I do not even know how to start off my writing. So much have happened as we go on with our lives. I mean, how else would you describe in entirety a friend who went to the same primary school, then the same secondary school, and suddenly both of you are specialists in a military. The uncertainty in our life is an insolvable labyrinth.

For as long as I am a soldier (and for a period of time stripped off of many privileges of a civilian), I never quite understood why any female would relinquish beautiful dresses and blouses for green fatigues that were meant to be worn for mud and sand. Let’s not even mention military trainings. I think it was absurd. When I graduated, a female specialist from the Emergency Medical Technician Specialist Course emerged as the Distinguished Honor Graduate (DHG). I never managed to wrap my head around that idea.

Yesterday night, Adeline was the DHG for the Military Police Command of her cohort.

The context of the award or the ludicrous idea of women making it in the military was totally on the sideline. Never mind that I do not understand. The comprehension of who we are on this day was overwhelming and astonishing. A decade ago, we were carrying crayons in school bags, paying less than two dollars for lunch and 45 cents for a bus ride home. The same amount of time later, we are commanders of men, we wear the Third Sergeant rank on our chest and worked for a military organization. The change during this time was galactic and cosmic (those are the best words I can think of that are synonymous to massive and astronomical).

Maybe I am just stupid, or it is just the nostalgic department in my brain. I’m pretty sure it took Herculean effort to find the smallest similarity in us when there comes a time I wasn’t I anymore, and when you weren’t you anymore. The labyrinthine breadth of change, and depth of our emotional and physical growth were profound and overwhelming.

Although Adeline and I might not have been in very constant contact as with other friends, but we have come a long way. I am equally proud of her as much as her mother is. As a conscripted soldier, I know the diverse challenge of becoming a Honor Graduate of my cohort. I could understand mostly, if not totally, of a regular soldier who faces furious expectations of her organization and yet emerging as a Distinguished Honor Graduate.

I figured that If I can’t comprehend the changes and growth we constantly face, I can live in a moment like this to understand and appreciate who we have become today.

“You know it’s been said that we just don’t recognize the significant moments of our lives while they are happening. We grow complacent with ideas, or things or people and we take them for granted and it’s usually not until that thing is about to be taken away from you that you’ve realized how wrong you’ve been that you realized how much you need it, how much you love it.“