This Little Jar of Mine

On December 30, 2004, we loaded up the car and started our first PCS together from San Antonio, Texas, to Jacksonville, North Carolina.  I looked at Rosie and wondered what the hell I was thinking, leaving Texas.  But when you fall in love and promise to marry someone in the military, you are inevitably also promising to do a whole lotta leaving.  So, I had to leave Texas.  I cried, obviously, as we drove away.  An hour or so into the trip, Alan handed me this:

 

It's a jar of Texas.  He gathered limestone and dirt and huisache branches and stuck it in a jar for me to "take a little bit of Texas" with me wherever we went.  I cried some more, obviously.  I thought it was a nice gesture, but honestly I didn't think that much of it.  A few months later, we got married and he deployed for seven long months, plunging me into the military life.  I looked at the jar a lot at first, but eventually became distracted enough to not really think about it much.  But today, we are celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary and I thought about that jar.  I still have it.  It's a little shaken and stirred and not quite as perfectly arranged as when he gave it to me, but that's because it's been packed in boxes and moved from place to place, as our life has moved.  It is a perfect representation of our life.  We've been shaken and moved, turned upside down and stirred, and sometimes little pieces crumble.  We've lived together in five different states and two countries.  We've added three kids to the mix, and encountered numerous challenges.  But we've stuck it out in our little jar, not letting the elements of life wash us away.  We've made every effort to protect what we have and we've sealed it off.  I quite think we deserve a pat on the back!  Nine years and counting...I miss Texas every day, but I wouldn't trade this life for anything.  Protect the things you love with great strength, people.  If that glass jar had been thinner, think of how easily it would have broken.