Kansas

I can distinctly remember the moment several years ago when, on a family road trip across country, I stared out the window at the bleak flatness off I-70 and said to God, "God, I'll go just about anywhere in the world you want me to go, but please don't ever make me live in Kansas". On a subsequent trip to Colorado, upon passing the exit for Fort Riley, I remarked to my parents how bad I felt for the people who got stuck stationed there.

Or rather, for the people who got stuck stationed here.

As fate, luck, karma, but most likely God would have it, I'm currently attempting to take up blogging again (for the 4739294th time) from my house here in the middle of Kansas. My life as I know it has taken a drastically different turn from the one I assumed it would take once I graduated with my BSN last December. I entered nursing school extremely single with the intention of getting the degree and getting the heck out of the US, preferably to the most remote, 3rd world location I could find, where I would live with the natives, help them birth their babies, learn to be an amazing photographer and keep one of those fascinating blogs that makes the middle of the Sudan seem like a place where anyone would want to go for the rest of their life (I blame my friend Sarah for that last part).
Several things happened though:
1) I found out I couldn't eat gluten and that it was the cause of several random but potentially serious ailments I'd been dealing with. The areas of the world I had been looking at survive off of a lot of wheat. So, end of story.
2) I met this guy in the Army and married him...within a couple of months of meeting him. In case that wasn't enough to upset my precious set of plans, I...
3) got pregnant.

The fact that I married into the military really didn't shock me since I'd grown up in that life. However, I was never going to be that girl who got married and then got pregnant and then *gasp* decided to be a stay at home mom.

But I am, and I did, and I'm going to be...and I couldn't be more happy.

Back to the Kansas issue. As I pointed out earlier, Kansas has always been a waste of a state to me: there is no ocean, it's flat, and it appears entirely monochromatic (at least from I-70).
When we got our orders to move here, I decided I was going to have to do everything in my power to find all the wonderful aspects of Kansas, otherwise three years was going to drag.

And so that's what I hope to do with this blog from now on...if I can actually manage to keep it up once the baby shows up.

I'll go ahead and start by saying that I actually love it here so far. I-70 isn't a very good indicator of the rest of the state, as evidenced by the fairly lush green trees here on post, the hills (my running shoes can't WAIT for those!) and the amazing sunsets that seem to go on forever. There are lakes, rivers, creeks, cattle, farms and actually a lot of decent sounding events in the surrounding areas.

I'll be posting about these as we get to explore and experience them. In the meantime, I'm kind of preoccupied with the goings on in my uterus and am waiting to either go into labor or have my water break or both. Either would be more than welcome right about now, and since I'm stranded at home without a car, you'll probably have to put up with me raving about various baby products or posting pictures of my house which has yet to be completely unpacked and cleaned.