fun. It was the first time I ever had to do a legitimate lightning drill (I know, crazy) in addition to contemplating whether or not I had to make sure all the kids were out of the water before me if an alligator attacked (turns out I do). During solo of this course, Jeremiah and I broke up, which was extremely difficult for me, since I still had half a course left to do in addition to follow-up. It actually ended up being good for me because I was so focused and distracted on doing my job that I didn't have time to focus on my broken heart. The carrot that kept me going through follow-up was a plane ticket home, where I knew I could and would fall to pieces.
JULY
I spent the Fourth of July doing lots of paperwork at base and ended up watching the fireworks that night with Alex standing on the sidewalk that runs along Highway 1. Nothing spectacular, but it worked for me.
I drove to my aunt and uncle's in Tampa the day after our course ended and got to hang out with my uncle watching the U.S. play in the Women's World Cup (he had taped the game just for me to watch) all afternoon. He took me to the airport that night, and my parents picked me up in Milwaukee. The week I got to spend at home was much needed, and there was lots of crying done. At the end of the week, I wasn't too eager to leave, but I got on the plane anyways and found myself back in Florida. I spent the night with my aunt and uncle then drove to Alabama the next day. At the conclusion of that drive, I had managed to drive or paddle the perimeter of the entire state of Florida that year. =)
I arrived in Fairhope and soon found out I had an extra day of down time than I had originally thought, which was great news to me. I enjoyed my two days of rest before jumping in to brief for a 14-17 Intercept course with Shannon and Lance. I had worked with Shannon on an Intercept course the previous November. And, of course, AJ was my CD (who else would be at this point...although, I guess Katie technically started as my CD for this course then left us at solo).
AUGUST
(Intercept course continued) We ended up having a super high functioning group of kids (three girls and five boys) who amazed us all by getting on Final on day 12 of course (a record in my book). They were a great group, and after solo, we got to have "instructor days off" since the kids were pretty self-reliant in all areas and weren't at risk of killing each other. It was my first course with no separations or restraints in addition to none of the kids using a real course tool to get all their course tool checks to go from Training to Main. We had a successful family weekend and a relatively easy debrief.
I ended up sticking around after our debrief to help out with the 12-13 year old Intercept course family weekend. A large reason I did this was because I hadn't seen my partner in crime (Nick) since March. I also got to spend time with my dear friend Kristin Thomas, who I would soon become attached at the hip over the course of the next month.
SEPTEMBER
Instead of driving home immediately after helping with family weekend, Kristin convinced me to come to the beach house for a week. After my first day there, I ended up on the phone with my mom crying because I wanted to come home, but the reality was I was just coming down from my course high and transition stressing like I always do. I settled in after that and had an absolutely fantastic weekend surrounded by so many people I love. It ended up being a bit of a madhouse at one point during the week with people crashing on the floor and couches all over the place. But in the end, it was a blast.
I took off for home the day before Labor Day and managed to make it about an hour south of home (which is equivalent to about 20 or 21 hours of non-stop solo driving) before I had to pull over at a rest stop and sleep because my eyes refused to stay open. I knew that making the solo drive from Florida to Wisconsin probably wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had, but I had to do it once! I ended up "napping" from about 4:00am to 6:00am before finishing the drive home, stumbling up the steps to the house, saying hi to my parents, and crashing until 4:00pm that afternoon. I honestly felt like I had the worst hangover for the next two days and I hadn't even had a drop of alcohol.
I headed over to western Wisconsin my first weekend home to participate in the MS Original Mud Run. While it turned into a mud walk/slog by the end of the 6 miles, it was an absolute blast, and I can't wait to do another one! (See before and after pics below)
Mom and I met on Ballard one afternoon to eat at this new restaurant, called the Kangaroostaurant, which was a mobile restaurant that travels around the city of Appleton and parks at a different place each day during the lunch hour. It was a beautiful day, so Bailey and I had walked down there to meet Mom. Sadly, their fryer was broke so we didn't get any of their famous sweet potato fries.
My time home was pretty jam packed with people to see and things to do. I felt extremely productive, which was awesome. I got to see both sets of grandparents as well as go to a Brewers game with my dad. The highlight of the game was when he and I were walking out of the stadium behind this couple and their little boy, who couldn't have been more then 6 or 7. The little boy was jazzed out of his mind. I, of course being the comedian that I am, proceeded to narrate what I thought the little boy was saying as he walked along, baseball glove in one hand and ticket in the other. At one point, he jumped in the air like he was catching a hit up against the outfield wall. When we got out to the parking lot, this little guy saw another little boy tossing a baseball up and down and asked him where he got it. His spirits seemed to droop a little since he didn't have a ball. I looked at my dad and told him that I had to give him the ball that one of the players from the Rockies had tossed to us. So, I called for the little guy to stop and squatted down in front of him and asked him if he would take the ball home. Talk about priceless. The expression on that little boy's face was priceless. Pretty sure his mom's jaw dropped a little bit when she realized what I was doing. He was speechless, and my heart filled with joy. That ball would have disappeared into a box or my dog's stomach whereas I'm sure that little guy paraded it around for weeks, showing all of his friends and family the treasure he had gotten at his first Brewers' game. My dad and I continued our walk to our car. As we walked, the family drove by, and our little friend poked his head out of the window and shouted thank you. I wanted to tell him thank you.
The other great thing that happened while I was home was that I got to see my grandfather, who was turning 80 the day I left to go back south. I had made him a book online on Shutterfly with pictures of him and I. I guess he looked through that book 100 times the day he got it and showed everyone he knows. I think he still does. =)
My drive back to Alabama I decided to be a bit smarter and break up into two days, so the first day I made a detour and stopped in Macomb, IL, where one of my best college friends, Mariana Sanchez, is going to grad school and working as a grad assistant for the women's soccer team and our former coach, Tony Guinn. I hadn't seen her in a year and a half, so it was wonderful getting to catch up with her. The next day I had about a 14 hour marathon drive to Fairhope. The people waiting at the other end for me, though, were more than worth it (Kristin, Alex, and Dave!). The most recent NST had just finished that day, so base was bumping.
Originally, I was supposed to be doing a 10-day IMPACT course with Kristin, but due to the inability to recruit kids for the courses, Kristin and I got nominated to go out to the local schools and recruit kids for the rest of the fall. It was fun getting a behind the scenes look at what goes on while we're out on course. I also ended up helping with a STEP solo and course end in addition to the course end of the first round of IMPACT and another STEP course start. During my time there, my dear friend Alexis arrived to brief for her next course which was with Nick (so he was there, too). Amy A showed up as well to start her new position as CD at Five Rivers along with Britt who started her new job as Logistics Coordinator. It was so fun to have all these people around. I ended up getting a new tattoo during this time(!) but you'll have to ask to see that the next time I see you. =)
My September ended with a drive to the beach house with Alex Busack, as she needed to go back to start briefing for a course in Scottsmoor. That night, I got to see Dave again (whoa! two times in one month might be overkill...lol) and reunite with my future co-instructors Liz and Eric. I spent the rest of that week at the beach house prepping for course, going for long runs on the beach, going to yoga, and sleeping in. It was magical and just what I needed to get me ready for course.
OCTOBER
Liz and I drove down to Key Largo and met Eric there. We started brief for KLF196 on Sunday morning then picked up our last co Mark in Miami at the airport that night. Brief was a bit hectic and stressful, but we eventually got our kids and, well, you can read my previous blog posts to learn about this course. All in all, it was a crazy, hectic, stressful, exhausting course and I LOVED IT! I fell in love with my kids and my co's and came off of that course riding a high like no other. I felt like I was in a really great place at the end of that course and at a high point in my instructing career. I hope that continues over into my next course.
NOVEMBER
Our follow-up ended on 11/11/11, and sadly, I didn't end up getting married that day even though it had been my dream. The next day, Liz and I drove back up to the beach house where I spent a few days before heading out on my epic road trip west (which I have partially documented in previous blog posts...I'll finish them someday).
DECEMBER
My road trip ended in Alabama for All Staff. It was a bit of a somber week as we were not certain whether or not NCOBS would be taking our Florida bases under their wing or not. But there was also lots of laughter, learning, and love that took place. I enjoyed this All Staff much more so than the year before, probably because I knew everyone there. =) It was also so much fun having our NST82 group reunited. There are 7 of us left! More than any other NST there other than the newest batch. I love those people so much. I love my entire OB family so much. Turns out there is life after college, although had you asked me that a year and a half ago I would've said otherwise.
I left Alabama on the 16th with my friend Mimi as my co-pilot, and we drove to Louisville, her hometown, where her family graciously let me spend the night. The next day was a rough day of driving for me. I had stopped to take two naps by 2:00pm and was more than likely looking at a third when Dave texted me and offered for me to crash at his parent's house in Chicago for the night. I took him up on the offer and was able to drive home on the 18th with a recharged battery.
The past week or so has been pretty laid back, spending most of my time at home with my family or going to see family, and have recently gotten to see some of my close high school friends. Oh, yeah, we go to go to the Packers v. Chicago game on Christmas day. Go Pack Go!
It has been a year chock full of adventure with plenty of ups and downs. I continue to feel blessed each and everyday for the amazing people God has put in my life as well as the opportunities He has put in my path. There are many days that I cannot believe this is my life, but I am so glad it is. I am looking forward to the new year and pray that it continues to bring good health and happiness to those I hold dear.
Thank you to all of you who have been a part of my 2011! Let's ring in the New Year! =)
Don't cry because it's over...smile because it happened. -- the great and wonderful, Dr. Seuss
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