The Briefest of Summaries of the Past Year

I have a wedding dress. I have a florist and a caterer, a venue and an officiant. I have a photographer and a DJ. I am all ready for my wedding, now less than 2 months away. I haven't updated my blog, because not much has changed in the last year. I'm still an electrical engineering student at Calvin College. I still live in my same apartment in Grand Rapids, and am still engaged to Cody.

At LDAC last summer, I learned to call cadences effortlessly and to march on beat without missing a step. I learned to make a cocoon from a sleeping mat and a poncho, and to thoroughly clean an M-16. I slept in canvas tents and beneath the stars, and made new friends. I secured my place in the Army, and look forward to commissioning on May 22 as a Signal Corps officer.

My fiance and I no longer have to worry about spending our first few months of marriage in two different states; Cody will be moving up to Grand Rapids for our final semester of school, commuting to Chicago once a week.

I am building an amphibious robot equipped with a metal detector in my final semester of college. My senior design project, Amphibot, will be ready to present on Senior Design night in May. My teammates and I make up the first group of all women, at least in years if not ever, in Calvin's engineering history.

It's a good life I lead. I'm a lucky woman.

An Update on Why Life is Good

Junior year is more than half over already, and I'm getting old. Five semesters out of eight, over already. I'm only a week away from being finished with my third and final interim course. I've learned a lot in the last three years.

ROTC is becoming increasingly important in my day, as this summer, I'll be attending LDAC- "summer camp" to test and assess my grasp of basic cadet skills and knowledge. And when it's over... hopefully I'll be learning my Army future. The goal: active duty service as a Signal Corps 2nd Lieutenant. Stationed overseas, if I can get it. Germany, if possible.

But no matter what I get, no matter where I go, at least Cody will be going with me :) Over the past five months, we've begun planning for our wedding. Thirteen months from now, on February 21, 2015, Cody and I will marry here in Grand Rapids. We'll have a few more months to finish up school before we can honeymoon, move in together, and start our "normal" married life. But that's nothing, because he's worth it. Worth the planning, worth the time and money, worth the effort, the emotions, and the struggles. He's worth the smiles when we're together, and the sniffles when we say goodbye.

I've just three more semesters of college. I love my electrical engineering classes so far! I got straight A's this last semester, and enjoyed every class I took. I have an apartment that feels like home. I have a beautiful cat named Juniper, who snuggles with me every night. I see my brother every week, I talk to my parents every few days. I saw my brothers at Christmas time, and they had both grown so much! After this summer, my family will be back in the States, dreaded LDAC will be over, and the preparations for my future can begin in earnest. Good thing I've got some good classes to keep me busy these next few months! I've a lot to learn before May 2015!