I am finally about to finish my bachelors degree at the age of 33. I realized years ago that age is meaningless and everyone's life progression works at different speeds. I don't know if or when I'll settle down and be an adult but as I enter the next chapter I know that I'm more prepared than I've ever been before for anything that life may throw at me. At some point I'd love to find someone who can embark on this journey with me but I've been going it alone for so long I don't know if my lifestyle will ever allow for a real relationship. I would feel bad bringing a girl into my ridiculous existence where I fully expect to die young in some some third world nation. I'm just typing as I think so my words may seem disjointed but I reckon that's the point of a blog. I wish my excitement for the future wasn't overshadowed by heartbreak but one of the fun side effects of my long periods in combat zones is that regular life stress has a tendency to bring about memories of past stress and the occasional flashback. In a few weeks I'll be done at college and moving on to whatever comes next and this moment will have passed like countless moments before with no recollection and no real importance. Why is it that emotional responses can be so gut-wrenching one day and then fade to nothing in a short period of time?