He Won't but I Will

Today we celebrate Veteran's Day. My husband is a veteran. A combat veteran.
He probably won't tell you that but I will because like most veteran's, he never did it for the glory, but I think he deserves some.

He probably won't tell you about his 15 months in Iraq, where he lived the wars that are now in our history books, but I will. Missions all day, missions all night - heavy on the fire fights, light on the phone calls to home. Talk towards his good ear because gun fire blew out hearing in his other. I spent a lot of time at the post office mailing flat-rate boxes full of his favorite candy, and he spent a lot of time in an up-armored Humvee manning the 240 Bravo. I carried my cell phone with me wherever I went in case he called, and he carried his M4 in case duty called.

He won't tell you about all the doors he kicked down, houses he cleared, or terrorists he chased but I will. Because that seems like a scary job but "afraid" was never a word I heard him utter.

He won't tell you about all the "hearts and minds" they earned, or how they built up an entire Iraqi police force but I will; because that's borderline bragging and while Nate doesn't brag about his life of service, I do.

Nate probably won't tell you what it's like to roll outside the wire every day and never know if a buried IED somewhere is about to blow you away at any minute - and neither will I. Because I don't know what that's like, but Nate does. I don't know what death smells like but Nate does. I've never had people actually trying to kill me but Nate has. He won't tell you about all that stuff though. He barely tells me.

Sometimes when we go to baseball games and the PA announcer comes on and tells military service men and women to stand and be recognized for their service - Nate doesn't stand. He doesn't want to be recognized but I want him to. Because I heard the monotone in his voice on the phone and I saw the tired in his eyes when he mailed me photos and while I don't know much, I know that war changes a person and they deserve credit for that sacrifice. Nate won't call it a sacrifice but I will.

He won't take the credit but we'll give it anyway.

Happy Veteran's Day and thank you to all those who have served our great nation.

There was a St. Bernard in the Drive Through and other Fall Things

It is November, people. NOVEMBER. I hate to be the person that's like "omg it's already November time is flying waaaaa!" but like, omg it's already November and time is flying.

I haven't been doing a whole lot since the summer time because as I told you all, summer is my favorite and so I often feel a pressure all season long to like, do all the things. And so we usually end up doing all the things, which means camp trips, day trips, vacation, pool days, birthdays, and generally just sweating your ass off for four months straight. That wears a girl out you know what I mean? So when fall and cool weather start to roll around I feel like I finally have permission to not do things. Like, it's ok to not have any plans all weekend and sleep in and drink coffee until noon and watch college football and never brush your hair all day long. Not every weekend has to be a grand adventure and I finally start to accept that in the fall and winter.

So while the Townsends haven't been up to much, here's what has been going' down these days:

Hunting season has been in full swing - this is good for both Maycee and Nathan because both dream about hunting animals in their sleep. Maycee cashed in during dove season in September and Nate harvested a deer in October.

I put up Halloween decorations...

...dressed the dogs up in costumes, per the usual. Halloween 2017 brought to you by Gunther the tuxedo-wearing "dapper dog" and Maycee the angry, side-eye-serving pineapple.

Then I swapped Halloween for fall and Thanksgiving decorations because that's the order in which the holidays go - Halloween, Thanksgiving, THEN Christmas. So all you Christmas-happy people with their Christmas trees up bopping around to Christmas music need to pump the brakes. It's not time for that yet. 

I took a road trip a few weeks back with two of my girlfraaans Kailey and Brianna down to Benson, Arizona to explore some underground caves and they did not disappoint. Although, what was disappointing is that you can't take pictures or video in the caves because then how are you supposed to blog about a road trip to underground caves in Benson, Arizona but have no pictures to include in your post? Life is really unfair sometimes.

The other night Nate and I went to go get Chinese food and as we were waiting in the drive through, the car in front of us had a big 'ol St. Bernard in the backseat and it was the highlight of my day.

I have a thing for big dogs and I always wanted a St Bernard as a kid (especially after Beethoven circa 1992, let's all be honest with ourselves) but my mom told me no because they drool too much. As an adult, I can now understand this. But I mean, LOOK AT THAT FACE. IT'S HUGE. AND SO CUTE. But anyway, this is nothing of significant importance but since I'm all about the little things in life I thought I'd include the time I saw a really cute dog with its big head sticking out the window in the Chinese food drive through. 

This weekend we had out of town guests stay at our house for a wedding which was fun because we don't usually have house guests because our house is so tiny but yolo we made it happen and we had fun. We all went shooting in the morning, then wedding-ed in the evening and a good time was had by all. 

 Targets gotta match your gun you know what I mean?

And that about brings things up to speed around here - to November. Which comes after September and October. Man, it's already November and time is flying!