18 months DOWN

Hard to believe right....Grant has been gone for 18 months and he will be home in 6 months! Sometimes I am seriously like WOW where did the time go and other times it still feels like he is never coming home. A year and a half, yeah that makes it seem like he has been gone for such a long time. I can remember when I felt like time was never going to move, this time last year I was celebrating that he had been gone for 6 months and I though that was crazy progress, and here I am one year later and time has finally gone fast. I think the whole reason it seems so long is because the first 6 months is a real transition period. In my case Grant left in the summer time which is awful, I had way too much free time when he left. I started my senior year of high school a month after he left and that was a difficult transition. I felt like he was missing out on so much of my life, but in reality I just had to get used to the fact that he wasn't here. Last February I can honestly say that I was finally used to him being gone. I was okay that he wasn't here. I was okay with allowing myself to grow as a person and try new things and that is when time really started to fly by for me. Since Grant left I have completed my senior year of high school. Completed the EMT program. Taken summer classes, and moved to Twin in the fall to go to college at CSI. I was accepted into the medial assistant program and I have completed my first semester and working on my second. I have read the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants. I have grown SO MUCH and learned SO MUCH. It is amazing to see the progress that we have both made and the challenges we have overcome. Grant has had 2 heart surgeries, I was diagnosed with WPW, overcome trials in our own families. He has grown as a missionary and into a man. He is much more mature, he is more patient, kind, and loving. He has a strong testimony and a real passion for teaching the gospel to others. All in all I am so grateful for this experience. I am grateful that I have been able to embark on this journey with him and now that we are reaching the finish line I am really seeing the blessings that it has brought to us. The next 6 months will definitely not be easy, but what in life is. I am fully prepared to live it up these next 6 months. I am so excited to see him and get to start our relationship up again in full swing. I love Grant so much.