So, I suppose when I initialized this blog, I should've told you more about Jim and I. Well, we both grew up in relatively small towns about twenty minutes away from each other. Our lives had paralleled entirely. I'd seen him at a basketball game in February '05 but he was dating one of my friends so I blocked him out of my mind totally. I was looking at his single friend that was with him. Well, nothing became of that and I continued on my single-gal journey til he called one night. I was prepared for this call, mind you. You see, he had called his cousin who in turn, called my best friend who gave his cousin the number then his cousin gave him my number and he called. My best friend had called right before he did. Oh, yes, I'd remembered him, but why he'd thought of me, I'd wondered. Anyways, our first telephone conversation lasted about an hour-and-a-half and our first date was the next day.
We had the usual first date, dinner and a movie. Only sometime during that first night did I realize that he was "the one". Now, I do know that this sounds a bit cliché but it is true. Throughout the next weeeks we'd hung out so much that my mother pulled in the reins a bit on my curfew. He'd come over on the weekends and we'd just drive around and hang out. One of those warm summer nights, we'd taken out the ol' 88 Chevy pick-up "one hand on the steering wheel, the other on my heart". I'd been nervous about telling him because I didn't really know how he'd felt, but deep down, I think I knew. The night now rolls through my mind like it was in slow motion; that night I'd told him I loved him. He immediately replied with the same words. My heart soared. I was really really in love. Not the summer romance novel love, but the real love. After those words were spoken, the next weeks we spent our time talking about all of the posibilities of our future together. We'd wondered how it was that we'd found each other so young and how we knew. You see, Someone else was working on that part, God. He knew that we needed each other early in our lives because our future included the Army. His dream was to enlist in the military and I thought I was excited for him, only now do I realize that I am not only excited, but honored that I can share my home with my best friend, my husband, my hero. You see, it does not take age to be a hero, nor does it take wisdom. It takes a courageous act.
Even though he'd joined the Army, our hearts were joined forever.
On our one year anniversary, Jim left for basic training at Ft. Benning, GA. A couple weeks before, he had presented me with a promise ring asking me to wait for him. I promised back with my whole heart. That year I only saw him four times. I took my first flight with his father to see him on family day about six weeks into basic training. It was love at first sight, again. Feeling his loving arms wrap around me feels like yesterday. He was released for two days and I flew back home. After that trip I saw him at his airborne graduation, then again when I took my first road trip with his mother to take him our ML320 so he could have his first car at his first duty station, Ft. Myer, VA.
A year-and-a-half later, I married my best friend. The one I told my secrets to, the one that wished me good night, the one that stole my heart two years before. We were married on Dec. 22, 2007 in a winter wonderland at my hometown church. It was magical.
January 23, 2007, I moved up to Alexandria, Virginia to find him in our new apartment. This was our first home; it consisted on 630 sq. ft. on the fourth floor with a split-level garage and wind-tunnel hallway to get to our doorway. It was perfect. Our belongings fit nicely since we were new and didn't have a whole lot! A fifteen minute drive to work for Jim with our only vehicle so I stayed home. In April Jim left for a three month long journey through the land, mountain, and jungle phases of Ranger School and I went home. We left our belongings there to return to them in July after his graduation, but I went home and back to work. We wrote our love letters back and fourth and only spoke three times throughout the entire course. Having faith, not knowing whether he was going to graduate or not, I purchased my plane ticket to Columbus, GA. His dad picked me up at the airport and we went to his graduation the next day. It was sooooo cool! I was such a proud wife that day. Jim was just exhausted! He had made his dream come true. This was his goal and he'd achieved it.
Now it was time to start my goal. I wanted to graduate college. So, after returning back to VA, I found a college that offered courses on post. It was close to Jim so he could grab the car after work and I could continue on with school online, someday when we'd move. It was a year-and-half later that we did.
Our new duty station is Fort Campbell, KY. We arrived July 6, 2009 and we are still here. Just shortly of arriving we expanded our family once again with a puppy. So we are currently up to four. Jim, me, Sadie (our kitty cat that we adopted in VA) and Shooter (puppy adopted here in KY). We love it! The weather is just so beautiful all the time. Upon arriving Jim was recruted into the Rakkasans, 1-187, to be exact. He has deployed for a year, just having left early February.
And so we are...
