Stay Anchored in Hope

I started this blog (as my60milejourney.wordpress.com) in July 2009 with My 60 Reasons to go 60 miles (twice!), simply as a means to try to fundraise for the two Breast Cancer 3-Day walks that I was doing last year (San Diego and Arizona). It also served to get my voice out and give updates on my training and fundraising efforts and provide a forum for me to blog about my experiences with Breast Cancer advocacy and the events in which I participate. I really didn’t think anyone was reading it, it was more of an exercise of my own attention-grabbing nature.

Although I blogged significantly in July, and then very little in August and September as I was going through my Chief Induction process. I picked the blogging back up significantly after my Chief’s Pinning Ceremony, then it came to a screeching halt at the end of November, after I had completed both the San Diego and Arizona 3-Day events. The blog, to me, had run it’s course, at least until I started training and fundraising for the 2010 3-Day Series. Even then, there were few readers, and it was simply an exercise for myself to get “out there”, whether people were reading or not.

Fast-forward to January 2010, and I changed the name of the Blog to Stay Anchored in Hope, to align with my fundraising efforts for my participation in the 3-Day events. I have had to think about the content, and I’ve decided not to limit myself simply to my Breast Cancer Walk(s) experience.

So, what can you plan to see here? Just about everything! There are so many things going on with my life, including my involvement in Breast Cancer Advocacy, the deteriorating health of my sister (due to Breast Cancer), me being a Navy Chief and my impending transfer to a ship in July and subsequent deployment, and the fact that I’m getting married in April…and so much more. My family and I are involved in so many activities, the possibilities are limitless. I also tend to have a lot of unique perspectives on some things, so there would hopefully be a large dose of humor and or snark. Hell, I’m a big baseball fan, so you may even see some baseball (or sports)-related posts (GO TIGERS!)

In other words, I want this to be a blog about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (mine in particular). That would allow for this blog to be pertinent year-round and never feel stale. How does that resonate?

I know this is a couple of weeks late, but Happy New Year out there in the blogo-sphere!

I get excited when the calendars change from one year to the next. Why? Because every year for me seems to be better than the previous one. Don’t get me wrong-my life is not all roses. I’m in the military, which is a hard life to begin with, I have two children from my first marriage, and a future step-son (whom I plan to adopt once we’re married)…things are typically interesting around here, both good and bad. And, lest ye forget, I have a sister who is battling Breast Cancer right now.

So, how did 2009 go for me? Great. Personally, it started out rough, as a relationship that had ended months before still had a hold on me…but that did finally end. Otherwise, things were going well, I was named the OPNAV N1 Senior Sailor of the Quarter for the previous quarter and I even got to fly to Washington, D.C. to compete against others for the OPNAV Senior Sailor of the Year. I didn’t get it, but it was fun to fly to D.C. for a day. Shortly thereafter, I got selected to be Mr. December in the 60 Mile Men calendar, and I had a great time being photographed for that and being a representative of men who walk/crew the Breast Cancer 3-Day across the country.

The biggest thing that happened to me last year was when I came home to Michigan in June and July. It was during this time that I was able to see my family (mom, Shayna and the girls) for the first time since 2006, and when I realized that my sister wasn’t doing as well as she had always claimed to be. It was also at this time that Mary and I had our first real “date”, after almost 5 years of knowing each other and communicating via the Internet, and after a few times together we realized we were destined to be together. Before I left Michigan, we had plans for her to pack up her life and son, and fly out to San Diego so we could be together. Did we rush it? Absolutely. Am I OK with that? Absolutely. We have been so close for so long, even with the distance separating us, that we knew each other very well. Sometimes, when it’s right, it’s just right and you need to go for it. She moved out, as planned, in August and we’ve been together and happy (at least *I* am, I hope *she* is as well) ever since. I couldn’t imagine a better match for me to spend my life with, and in November, as she was cheering me on in the San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day, I dropped on one knee and proposed to her in front of hundreds of people. Needless to say, she said yes (or else my year would have ended very differently…)

The other significant thing in my life happened at the end of July when I found out that I had been selected to become a US Navy Chief. This had been a goal of mine for several years, and something that was well-deserved. The “Induction” process was long and brutal, and it was not easy on Mary, who got out here a week into it, but we managed to survive with our new family intact.

And, of course, in November I did my back-to-back Breast Cancer 3-Day events, which was a great, if not painful, experience. I have written significantly about them here in previous posts, so I won’t do so now.

Finally, and not insignificant, I was able to spend another full year with my beautiful daughters, who never fail to amaze me. Being in the Navy, I have missed many years of their lives (I’ve done 3 deployments, which means just in those, I’ve missed 19 months of Justyce’s life and 13 months of Colbi Lyn’s life, not to mention the countless “underway” periods I’ve had in the past 10+ years). Everything I do, I do for my daughters (and now Mary and Devin).

So, what will 2010 bring? I don’t know, and that’s where the excitement comes in…I am up for orders and will transfer this year, either to a ship or to Iraq/Afghanistan…Mary and I hope to get married in August…I am signed up for two Breast Cancer 3-day’s again this year (Chicago and Michigan), although my impending transfer and the “needs of the Navy” may impact that.

Everything else is up in the air, and that’s where the excitement of the New Year comes in!

By weekend, for two successive weekends last month, I was a cancer-fighting super hero named “Mr. December”. I wear pink, have many disguises, and walk for the greater good. I am a personable character, who was never lacking the chance to talk to people, about boobs, about cancer, about walking, about life…

Now that the clock has turned to December, who am I now? Well, in my real life, I’m not Mr. December. At home, I’m Dad to Justyce, Colbi Lyn and Devin and the future husband of Mary…at work, I’m Chief Information Systems Technician Himebaugh (or, simply referred to as “Chief” or “ITC”)-see pic on right. I toil away in front of a computer all day at work, collecting and analyzing data, trying to improve the effectiveness and reliability of Manpower, Personnel, Training and Education programs for the Navy. I’d like to say it is a fulfilling job, but after 2+ years and very little headway, I can’t say that. As a Navy Chief, I should be a leader and mentor to Sailors, young and old, and yet where I work, I’m still the lowest ranking person.

The writing of “we’re so proud of you dad” and the like is off of the windows of my car (although it was on for longer than it should have been, some 3 weeks after the end of the Walks…) There are no more fundraising pleas (yet). There’s no hyper-blogging of my status and whereabouts on Twitter or Facebook, as I used to update those things 10+ times a day, and now I update them once every couple days it seems. I no longer have either pink hair or pink fingernails (the Navy would not like that!). There’s no training several times a week (although, in a couple weeks, I will begin a Boot Camp program that I won for 4 free weeks). There’s also no pass on me spending money, previously under the guise of buying things I needed for the walk, from my now-fiancee.

And, there’s no longer a break in my Class Schedule-I start back up on January 5th, trying to finish the last three classes I need before I graduate with my Master’s Degree in Information Systems.

However, things are of course not as bleak as they may seem. I have a wonderful fiancee,and we’re trying to plan our wedding, although that is a bit difficult right now due to the fact that I am up for orders in the Navy. I have submitted 4 job applications, all ships out here in San Diego, in hopes that I get selected for one of them; sooner, rather than later. We hope to have our wedding in Michigan in August of next year, but until we know when and where the Navy is sending me (and consequently, the underway schedule of whatever ship I go to), then we can’t make any concrete plans.

Of course, I am also partaking in preparations for next year’s Komen 3-Day for the Cure Events I’m taking part in, Michigan and Chicago-if I’m allowed to based on where the Navy sends me. I have a couple hundred dollars in “starter” donations for each event (the money I made from appearing in the 60 Mile Men Calendar. I also have a great plan to hopefully raise most of the money through fundraising, business donations, and some family members instead of hounding my Facebook friends constantly for funds. I can’t give away all of my secrets yet…

I am also in the process of starting my own non-profit organization company for fundraising, which I will discuss in further detail later. I already have a logo, a website and I am working on a Mission Statement. Once I get everything online, I’ll post a blurb on here about it.

It’s amazing that life is so different outside of the 4-5 months that I’m involved in training and then the walks. It’s almost ordinary even.