It seems just as soon as I got here I’m on the road again. It’s become a pretty exhausting constant in my life. There may have been one stretch in my life during COVID that I lived in the same place for a decent amount of time, but even that was broken up with army training and a road trip of over a month. Besides that stretch, I haven’t lived anywhere longer than six months since I was in college in 2017. It’s become a fact of my life, but that doesn’t make it any less tiring. This time I am leaving Arizona for Army training in Michigan which will lead to more training in other locations and then eventually to a deployment which will help to continue the theme.

My time in Arizona was spent during the hot summer months, but I still enjoyed it as much as I could. Working outdoors I got to see lots of great sunrises and sunsets. Once during monsoon season, I got to see a desert wash flood to the size of a major river. I had driven past it several times and never seen anything it in besides dry sand so I never imagined that it would completely fill and flow so heavily that you could row a canoe down it!

I was blessed to make good friends at work and outside of work. With friends from church, I had pool parties, watched fireworks, went on hikes, ate Sonoran hotdogs, and went to a Diamondbacks game. I made more friends training at jiu-jitsu and doing the Murph workout on Memorial day at a Crossfit gym. It’s amazing I made such good friends in such a short amount of time, and I’m blessed to have people in Arizona praying for me and anticipating my return.

Despite working outside in the heat all week, I still often went on hikes and explored Arizona’s nature in my free time. One of my favorite trips was going to Mount Lemmon in Tucson. It was 20-30 degrees cooler up the mountain and there were trees! After going so long without seeing trees that really made me happy!

I left Arizona and drove over 2,100 miles in two days to get to my family camping trip in Pennsylvania. It was a brutal trip with one night of three hours of sleep at a truck stop, but it was absolutely worth it to see my family and especially all four of my beautiful little nieces. It’s crazy to think my oldest niece is already 11! I missed Thanksgiving and Christmas for my work training and this upcoming deployment will have me missing them for a second straight year. That coupled with the fact that I live on the opposite side of the country and can’t visit them whenever I want really made me realize how precious these moments really are. It’s so interesting to see my nieces developing their own personalities and it’s also interesting to hang out with my brothers as adults. I really admire both of my brothers, but on paper, they are very different. Clifton is an electrical engineer working for a software company. Jon is a musician in a band and a worship director at a church. Despite those differences on the surface, it blows my mind how much we have in common and how we view life through a similar lens. I think it has a lot to do with my Christian upbringing from my parents. What we view as most important in all of our lives is a constant and I think that gives our relationships a mutual foundation and a greater appreciation for each other. I’m very thankful for great parents who raised us right. I am just so blessed to have the family that I do!

The camping trip was filled with hiking, paddle boarding, campfires, card games, and a lot of laughter and fun. When it came to my last day, I started to get quieter and more introspective as I knew my departure was approaching. I had to leave before everyone else so I could get to my army training and when I left, I gave out hugs to everyone in the parking lot of a hiking trail while trying to keep my emotions in check. It felt different than any other goodbye because I have very little control over when I can see my family again. The army will change its plans on a whim, and I will tag along for the ride. It’s a lot easier knowing I have the full support and prayers of my family behind me.

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” – Proverbs 17:17