Substantial Disappointment

...is a TERRIBLE way to start your morning.

It should be noted that the only time you can really disappoint somebody is by taking away something they thought they had. Right? Right. If I had come down and someone announced, "Hey, Bro!" (this is my nickname in ship) "You're not getting married this year!" or, "You're not going to Six Flags this weekend!" Well, okay, that's less than ideal, but y'know, I wasn't planning on either of those.

So, I was terribly disappointed, mostly because this came before breakfast. Around breakfast is when shields come up for the day, but between reveille and breakfast I'm about as overly trusting as Bambi. Obviously, this doesn't work out so well in the military, so as long as nothing before then has anything to do with ME specifically, we're good.

But, I was walking back from chow that night, in the rain, and passed by this big ol' maple. New leaves were bright green, and I've climbed into trees like that all the time. Tree-climbing is a definite off-limits no-no while in uniform, but memory's great because you can pull it up at anytime. Standing in the rain, I could feel the wet bark under my hands and the happy pull of making it up to a proper resting place, and then see the great green globe all around. Rain hitting the leaves, making them dance, and the good smell of rain on turned earth (we're planting grass seed by the ship) and the world in springtime. Living in a world where there are things like that, how can you stay depressed for long?