It's a new world

As my inaugural blog post and for inquiring minds, I suppose an introduction to myself and my small family is in order. And when I say small, I mean SMALL. I am an only child. I only have 2 cousins that span both sides of my family. A family reunion for me is going to breakfast on a Sunday morning. So yes, my side of the family is small. I was born in Georgia and that's where I met my love of fried foods and ranch dressing. When I was 5, I moved to Idaho. I picked up a love of meat and potatoes there and have a terrible hatred for green vegetable things (corn is a veggie in my book). And by the time I was 10, I moved to Colorado (where my parents met and the rest of my small family lived).

 It was here in Colorado where I met my love, when I was 18. He was an Air Force Academy cadet, and I swore off all guys in uniform. And you know what they say? Never say never! 10 short months later, we were in a position with the military where he had 1 week to marry me and put me on orders if I were to follow him to his next assignment. 1 WEEK people - to make a decision and spend the rest of my life with a guy. To pack up EVERYTHING and move halfway across the country - away from my family (albeit small). To leave college and the comfort of my friends.

And what do you know? I did!

We planned a wedding in a week and it was beautiful - we had about 40 people attend (did I mention he's an only child too with a small family?) and 2 days afterwards, he was gone for several months for training. When he returned, we moved ourselves to Shreveport, Louisiana. Oh - did I mention I was 5 months preggers by that point? So scary!!

We did the "live in base housing" thing, I worked after A was born, he was deployed to Guam for 4 months, and upon his return, he got orders to Korea for a year. So, back to Colorado we went (there was no way I was going to raise a toddler in Louisiana by myself).

The magic of Skype kept our marriage pieced together (they were rough pieces, but they were pieces). A thought her daddy lived in a computer at one point - and she got bored of him after awhile.

After our year of being separated, we packed up our stuff and moved to San Antonio to get on with our lives and on with our marriage. I won't sugar coat this part - being apart for a year and then move in with each other again is hard - like REALLY hard. You are two individual people with your own thoughts about how to do things, and have to come back to reach a common goal. There was a lot of turmoil in our relationship when we got to Texas. But, our innate stubbornness was what kept us together - we weren't just going to give up and walk away.

So after working through things and staying in San Antonio for about 3 and a half years - we made it back to Colorado. Back to our family and back to our roots. We've been here for over four years, bought two houses since we've been here and found stability in our marriage. We are the closest we've ever been, because we've gotten through the rough patches and we've grown up - together.

So welcome to my blog - it is honest, it is open and it is me. I am a military wife, who has a full-time career and we're raising a child. It isn't easy, but life isn't supposed to be. It is supposed to be a journey - so hold on and enjoy the ride!