my bladder doesn't care

it's 7:22 and everyone is asleep!

it's a great Saturday morning!!

i am getting caught up on my guilty pleasure of teen mom 2

enjoying a cup of tea

and thinking about the day ahead

and my fb feed is flooded with debates about bathrooms?!?

i'm thinking whaatttt???

i will be honest i've been out of the loop slightly with the bathroom ordeal.....

but a part of me is thinking "IS IT THAT BIG OF A DEAL?"

hold on before you start telling me WHY it is a big deal and pedophiles wanting to get to your child.

before the great bathroom gender debate, pedophiles were getting into bathrooms, gym lockers, etc.  ever since the birth of a camera cell phone we've been subjected to humiliation, sexual exploitation, and ignorance of our photos being taken so to me the issue isn't opening up the bathroom to non-gender specific because let's face it, pedophiles existed before this.....

so now i hear you, this won't help, this will allow more access.....

but here's my point..... pedophiles will get access because that's their drive.... that's their will.... and where there is a will there is a way.

basically, opening up bathrooms to transgender, doesn't scare me or want me to not shop at target
and when you equate that to allowing more pedophiles it just isn't so......

let's take it from a non bathroom, non genital point of view...
prohibition.....did it stop the consumption of alcohol...no
illegal marijuana and other drugs....are we a drug free country...no
limits don't prevent
and while you might not agree with the thought of someone identifying with a gender that they weren't assigned they are still human....treat them as such.....

so i've discussed limits that don't prevent

how about the reality that there are many places in the world that do not even have gender specific bathrooms...... and have a less rate of pedophiles than here in the United States....

i've traveled... a lot.... not as much as some people but enough to see many wonderful sites, experience many different cultures, and come to respect the human and a human despite their background or beliefs

i've been in many situations, with my daughter, where in the next stall was a man because there were no male/female bathrooms
there was just a big room with individualized stalls and it was co-ed
shock

i'm not sure where i am going with this post
except are we really debating bathrooms?
this world is bigger than bathrooms...... and if all you see is a bathroom problem then i want to live in your world of naiveness....

there are bigger battles out there
bigger fears


and frankly, since having a child, my bladder doesn't care if it's a male bathroom or female bathroom....
i've used both because of post pregnancy bladder
and potty training a toddler....
because when you have to go you have to go

2016

oh my 

it's been over a year since 

i have blogged....

 so let me do a quick update...

we completed the bipartisian european vacation...

it was everything i hoped it would be.

we pcs'd from italy 

it was all the heart break i imagined it would be

we ended up in colorado

(it is a beautiful state and close to home)

ken left shortly after arriving

to do a remote tour 

in 

thule, greenland

 

(which should be blogged about but i will do that later)

i unpacked us

found a job

emmi started preschool

i started work

and 

we began this "new" life

we said goodbye to ken's grandmother

we said hello to thule, greenland 

(for a short visit)

 

we said see ya later...again... 

to ken

and 

we survived with minimal damage 

2015

and now we prepare for our last month without ken

and our last month until we have a 4 year old!

(are 4 year olds still toddlers? 

or are they officially "little" girls? 

it's such an awkward age..

what do we have?)

maybe i will blog more

maybe i won't 

regardless

if i document it for all to read

i know that 2016 will be another

"new" 

year 

for so many reasons

 ken will be home

a home he doesn't know

(because he left 3 weeks after we arrived here

and has only spent 3 weeks midtour here)

we will have to adjust 

to having ken home

and a part of our life

here

a life we aren't use to having him a part of

so here's to 2016

and 

the possibility of more blogging

because 

i have fast internet

and

in a short time

a partner

to help with this crazy thing 

called

life. 

love love

from colorado

Bipartisan European Adventure

soon we are about to embark 

on 

a 

bipartisan european adventure

(because my dad and step mom are joining us

i titled it 

a play off my maiden name 

and 

my married name

besides we all know you have to have a good hashtag)

here's a brief synopsis of our trip

21 days

most on the road

traveling from venice

to

munich

to 

prague

to 

brussels

to 

london

to 

normandy

to

paris

to geneva

back to italy

then 

a one day laundry day

back on a train

to rome

for more travel

all with a toddler

(whose potty training/trained gasp!)

it's the last hurrah to get everything knocked off our bucket list before we move back to the states

i've planned it all

i have an itinerary

activities planned almost to the minute

after our trip

i will post all my tips

our full itinerary 

(i am not posting now because it includes dates....gotta be safe ya know!)

it will be fun

it will be trip of a lifetime!

for now i leave you with 

packing tips

because we won't be in one place longer than three days

i am packing in ziplock bags

it's easier to pull out one bag then dump out all the clothes looking for something

for the toddler

i did one outfit in a bag

socks, outfit, panties

for the adults

i bagged by item

ex socks in one bag

underwear in one bag

shirts in bags

(i know this isn't a fully packed suitcase. 

eventually it was fully packed)

you get the idea

here's to making memories

and seriously

i may put this project on my resume....

love love from aviano!