Perfect Timing, Lucky Dog

Finally, after incorrect paperwork, unsigned documents, chasing down a speeding ticket from 2004 and a few last minute meetings, my package has been approved and I'm scheduled to swear in on the 3rd of May, just fourteen days from today.

My recruiter assured me I was rather lucky as the cut-off to enlist is May 10th. Not understanding what he meant by this he said that the Marine Corps is no longer taking enlistments after the 10th of May for this year.

I thought that surely he was joking.

Then, upon surfing the internet, I came across a question by a girl who said that her recruiter had told her she was no longer eligible to enlist as she had missed the cut off for this year and would have to wait until the next fiscal year to enlist.

Suddenly the words of my recruiter did not sound so much like jest.

Still later I heard reports that the Navy is no longer granting any kind of weight waivers, the Air Force is closing recruiting stations all over the US and the Army is also starting to deny even the most basic of waivers.

Despite ridiculously low ASVAB score standards in the 30s and 40s for all branches of service have stopped processing potential recruits who score lower than 50 on the practice ASVAB test.

Gone are the days of, "Well, you can always join the military."

All branches, being flooded by desperate peoples looking for security and a pay check and hand-tied by budget cuts and a bad economy have started turning people down and away.

And here I am, an underweight, financially secure, mother and wife, just slipping beneath the red tape for no better reason than to fulfill a girl-hood dream.

I'm beginning to feel very grateful and lucky. I could have easily missed the deadline if only delayed for seven more days. I could have easily been denied my weight waiver or not found the payment info for the 2004 speeding ticket.

So many things could have delayed me just a few more days and almost assuredly destroyed my chances of enlisting at all.

My timing couldn't have been more perfect nor my luck better.

PT, PT, PT

You go to any Marine Corps forum or website and there are loads and loads of poolees and wannabes who ask the same question in a million different forms: "What do I need to do to get fit for Boot Camp?"

I've never had to ask that question because the physicality of Boot Camp does not frighten or intimidate me.

I'm a tough broad.

I have a high pain tolerance, an unwillingness to quit (no matter what) and a gift for ignoring pain (sometimes to a harming extent). It takes more work for me to listen to my body and to slow down and do things carefully than it does for me to just plow ahead at full speed and not care about the lasting damage I am doing to my body. In the past I have pushed through incredible pain only to have it slow me down and frustrate me in the long run.

Thankfully, I am older and wiser now. With the guidance of my chiropractor and other structured programs I am working, daily, at getting myself physically ready for the day I set out to Boot Camp.

While I was in High School I was very physically fit. I was an endurance runner and could beat any boy in school in push ups. In college I could out endure anyone in a pool or even the ocean fighting waves and tides.

Getting married and having a kid and being lazy reduced me to not being able to do much without feeling winded and tired but I have always known I have what it takes to get back to the standard of physical fitness I once had. And so I have begun.

Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I go to a class that was once called Boot Camp. The administration thought that the title was a bit too intimidating so they renamed it "Total Body Fitness." The change of name should not indicate a change in program, however. It is a grueling exercise program packed full of lungs, pushups, crunches, running, weight lifting, stair-running, and so much more, all set at a break-neck speed and injected with heavy cardio exercises. At the end of one hour I'm usually soaking in sweat from head to toe, panting like a dog and sucking down half gallons of water.

After outlining just one hour of class to my husband he assured me that if I keep this class up I will find Boot Camp to be physically easy.

But I don't stop there. I am, afterall, part fish. This trait was passed on to me by my lifeguard of a mother who shooed us kids to the pool as often as she could. I also took swimming in college and find the water to be as comfortable as a home as land.

After my fitness class I go for a swim and no matter how tired and sore my muscles I somehow find the endurance to do a few laps in a variety of different strokes.

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my down days filled with Yoga and a steam room. Yoga stretches and tones my often throbbing muscles and working on balance and breathing helps keep me calm, relaxed and focused. Yoga, though still an exercise, makes me feel like I've gotten a full-body massage. Of course the balance work also works the small muscles of my ankles, knees, hands, elbows and arms as well for healthy joints which helps for the next day when they all take a pounding.

Of course, spending a half hour in a steam room is just my excuse to indulge.

I like working out. I like challenging myself and finding myself do new things I couldn't do just a few classes ago. I greatly enjoy discovering my new physical strengths and testing them.

No, the physical aspect of the military does not scare or intimidate me. It will challenge me. It will push me. It will tire me. But it's nothing I haven't felt before. I look forward to it.

More Confidence

The other day, while my son was napping, I took the opportunity to go through a good number of my old Facebook status updates. Some of them were funny, some were interesting and some were thought provoking.

There was a status update from way back in the late summer of last year that read, "If I could do it all again I'd do it all the same but with more confidence."

What I was trying to portray was that despite everything I have gone through in my life it all turned out all right and I didn't have to worry so much about how it all would turn out in the end. Everything, good or bad, got me to a place where I am strong, secure, happy and blessed. I wouldn't change a thing in my past except for all of the worry that it would all turn out okay.

It ended up being a pretty large slap in the face because here I am worrying about the future again. The bottom line is that I know I have what it takes to have a successful life. I have faith, determination, strength, wisdom, knowledge, support. There's no reason I should fear my future.

So I made a decision. I'm going to go forward with more confidence in my decision, in myself and in my future.