I just got off the phone with an old friend of mine, who just graduated from my High School and is about to go on to college. We spent a good hour talking about everything under the sun.

It made me realize that I'm exactly where I want to be. Exactly where I want to be. I have a job that's exciting, challenging, and new everyday. One with incredibly high rates of advancement, that I could stay past my contract with and get large bonuses and the opportunity to be one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military (or even go Officer, haven't decided yet). I could decide not to, and go to a civilian job with the qualifications to start at six figures. I could go straight from this into government, as was my original plan. At 18 years old and 9 months into the military, I've already got approaching $7,000 in the bank, I'm putting 18% of my base pay into a retirement plan, I've got a bonus coming to me, and I'm planning to get a house in a matter of months. There's a myriad of options open to me, and I like each and every one.

As if that didn't make life bright for me, I've got something else that by itself would be enough to make me happy; I'm engaged to a woman who makes me smile more than anything else in the world. We visit back and forth as often as our schedules permit, she's on the verge of finishing college and being able to come marry me properly, and between us we've got more than enough resources to pay that college off in no time flat.

I'll be leaving my training command and achieving non-commissioned officer rank in a short couple of months; I'll be out of the barracks, most likely in my own house (my own house, not the one I came from), living in a beautiful area and able to see the world from the incredible angle of a U.S. aircraft carrier on tour, living with the love of my life, and putting together a nest of assets, both skills and possessions, that will be invaluable later in life.

I've gotta be the luckiest man alive.