Tammy Romesha is My New Hero

It's something all military spouses and parents who've lived with a deployment are aware of: Our Soldiers will face danger, and they'll probably lie to us about it. Maybe "lie" is a strong word since it's not malicious, so we'll say omit. Our Soldiers will face danger, and they'll omit it from any conversation about said deployment. I know so many wives who "omit" things from their conversations when their husbands are deployed, it stands to reason that husbands would "omit" things as well. They don't want us to think about it when they have to leave again. They don't want their nightmares to become ours.

My point is - Tammy Romesha can't stick her head in the sand and not think about the things her husband has dealt with. She is no longer afforded the luxury of having the scary parts of her husbands military service "omitted" in order to help her sleep better at night. She knows her husband looked death in the face, accepted it, and marched on in an effort to save his friends. She knows he heard the last words that SGT Joshua Hardt spoke, "They have an RPG pointed right at me,". She knows he had to spill blood. She knows he spilled his own blood. She knows what he had to give up in order to keep going, and by God's grace get back to her.

I don't know if he glossed over the story of the overrun of COP Keating to her, my suspicion is that he did initially, and I can't say I don't understand that decision. But now she knows and she's had to think about it.

She knows something else too, though: She knows what we in the mlitary community are so grateful for, yet so often take for granted: a second chance. When our Soldiers march into that hangar, or that gymnasium or onto that field after just arriving from overseas, our entire lives become a second chance at perfecting our relationship. We get a second chance when so many don't. I don't know Tammy Romesha, but she and her husband both seem great. And I for one, am incredibly grateful - not only for my own second chances - but for theirs.

"They Fought Out of Pure Love"

"There were few people I would follow to hell and back, and Romesha is one of them"                -PFC Chris Jones

Today, President Obama will (or did, depending on when I actually publish this baby) award former SSG Clint Romesha the Congressional Medal of Honor. Romesha is the 4th living recipient and is the second recipient I have posted about on this blog, (you can read about the other here) and man alive, do I feel honored to have even heard these men's names.

I remember the day in October 2009 when COP Keating was overrun. I remember thinking "My God, my husband was there not two years before" (he was in the unit that helped build it and had served with the COP's namesake, LT Ben Keating). I remember praying like crazy for those lost and how scared they must have been to fight for their lives during a TWELVE hour battle with insurgents sometimes as few as 10 feet away. I think at that time it the most deadly single incident in the history of the war, ousting an incident during Erik's deployment to the same area from the "top" spot. A threshold so many Americans were praying we didn't cross.

Eight soldiers were killed that day at COP Keating:

SSG Vernon Martin

SSG Justin Gallegos
SGT Joshua Hardt

SGT Joshua Kirk

SGT Michael Scusa

SPC Christopher Griffin

SPC Stephan Mace

PFC Kevin Thomson 

I first read about SSG Clint Romesha specifically while reading The Outpost by Jake Tapper. (Yes, I finally finished it, for those of you wondering). I remember thinking how brave he and the others were, 52 of them them standing up to 300 Taliban and so many living to tell about it - a big part of that due to the bravery of SSG Romesha, who himself with what I read to be literally a hole in his arm from an RPG, and I just think "There is just no possible way I could be that brave". How did they look death in the face, accept that they may not see their wives or kids or parents ever again, and then start storming buildings? I guess because they didn't have any choice, that storming those buildings was the only chance they would have to ever see their family again. And I guess a Soldier probably makes peace with their mortality far in advance of having an enemy inside the wire of their camp. All things I just don't think I could do.

"With complete disregard for his own safety, Romesha continually exposed himself to heavy enemy fire as he moved confidently about the battlefield engaging and destroying multiple enemy targets, including three Taliban fighters who had breached the combat outpost's perimeter," his award citation reads.

Romesha himself has said that the Battle for COP Keating was group effort. The Black Knights are all heroes. In that light, I want to take a minute and tell you that 27 of the Soldiers who fought for COP Keating that day received Purple Hearts. That's more than half. 18 received Bronze Stars and 9 received Silver Stars. (There were more awards too, but I can't find concrete sources at the moment)

These Soldiers fought for each other out of love, "pure love" as President Obama and the mom of PFC Stephan Mace have both said. They fought to keep each other alive with bullets and sometimes giving (literally) their own blood via buddy transfusions, and when one of them fell, they fought to keep the body safe so their families could welcome them home. If that isn't valor, patriotism and love, I don't know what is.

And so I thank God every single day for men like those who served at Keating, and the hundreds of thousands of other veterans that have served our great country. You folks make America proud. And you make me dang proud to be an American.

I really, really encourage you to read this through: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/08/us/uncommon-valor It's a very interesting retelling of the events at COP Keating by Jake Tapper, who also became great friends with SSG Romesha while writing The Outpost.

And I would also like to point out to whomever is reading, that over the weekend Jake Tapper and his wife Jennifer, along with Walmart and an anonymous donor, put together a reunion for the Black Knights in Washington, DC. They were aided by American Airlines, Jet Blue, Southwest Airlines and Best Western. A big shout out goes to all those folks who made that reunion possible. I've seen pictures - with the Black Knights, John and Cindy McCain and Denis McDonough (the White House Chief of Staff) as well as Gold Star moms, wives and kiddos, and just the pictures of those folks together moved me. I know that even though the Army is small, the world is big, and sometimes these reunions don't happen all that often. I thanked Jake Tapper at The Outpost book party for bringing so many 3-71 Soldiers together, and I'm thanking him for this now. Thank you.

Army Wives: Alaska

The OWN Network has started airing a show about 7 Army wives living at Ft. Richardson, Alaska while their husbands are deployed. It's actually remarkably realistic (for a reality show), but unfortunately for the OWN Network (and for real military wives everywhere), there just isn't a way to accurately portray what it's like to send someone you love to war, the feeling of terror that comes over you when you hear there has been a KIA, the feeling of relief when you know your husband is safe - and then the immediate guilt for feeling better when someone elses life has just fallen apart, or the wonder of a homecoming. I've been really irritated over the years when a friend or aquaintance has come to me and said "I watch Army Wives, I know exactly what you go through". Though I have always appreciated the attempt to relate, you just truly can't understand until you live it; this show, however is a close as someone on the outside looking in could get (at least judging by the first 2 episodes).

I watched the show in the family room and Erik was down here on the computer (and I'm glad, I think tuning in to this show will be good for him! Anyway,) and we both had a few moments of "Did she really just say/do that?!", because after all it is still a reality show, and sometimes people are cast just to be the drama - but to be honest the show is close enough to real life that I realized I desperately miss the sisterhood that comes from seeing each other through the ups and downs of this lifestyle.

I'm really glad these women are being true to the gamut of feelings a person goes through during a deployment- sadness, anger, lonliness, anger again - no feeling is unreasonable, and I'm glad these women are showing it - warts and all.

Sidenote: During the show, Erik and I were both wondering aloud why they chose Ft. Richardson to film in and suddenly I realized that I bet it's because it's ridiculously gorgeous. If America saw some of the crappy bases that the Army has to offer, recruiting would plummet.

The Outpost : An Untold Story of American Valor

Last weekend Erik and I traveled (ALONE! Unencumbered by baby gear!!) to Washington DC to celebrate the release of Jake Tapper's book, The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor. The book was written about 4 Battalions’ tours in Afghanistan, 1-91 CAV, 6-4 CAV, 3-61 CAV, and in Book 1, the BN Erik served in at Ft. Drum, 3-71 CAV.

In the book you can read about the lives of men you've likely only heard about: LTC Fenty, SFC Monti, CPT Bostick, LT Keating, just to name a few. Men who were and are more than just names on outposts in Afghanistan. You can read about my own husband and just a few examples of his bravery, and far less importantly, you can read the email he sent to me when he told me that his deployment had been extended by 4 months and that I had to cancel our wedding (an email that was sent only 2 weeks before he should have marched into the gym at Ft. Drum to be welcomed home).

The book release party was held at the Newseum, appropriately, and many of the troops from the 3 BNs focused on in the book were in attendance. After the party kicked off, toasts were made and then a few Soldiers presented Mr. Tapper with tokens of their appreciation for writing the book. One of which was a flag that was one of just a few things rescued from the burning operations center of COP Keating before it was evacuated. Trust me when I tell you there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

It has been my belief for a while that 3-71 CAVs participation in OEF VIII-IX was a perfect storm, the likes of which many hadn't seen or wouldn't believe. I'm so grateful that a light has been shone on the heroics of these men, and so many others, who I believe make up the new Greatest Generation. Until now, so little was known about those who have given SO much.

The weekend also brought about the reunion of old college buddies, delicious sushi (that I have desperately needed since we left HI) and many sites visited, including Arlington on Veterans Day. I think Erik and I were both stricken by the number of names we recognized the latest sections of the cemetery. Honestly, there had to be at least 20 people we knew or had connections to. Twenty. Can you imagine? It's not that we didn't know they were gone, but just the sheer magnitude of walking around and just happening up familiar names really brought things home to us, even more so than they already were to this Army family. We are so lucky Erik has come home safely from his 3 deployments.

I remember thinking that night at the party that I was in the company of heroes. And then it occurred to me that as a military spouse (a term I hate to use to define myself, by the way) I am lucky enough in the company of heroes every single day of my life.

 (The men of 3-71CAV that were able to attend, and Jake Tapper)

 

Here is the link to the transcript of an interview Mr. Tapper did regarding the book. It's the best interview I've seen yet. http://www.hughhewitt.com/transcripts.aspx?id=dd755e93-a1b1-4ba6-b185-9e7ac964f87b

***I don't feel educated enough to write a full review of the book, because the truth is I haven't been able to finish it. I read, remember, cry, and put it down again for a while. I have read a good portion of it (2/3ish, which is about 99% more than expected), and someday I hope to finish it, but that day is just not today. I can say that it seems as accurate as it could be for a book whose story began more than 5 years ago (by Erik's description, not my own).

I Love a Good Hello

There is the feeling that I can't begin to put into words. A feeling that overcomes you when you know that your significant other is coming home to you after months and months and months away. And it's funny that I wrote it as them "coming home to you" because if I had to put the feeling into words, I would say that to me it feels like I myself am coming home.

Admittedly, I think I felt that feeling alot more strongly when Erik was coming home from Afghanistan versus when he came home from Iraq. They were two wholly different experiences, for both of us. And the end of his OEF deployment was the beginning of our life together, so it seems to be a huge turning point in my life though at the time I don't think I really recognized it. Isn't that always the way though?

I think I spent a lot of time thinking about Erik's first deployment in preparation for the last one, because it was all I knew. Eventually, I happily found out that there was no need to prepare myself in such a way. However, now that Afghanistan is in our future once again and people around me have begun asking questions about his experiences and in turn mine, I find myself thinking about it more and more. I came across the blog I kept when Erik and I first started dating, up until the time we got married and then my life got crazy with moving (and I forgot the password) and I just stopped writing. Aside from being a little embarrassed at how whiny I seemed to be at points (and I don't remember being that way outwardly, but...), it really transported me back nearly five years to a life that is so different from the one I'm leading now, it was like reading about someone else.

Anyway, I told you all that to tell you this: I've done some reasearch and found that one of the great things about deployments (and yes, I believe there are at least a few amazing things) is that if you really work at it, it can make you closer to your partner than you ever were when they're home. Another positive is that sometimes, when you are married, you aren't as kind/considerate/understanding/you-name-it as you could be. It's not purposeful, but it is what it is. When you are left alone for a few months, you really start to reexamine how you could do things differently, how you wasted time being snippy or being pissed about someone not taking out the trash (Who? Me?!). Who else can say that they get to push the reset button this way? Of course, the trade off for having this time of personal introspection is to be apart for a year at a time, but we'll just put that little factoid to the side...

And the very best thing about having to say goodbye, is getting to say hello again.

Hello - 2007


Hello - 2009

"What I can't see is how I'm ever gonna love you more, but I've said that before..."

I hate goodbyes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. ~Charles M. Schulz

I feel that I’ve been really lucky to have Erik working in battalion full of guys who married great ladies. I truly look forward to all the gatherings that someone, somewhere along the line affectionately termed “mandatory fun”, because I really value the friendships that I’ve built with the ladies of the BN and I love to be around them. I don’t know what I’d do without some of the ladies I’ve met and the friendships I’ve made. Like I said, I’ve been really lucky.

Now it’s my experience that the period of transition that deployment brings doesn’t really end when the deployment is over. After you’ve welcome back your loved one, you have to start saying goodbye to others that you love. People leave the Army, they move, you move, and there you are saying goodbye again.
Now it’s true, the Army is a surprisingly small entity and chances are we’ll cross paths again, but that doesn’t make goodbye any easier. And have I ever told you how much I hate saying goodbye? I’d sooner just leave unannounced. As you may know, I’m a crier.

* * * * * *

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes. ~Henry David Thoreau

Erik's Home!

And I'm pretty happy about it.

Melissa's sign cracked me up!

About to head in!

Some of the coffee group ladies :)


Mandy and I were pretty excited even though it was really ungodly hot in the building, and as you can see my hair-do was really starting to reflect that.


They had this screen up in the corner so we could see the guys coming in. Would you believe they showed an Army commerical on there too? Hellooo, I think we're already committed.

The best part :)

"...conspicuous valor above and beyond the call of duty"

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. -John 15:13

I've struggled for the last few days to figure out what to put in this post. I never met SGT Jared Monti so I don't feel that I can accurately pay tribute to who he was and what he did - but want to try.

Erik met and served with SGT Monti in 3-71CAV when he was at Ft. Drum. Even before they deployed I knew who SGT Monti was, and on the day I read of his death in Afghanistan, I thought I knew what a soldier the Army had lost. But as days went on and more information about SGT Monti's bravery and who he was became available, I realized what kind of a person the world had lost.

We were honored to meet Paul Monti, Jared's father, when he attended our wedding shortly after 3-71 returned from Afghanistan. Admittedly it was very difficult for us (and I'm certain even more so for him), but I know that we will never forget it. Nor will we forget his son who, it was announced yesterday, will be receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Soldier gets highest honor for ultimate sacrifice

Army Sgt. Jared C. Monti of Raynham has been posthumously named to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor this week for giving his life as he tried to rescue wounded comrades under heavy fire in Afghanistan in 2006.

The humble soldier never liked medals, his proud father, Paul Monti, recalled yesterday. The ones he earned when he was alive, he just tucked in a drawer. It was the way he dealt with many of his exemplary actions in life, his dad said - he didn’t feel he needed to show off about the good things he was doing.

Jared Monti, a 1994 Bridgewater-Raynham High School graduate, was the son of Paul Monti of Raynham and Janet Monti of Winterville, N.C. Just 30 when he was killed, he “was extremely selfless.

“He spent most of his life doing things for other people, even when young,” his father said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Monti received a telephone call from President Obama informing him that his beloved son has been named as a recipient of the Medal of Honor. It will be awarded in a ceremony at the White House in the fall.

“The president told me that he was very proud of him, that the nation was very proud of him and that I should be proud of him,” Monti said. He described the conversation as emotional and “bittersweet.”

On June 21, 2006, during a heavy firefight in Gowardesh, Afghanistan, Jared Monti dragged one wounded soldier to safety under fire. He went back to get another critically wounded soldier and was killed by a grenade in the process.

Monti recalled his son’s quiet, giving spirit, never wanting any recognition for the often surprising things he did. At 17, Jared asked to cut down a spruce tree from their yard, because a local family wasn’t going to have a Christmas tree. Then, “he bought them ornaments, presents, Christmas dinner, and he never told anyone,” his father said.

Only five other Medals of Honor have been awarded since 9/11. “I would rather have him back than all the medals,” Monti said. “But it’s fitting that (Jared) should be recognized for his act.”

He said his son, whose dream was to serve in the military and then become a history teacher, “would be appalled” by the attention he is receiving now. “(Jared) would say, ‘Dad, I was just doing my job,’ ” he said.

Couldn't Have Said It Better...

First, a preface (or two).

1)I didn't write this, my friend Jessica did. I did a little editing and removed some names, that's it.
2)Because the theory isn't mine, it is in no way based on anyone I know. And I'm not directing this at anyone either, I just thought it was brilliant and pretty applicable to my own life, in this moment anyway.

"I came to the conclusion last night that some women view a deployment as a 6/12/15 month-long event. It affects their every thought, decision, movement and mood. They're looking at the world through deployment-colored glasses and everything they see or do is tinged with the fact that they're currently in the middle of this 'event'. By definition, with an event comes expectations. You prepare yourself for the event and when it gets here you totally have expectations for how it's going to pan out and it generally consumes your every thought. I don't see Luke's deployment as an event, in fact its an non-event. Believe me, it's not like I can forget that he's gone, but I certainly don't let it affect every little thing I do. I am my own person, independent of his deployment, and I refuse to let my world stop because of it. I know that a lot of women feel guilty, like maybe they don't love their husbands enough if they don't cry all the time or spaz out at every little thing. I don't feel that way at all."

What a month!

So a couple of days after my last blog, Erik came home (a day early, and got to stay a day late!) and we had a great time. We flew to Kona (stayed in an AMAZING B&B - thanks to the recession for such a great deal!) from there we drove to Hilo and went to see Volcanoes National Park (because of which I'm still half dead from the sulfur dioxide). We also drove to the southern-most point in the United States. And, there is one tiny strip of land on the Big Island that is still governed by the British (it's a monument to Captain Cook). While we couldn't to the land its self (because one of us, I'm not going to say which one, didn't want to get muddy), we did get to see Britain from a bay in Kona and I think that's still pretty amazing. Then we went to Maui for a few days and drove to the top of Haleakala (well, Erik drove, I closed my eyes and willed myself not to get car sick). Then we came home and hung out here, spent a night in Waikiki (where we saw people we saw in Maui), and in a flash he was gone. I was able to take off most of the time he was here so we were able to go and do as we pleased, which was very nice. We ran around the islands, bought some "art" and too much wine, ate too much, drank too much and just enjoyed each other. Baxter and I both were very happy to have him here and very, VERY sad to see him go. I always feel like our time together goes far too fast.

In Kona

Still in Kona.
This is Hilo. We were at the Place of Refuge. Basically in ancient Hawaiian times, if you commit a crime (or, kapu, as they called it) like letting your shadow fall in front of the chief (serious, I know) you could be put to death. OR if you could make it to the place of refuge, you would be blessed by a priest and your transgressions were forgiven. Pretty weird idea, but a very beautiful area!

Now we're in Maui. So this is us in the 'Iao Valley. Google it, there is a very interesting story that I don't feel like typing out. It involved Kamehameha though, and we all know how I feel about him...

This is us in Maui at the top of Haleakala. It was windy and damn cold up there. Maybe 42* isn't cold to you, but when it's half of what you're used to it's awful!

And now, let us fast forward to 3 days after Erik left.

I'm laying on the couch, minding my business, when the doorbell rings. It's 8:30PM, so I cautiously open the door to find Dave, Vickie and Lori on my porch - apparently they had gotten a great deal on tickets and flew out here to surprise me. I screamed and jumped around so much that it looked like I had won the Publishers Clearing House (I know because they taped it). It was such a great surprise and really helped pull me out of my post R&R funk. I couldn't take off while they were here so they went to the beach every day and we grilled and drank champagne in the evenings. And on a whim we decided we'd go to Maui. And take a helicopter tour, amongst other things.

Everyone I tell about my surprise guests says "Wow! That takes guts!" but that's totally them. I wish I could be so laid back!

This may or may not have been in the car while they were waiting 4 hours for me to come home. Thing was, I was already home!

This is my face when I opened the door. I don't have the video :( Pardon my hair, I had just flung open my door.

We had a few skype dates with Erik!

This is us before our tour in Maui!

Dave during the tour.

Pardon the haze, we were above the clouds. ;)

Lori and I during the ride.

So anyway, that's my the recap of my amazing mid-April through mid-May. Hopefully I'll remember to update this thing before mid-June. :)

Ghost of R&R Past

I just wish the ghost of R&R present would get it's butt here.

Montreal. September 2006.

So tomorrow is our Hawaii-anniversary. I can't believe we've lived here for a year. Well, I've lived here for a year, Erik only lived here for about 6 months...

In other news, the state of Hawaii is broke. Buh-roke. Because of which, they have decided to stop buying paper towels for the state buildings - once they're out, they're out. My building is out. We've had to all chip in to buy our own or bring dish towels or whatever. Thing is, they took our trashcans out of the bathroom too so we couldn't throw away towels if we had them! I just hope they don't do this with toilet paper...

Dear State of Hawaii -
Maybe if you didn't run the a/c CONSTANTLY, ALL DANG DAY you wouldn't be broke. MAYBE if you didn't keep it as cold as meat locker in my office, you could afford a dang blowie thing for the bathroom.

Love,
Sheena

It appears Erik will be missing our skype date, so I'm going to head to bed. 'Night all!

Some Gave All

The Department of Defense announced the death of 1LT Daniel B. Hyde, 24, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He died March 7 in Samarra, Iraq, of wounds sustained in Tikrit when an explosive device struck his unit vehicle.

He graduated from Downey High School in 2003. He lettered in three varsity sports in high school - football, basketball and golf. He was elected student body president twice, and was accepted by all three military academies. He graduated from West Point 23rd out of 968 before getting his Ranger tab and airborne qualification.

LT Hyde was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, and is survived by his parents and a sister, who are residents of Modesto California.

It is not length of life, but depth of life.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Exciting!

Two exciting things have happened today.

The first was that Jackie sent me a package full of all kinds of exciting Maine-things! It was much appreciated and came on one of those days when it was nice to know that folks are thinking of you. Thanks again, Jackie!

The second exciting thing to happen today is that I got to talk to Erik on skype tonight. If you don't know, I sent Erik his laptop and he bought us webcams and skype is a program that you put on your computer that enables you to web chat, so we're able to talk to each other and SEE each other as we talk. It's really pretty amazing. Ask him, I just sat here saying "This is really amazing". It's already tomorrow where he is, and I'm talking to him on webcam! AMAZING! Anyway, since he works the night shift we're able to get together at what has turned out to be a perfect time for both of us. I'm eager to see if this makes the time go faster or slower. I'm just happy to be able to see him and to talk to him more. Baxter on the other hand was kind of weirded out by it all. "I see dad, I hear dad, but where the heck is he?!"

Sidenote: I went to the gym this afternoon and I decided that I'd put a little makeup on before I "met" with Erik online. Without even thinking I put on perfume too! Hah!

Anyway, I'm going to go to bed and crack open one of the half dozen tour books I got for our R&R trip. What a nice day.

Happy Veterans Day!

As someone with 2 grandfathers that fought in WWII, it's hard for me to picture a veteran as anything other than an old man - nvermind the fact that my own husband has himself earned the title (twice-over, *sigh*). Its not a sacrifice I could make, and I thank God every day that there were and are men and women braver than I, willing to take on the task of fighting for our freedom. And along those same lines, I ask God every night to comfort the families of those who didn't get to come back home.

It's hard for me to believe this picture is just a couple of years old, and that these are some of the faces of Americas veterans. We appreciate you!

~~~

I'm so proud of you, E.

He's gone.

And now it's back to carrying my cell phone with me, even to the shower. And it's back to counting the days until we're together again.

I took lots of pictures of our last day together for awhile (just for you, Lyle and Lorene! Well maybe for my scrapbook too...), but I'm going to have to post them later. I'm just too wiped out - I'm taking my glass of wine, my half eaten bag of Milano cookies, my dog, and going to bed. It's time to learn to sleep alone.

I promise not to be Debbie Downer for the whole deployment, but give me today (or maybe the rest of the week). I just... this seemed a lot easier last time.

Tears are forming in your eyes

A storm is warning in the skies

The end of the world it seems

You bend down and fall on your knees

Well get back on your feet

Don't look away

Don't run away

Baby it's only life

Don't lose your faith

Don't run away

It's only life

-KV

I forgot to post pictures from our Thanksgiving Extravaganza!

The turkey turned out well (Carmen came and helped me prep it the day before and then she and John came over early to help me flip it halfway through the cooking - it ensures a more moist bird, at least that's what Martha Stewart - and Carmen - say). Thanks to Carmen for helping! And if you're reading this (which I'm not sure you do) have that baby already! ;)



Eaters of dinner


A school of Salmon. Get it? Man I crack myself up.


Yay food!
Erik having pie. And pleased about it.


Carmen and I split dessert because we wanted to try everything but didn't want to eat whole pieces. Baxter was just hoping for a nibble.

A Glimpse Into The Future

You may or may not know that Erik is gone this week to the Big Island (the longest we've been apart since we got married *collective sigh*) and I noticed that many of the ladies at the coffee (including myself) had our phones out on our laps the whole time, hoping for a short "hey, how are you?" phone call from our guy and I realized... it's coming. And it's coming faster than I'd like. It, in this case, is the d-word. As I was driving home I thought about going home to an empty house and all the pots I had to unload from the backseat (I went to the PX before the coffee, I'm trying to grow things in my off time!) and how I'd wait until tomorrow so I didn't do it in the dark. I'm not ready to live alone yet, I'm still to skiddish. I have a few more chances to get used to it before he's gone for a year. It'll be easier when I have a job too. Enough about that.

Baxter misses Erik too. Last night we were watching TV on the couch and I said "Baxter where's daddy?!" and his ears perked up, then a car door slammed across the street and Bax bolted to the front door and stood there waiting for Erik to come in... Poor little guy. I'll have to be careful not to torture him while Erik is gone. :)

So the girls and I are looking forward to Friday for the Sex and the City movie. Boy oh boy, I'm beyond stoked. We are going to go have dinner and drinks then head to the theater. After it's over, it could be time to go get Erik! I feel bad for the girls though, Rich and Nate won't be home for 10ish more days.

Oh, and I locked myself out of the house on Monday and had to walk over to the neighbors (in my PJ's) and borrow his phone. 2 hours and a hefty chunk of change later I got into my house. Boo.

Another year, another attempt at regular blogging...

I'm a procrastinator. It's a wonder I ever got through college this way.

I'm supposed to be tidying up. Our landlords are getting out of the "biz", so our house will be on the market in the future. Appreciating our landlords for saving us from 6 months in the Lawton ghetto, I'd like to help them sell the place by not having Erik's crap everywhere when the house gets shown. However, that's become a task since nothing I do or say can rouse him into action. I've given up - if 4 years at a military university didn't do it, I certainly can't. Let it be known though: I'll happily pick up his shoes off the floor dozens of times daily if it means he's here to leave them there...

We're going to North Dakota this weekend to see Erik's grandparents and the rest of his ND fam that I've never met. Should be fun. But I want to have the house clean before we go because a) I hate coming home to a dirty house and b) It might get shown while we're gone.

Enough about cleaning - what am I? June Cleaver?

The plans for the big move to Hawaii are coming along. As far as they can come without the Army telling us when we have to be there... We should know on Thursday though, and on that day I'll go into full overwhelmed mode.

It's not like a regular move where you can pack your own valuables without the movers knowing about them, or move them yourself so you know nothing bad happens. Noooo, this time I have to put everything I own on a ship and hope it doesn't end up bubbling up from the bottom of the Pacific. I'm sure I'm being dramatic but ... it's what I do.

House hunting is going well. Before we knew we'd be going to Hawaii we had hoped to buy at our next duty station. HOWEVER, you can't even look at a decent house without paying half a million dollars, so we're going to be renters for the next 3-7 years. Things are looking up though, ahrn (thanks Jackie) has been most helpful.

So I'm going to try to be more regular at this, and I'm sure when we're less busy and prepping for the next deployment (it's coming quicker than I'd like...) you'll be hearing more from me.

Until next time!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

So last Wednesday my husband came home, handed me a piece of notebook paper with 9 places on it and told me that we had about 15 hours to pick our future. We did some research, some googling and made our decision. At first I was SO annoyed that the Army gave us such a short period of time to make our decision but honestly, I don't think we could have made better choices than we did.

Our top selections:
Ft. Campbell, Kentucky: We have wanted this post for awhile, it's the post nearest to the halfway point between our families. The downside - from what we understand, it means an almost immediate deployment for Erik, however, it'll be a deployment that is NOTHING like the one we just endured. It was still an awful decision to make, to decide it was better to take an easy deployment soon rather than a possibly more difficult one later.

Hawaii - Eh. I'm indifferent to this one, but Erik wants to stay light, so I went along with it. It's Hawaii for goodness sake!

Ft. Carson, Colorado: I'd like this one, I've heard its great but it would likely mean a deployment in the near future. It's a bitter pill to swallow, for sure, but at least I'd only be about 9 hours from home (on a good day).

Somewhere in Germany: I can't remember which post - there were two on the list, neither were the ones I'd heard of.

Ft. Hood, Texas: Because it would be better than going to Ft. Drum.

Ft. Drum, New York: Who in their right mind could stay away? I jest... I miss it, but I'm glad I didn't have to deal with the snow.

Ft. Bragg, North Carolina: Now you see why Ft. Drum was higher on the list.

Our options went on to include another post in Germany and (coming in dead last was) the post in Alaska where you-know-who will be taking over. No thanks to that. We aren't sure what we'll get yet, but if the last deployment was good for something it's that we have a good chance of getting what we want.

So that's my first blog. :)