The Love of My Life.

Saturday is my one year anniversary with the most wonderful man in the world.  I surprised him for Christmas with a trip to the hotel that we stayed at on our very first vacation together.  Things were not always easy for us, mainly because of his deployment, but we made it through and we're stronger than ever.

 When we started talking, neither of us planned on dating.  We knew he would be gone for training and then off to Iraq.  But, our plans didn't exactly work out.  Before we knew it, we were hanging out all the time.  And, in no time at all, I fell in love with this man.

Most of the time we dated, he was gone for training.  In the first year of our relationship, we were only actually together for about 2 1/2 months.  We were able to take a trip to Chincoteague before he left, and that was a fantastic few days.  But, then it was off for more training and I was alone to miss him.

Right before he left for Iraq, I made a last-minute decision to fly out to see him in Wisconsin.  I had never been on a plane before, so let's just say my anxiety was through the roof.  But, it was worth it.  I tell you, though... Walking away from him after that weekend was the absolute hardest thing I have ever had to do

He was gone from August to January, when he had his two weeks of leave.  Oh my god, those two weeks couldn't have come soon enough for me.  I was constantly worried that something was going to happen and I just couldn't live with that.  While he was home on his leave, he surprised me by proposing.  Some people thought we were crazy because we didn't really get to 'date', but deployment changes things.  Needless to say, I said yes.

After he went back to Iraq, it was so much harder for me.  That little piece of him being home was more than I could handle.  I cried myself to sleep so many nights.  I did nothing but work and go to beauty school.  I crammed my schedule full so that I wouldn't have time to think about missing him.  But, alas, in June, he was home!  It was the longest 10 months of my life, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.  

Going from never seeing him to seeing him all the time was very hard at first.  It was a hard transition, but we took things slow and everything worked out.  We took a little vacation to the beach with his family, and planned our wedding, and before you knew it, the day was here.

We got married in the Dominican Republic.  It was absolutely perfect.  It was the absolute most magical experience of my life.  We got to sit around and relax and eat and drink and it was wonderful!  I wish I could go back every time I think about it.  I have never been so happy in my life.

Marriage has been interesting.  It's not been bad, by any means.  Just different.  We both graduated with degrees, we moved, changed jobs, and made new friends.  We've seen our best friends get married and made plans for the future.  It has been absolutely wonderful and I would not have it any other way.