It's a grey and overcast day here today. Tonight I have a CS project due at midnight. That''ll be interesting.

Over the weekend Stephanie called. She told me that she's going to be getting engaged soon. I'm really happy for her, but it hasn't hit me yet that one of my friends is getting engaged. First people Heidi's age started to get married, and now all of Betsy's friends are getting married, but people my age...no. I'm only 19. I'm stuck in the place between being a teenager and being an adult. Things like marrige are something I want eventually, but right now seem too far off to even think very much about. Steph, yes, she has a boyfriend, but I think when it actually hits me that she's engaged I'll be a bit more taken aback because that line between childhood and being an adult will be even smaller for me. A few of my classmates in my company are engaged. It doesn't seem real to me. It makes me feel old, but yet so young. I'm no where near that point in my life, as far as I know. Now my friends are going from dating to being engaged to people.

Stephanie and I played softball and basketball together all through middle school and became really good friends in high school. Now she's in the Air Force and I'm in the Army, but I still think of us like we were in high school. Still young, still growing up. The real world hasn't hit me yet. Perhaps that's because I live a very sheltered life here. Just about everything is taken care of for me in the sense of real world worries. The only things I have to worry about are school work, wpr's, having a clean room, staying in shape, beating Navy, getting places on time, and the other little stresses of life at West Point. Sure, at times they seem so huge, but in comparison to real world problems they are quite small. I have a roof over my head, a place to sleep, and 3 meals a day all provided to me, along with a monthly paycheck. This is the good life. Life here is like middle school. Maybe the outside world is like that as well. Full of rumors of who's dating who, what so and so did, and what new minor stress is placed upon our lives upsetting the rest and relaxation we think we deserve for working so hard at keeping our appearance neat, our grades good, taking care of those for whom we are tasked with resposibility, and playing sports.