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| My husband playing with fireworks last New Years in Hawaii |
2011
This past year has been the craziest year of my life, by a long shot. I spent New Years 2011 in Hawaii with my husband (then, fiance) and two friends. In Hawaii, everyone shoots off fireworks at midnight--and I mean everyone. At 12:00, the entire island was in a haze of colored smoke as I kissed my husband with our first New Years kiss of many. Then I watched my husband light off firecrackers and run from them as they exploded. He has some sick obsession with fireworks. I guess it's a man thing. In just one week of 2011, I married the most amazing guy on Earth, and sent him off to Afghanistan, and life has never been quite the same since then. Like with any deployment, life has been full of ups and downs. Our first few months were rough as we fought to get used to the new lifestyle: one phone call a week (at first), the phone saying "You have 60 seconds" and having to rush to say our goodbyes, having to show affection with simply words on a phone line, having to get through disagreements on just a phone line (it's much easier to say things you don't mean, people), not understanding what one another are going through. After the first month or two, we figured things out, and we've been growing and pushing through ever since. I learned how to be stronger than I ever knew possible. When he couldn't be there to talk me through a rough day, I had to get through it on my own. When we bought our first car and did financial paperwork, I had to learn how to do it on my own. Although I've gotten a few wrinkles (hopefully just figuratively), I've grown so much over the last year. Even though I've been past 18, I actually turned into an adult. We had our R&R in August and September, and it was nice to be married and together and normal, without all the wedding craziness of his previous leave. Now, with only a few months left in the deployment, we're starting to get those exciting jitters that come with the realization that it's almost over. This new year is the year that we've been waiting for since May of 2010, and we're so excited to see what it has in store.
2012
Well now that 2012 has begun, it's really sinking in that in a few short months, my husband will be home and we will be starting our new life together. We've never been able to just be a normal couple. We started our relationship during basic training, and have been pushed and pulled by the Army ever since. We've spent 3 months in each other's presence in the last two years, and those months were spent bouncing back and forth between all different family members and places on two week leave periods. We have yet to walk into our own home and plop down on the couch and just relax and talk about our day, without anywhere to go, or anyone to see. It will be so nice to just experience a normal day as a normal, married couple. We're excited to also be not so normal in that we'll be leaving on a vacation island with so many adventurous things to do. I can't wait to go hiking, run on the beach, go to Sea Life Park, and do all of the awesome things in Hawaii together. This also means that I can back to being the athlete that I used to be. While I probably won't find any soccer teams to play on, I'll be able to run and work out every day without limits, and I cannot wait for that! I also graduate with my Bachelor's of Arts in English this year, a degree I've been working on since I graduated high school. If all goes as planned, I'll be graduating with Honors, too. College was always part of my plan, and I always knew I'd graduate and do fine, but back then, I never expected to be dealing with a deployment while trying to finish my degree. College was a peace of cake...until he left. Now, what seemed like no big deal feels like a huge accomplishment. There were many days when I though I wasn't going to make it to graduation because it was too hard to handle everything. In just the first few months of 2012, there will be my birthday, our one-year wedding anniversary, his homecoming, my graduation, and moving to Hawaii. I couldn't be more excited for what is going to be the best year of our lives--at least until 2013 :)
