Good problems to have

I was on the phone with Garmin customer service because the new watch I bought a month ago has already broken. I used to have a GPS watch with a 4 hour battery life but that was not nearly long enough so I upgraded to one with an 8 hour battery life. Which I promptly exceeded the first time I used it. So this year I bought the Garmin Vivoactive HR which has about a 16 hour battery life (with GPS usage). And apparently after a month with me that watch was all like nope, you're too exhausting. I'm dead now. It won't charge. It won't turn on. The screen is just a blank reflection of nothingness and despair. The Garmin Rep told me to send the watch back. I asked if they were going to send me a shipping label and he said they don't do shipping labels. In a moment of frustration, I said "I'm sorry, I know you're just doing your job but I paid $250 for this watch, which completely stopped functioning within the first month of use. And now I have to pay more money to ship it back? That seems like a shitty policy." Then he sent me a shipping label.

I dislike calling customer service because I hate complaining about things. Because I have no legitimate complaints in life. I am the actual luckiest.

In the moment, I was frustrated. But not about the watch. That's the most first worldy of first world problems. I have so much disposable income that, on a whim, I bought a toy that I use when I run around playing outside, in my copious amounts of free time, and now said toy is broken and I used more of my free time to call and complain about it, and the company is going to send me a new one. No, I was frustrated because Pete's departure date from Afghanistan has been pushed back slightly (He said there's a good reason, he's just not allowed to tell me what it is. I think the Navy and I have different definitions of "good." And "reason"). I am already so weary of spending the majority of our first year of marriage apart. And now it seems like the light at the end of the tunnel is getting further away instead of closer.

But even that seems like the kind of "problem" that is really just another instance of my exceptional good fortune. I'm lucky to have a life/adventure partner who is so awesome that his absence leaves a giant sized hole in all my days. And I'm lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful people that this year has been a seemingly constant series of runs, adventures and other assorted hijinks. Sure, I've had some unbearably sad moments. I've missed Pete terribly. But I haven't felt lonely. Or unhappy. Mostly I've felt overwhelming gratitude. For this life. And especially for these people.

So I've got two months and (when the new watch arrives) up to 16 hours of GPS play time. Let's get adventurin'. 

Lyric of the moment: "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it. Wanna change the world? There's nothing to it..." ~Gene Wilder "Pure Imagination"