We met in August 2006 and started dating a few weeks later. We quickly become inseparable. We did everything together. We became best friends – and, obviously, we still are. We encouraged each other to be the best versions of ourself. He encouraged me to go back to school and finish my degree. I took his advice and started back to school in December 2006. I only had 39 or so credits left to get my degree.
Hubby was in the Army at the time and preparing for a 16-month deployment. If you have never had to experience the pain of a deployment, consider yourself blessed and take a minute to thank a solider and his family. You can’t possibly understand what it’s like to live through such a stressful and scary time unless you have done it.
Anyway, we dated for 10 months before he deployed in March 2007. It. Was. Devastating. I didn’t know one person could feel so many emotions at one time. It was a long and emotionally trying 16 months, but we made it through. I wrote him a letter EVERY SINGLE DAY. Do you have any idea how many letters that is?! About 500. He kept every single one! To this day, they are sitting in our office in the same 3-ring binder and page protectors he put them in while deployed. We were fortunate that he had, mostly, a desk job. He did not have to leave the FOB (forward operating base) very often, but when he did – I did not do well at hiding my panic.
He FINALLY made it home in June 2008 – Hallelujah!! Can you hear the angels singing?! That was pretty much the best day ever…at least for the next 3 weeks! We went on vacation soon after he returned and he proposed!! At Disney World. In the Cinderella Castle
He proposed our last night in Disney World and before we got on the plane the next day, I had already bought my first bridal magazine. I did not want to wait long – I was so excited to start our life together!! At first I was pushing for a Fall/Winter wedding. But, with Thanksgiving, Christmas and both our birthdays within four weeks of each other, he convinced me to spread the fun out a little bit. We got married March 14, 2009. Three weeks later (after our 2 week honeymoon), Hubby was discharged from Active Duty and the Army moved us 2700 miles away to his home state. We were jobless and homeless. What a way to start our marriage, right?!
We quickly found a townhouse to rent and Hubby lucked into a job with the Federal government – yay!! I was not so lucky. You would think a Bachelor’s degree and years of experience working in government would make it pretty easy to get a decent job – wrong! I was unemployed for eight months. And, due to a technicality, I could not collect unemployment benefits. In November 2009, I finally found a job similar to what I did before we got married. After I got my job, we started the process of buying our first house – it didn’t take long! We’ve been in our house for about a year and a half and loving every minute of it!
That’s a quick synopsis of our life together thus far. More to come!
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