And the road goes ever on...

This road called life, ever changing, never stopping. I don't know what I thought I would find when I got home, but i'm in a bit of culture shock. Life is different. So much has changed since I left. Two of my favorite eating establishments are gone, one of my Coffee shops has closed, my radio station is completely different, people have changed, places have changed, events are different, schedules, etc. Some music is no longer appealing, some things I loved I now find I can go without. This is so unusual. Now I understand why some people want to stay deployed. When you are away, it seems like life stops and becomes static. Not so. I came home over Christmas to find my cousin engaged(not that I didn't see it coming...) and one of my best friends married. You come back, and you don't want to deal with the change. It would just be easier to go back to what's familiar and comfortable. There's that small portion of me that wants to go back to Redstone Arsenal. I had an established routine, I didn't have to worry about food, clothes, a bed, what would happen tomorrow, because the Army took care of all that. And the thing I find myself being really torn up about...

Relationships. I, as a person, have a need to belong. I believe that I feel this need stronger than others. I may be wrong, but as I take a look at myself, I see it as being more to me than it is to other people. Especially the bf/gf relationship. It's like the be all, end all of belonging. I came to the realization that it's not really important right now, but there i was around a bunch of dirty people who only wanted sex. Kinda easy to not worry about it when that's who you're surrounded by. Now, however, I find myself amongst the people who actually display the character qualities I would look for. Makes things a little more difficult, now doesn't it?