memorial day thoughts.

Hello readers, it's been a little while since I've updated!

Mostly, that's because I really have had a hard time thinking up anything significant to write down. I have kind of been on auto-pilot for the past couple of weeks, and I'm trying to focus on doing my best to revert back to the "living alone" routine.

I suppose it's going as smoothly as one can expect. Most of my days are filled up with work time and Perry time. I am so thankful that I can spend 40 hours a week in a job that I actually enjoy, and can come back home to a happy face. Those things alone put me in a very good state of mind for getting through this year. I also have been fortunate enough to fill much of my spare time with friends and family. There have been several nights out, dinners, lunches, happy hours, etc. I have also been focusing much of my attention on future plans, like Eric's upcoming pre-deployment party, our July trip to Austin, TX, and of course, our wedding. This week we picked our caterer, and have now officially secured all of our big-ticket items. The rest of the planning will pretty much be on my own, but we'll do our best to be as collaborative as possible even while Eric is overseas.

Eric has completed one training in Fort Hood, TX, and has moved on to another training at Gowen Field outside of Boise, ID. He stays there until June 7th, and will return home for a weekend visit! Looking forward to that little visit is a huge source of positivity for me right now, and I truly can't wait! It will be short but sweet, and our last chance to soak up each other's time in our own home. In the meantime, we've been able to communicate almost daily through texting, and have even gotten in a few phone calls.

In milestone news; today marks our one-month anniversary! How crazy, it feels like our little ceremony was just yesterday, and somehow it also feels like forever ago. Regardless, it's an absolutely wonderful feeling to be Eric's wife.

Today is also Memorial Day, and this holiday is such a somber reminder of what our military men and women are putting on the line to defend our country. I follow a blog called Defense Wife, and read an interesting entry by one of its contributors. Her words are a good reminder of what this day is all about, and I've shared them below:

"For those who lost someone in the recent wars, and those who lost someone many years ago today, it's about remembering them, and for many it will be a sad occasion. it may be the first Memorial Day without their loved one, and that will bring up painful memories, like the tearing of a scab off a wound. It is a step backward in moving forward. For others, they will tell stories and share their loved ones life with others; it will be bittersweet. Flowers will be laid, flags will be flown, balloons will be released into the air, photos will be shared, all will bring up strong emotions and plenty of tears. 

For those of us lucky enough not to be spending today in memory of our loved one, instead we remember our husband’s friends, our friends’ husbands, any and everyone who has died defending our freedoms. We don’t need to thank our husbands today, but we can tell them we are grateful they are home and hug them tight, because they are remembering all their lost buddies, even if they aren’t saying it out loud. 

Today is about remembering and  honoring all who have died in military service, defending the United States since 1775 – over 1 million of them.  At some point today, take a minute to pause and remember the true meaning of today. Teach your kids what today is really about, attend a memorial event, do something. All that is asked of us is to not forget."

On that note, I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend. My thoughts are with all of you that have lost someone; the sacrifice and bravery of your loved ones have not been forgotten.

day one.

Well, one of the days I've been dreading has finally arrived. This morning at 4:00am, Eric and I got up, packed the car, and I drove him off to the airport. With a quick kiss and hug, he was off. I drove back in silence, came home to our already-quieter apartment, and recessed back into the depths of our bed to be alone with my thoughts before the sun had even risen. Eric, it never gets easier to be without you; maybe more familiar, but just as hard as all the times before.

If I'm thankful for any part about how this is going, it would be the fact that we're getting "phased in" to this deployment. Eric's time overseas won't actually even start until August. The fact that he's part of the Reserves in the Oregon National Guard means his unit needs more training-up time than an active unit would. So, here's what we're looking at:

Currently, Eric is heading to Fort Hood, TX for a nine-day training. From there, he will go straight to Gowen Field in Idaho for another training period. That wraps up in early June, and he gets a few days to come home and visit (yay!!). Luckily, we've figured out a way to reschedule that surprise party we had been planning to occur on this break. It will be a whirlwind, but I'm so glad we still get the chance to celebrate him, even if it's no longer a surprise, and even if it will be a very busy trip.

His time home wraps up on June 11th, at which point he's really gone for a while. He'll fly back off to Texas for his last period of intensive training. While there, he has a few days of leave, but can't come home. For that, I'll fly down to him for a little reunion in Austin, TX. Then once August rolls around, he'll ship off to Afghanistan and be there until May of 2015. Oy vey.

Of course, all of this above is according to the ever-changing schedule of the army. I'm still crossing my fingers that this deployment somehow gets shortened.

Anyhow, there's a very bright side of our current situation: we still have several days over the next couple months that we will be with each other in person! I am so very thankful and excited for that. Eric also has very good access to his phone in the meantime, which means we'll be able to talk and text regularly for a while.

On the other side, it is hard to believe that our days between Sniper School and deployment trainings have come to a close. In my very first dd&dt post, I wrote about the 81 days that we had, and my wish for those days to pass as slowly as time would allow. Well, after the army stepped in, those 81 days turned out to be more like 67 days. Regardless, we really did accomplish so much in that short amount of time.

First, we got engaged. Although doing this was something we had planned on and talked about for a long time, Eric made this experience such a surprise and so romantic.

Once we were engaged, it was amazing how much wedding planning we got done in a short amount of time. We basically accomplished all the decisions that Eric wanted to be a part of. So, after several venue visits we decided on celebrating our day at Zenith Vineyards in August of 2015. We also got our engagement pictures done, scheduled that photographer for the wedding, and are in-talks with a few caterers right now. Personally, we just can't wait for the tastings ;). We also asked one of my very best friends, Mishaun, to officiate our ceremony. He happily said yes, and we're so thrilled to have someone so close to us contribute to our day in such a special way.

Less than a month after we were engaged, we got married. Talk about a whirlwind! For a reminder as to why the marriage came before the wedding, feel free to read here.

This craziness doesn't sound crazy enough to you? Yeah, us neither. Which is why we decided to wrap up our time together with a couple of ring finger tattoos.

I never thought I'd be the person to get a marriage tattoo, but I absolutely love it, and wouldn't take my decision back for a second. The idea to do this came up when Eric realized he'd rather not take a wedding ring overseas, but wanted to have something to remind him of me and our marriage. As anyone who knows Eric can tell he's pretty enthusiastic about tattoos, so a ring finger tattoo was the natural choice for him. After some thought, I decided I'd join in on this choice as well. So for now, we're saving wedding bands for the wedding ceremony next year.

So, yeah, I'd say our 67 days together were very eventful. In addition to all these milestones, we had so many incredible nights in-between. We've created wonderful memories after all the nights out with friends, dinners with family, watching the Blazers, cuddling with Perry, trips to the beach, Colorado, and Corvallis, hunting, lots of beer, lazy mornings, yurting, Timbers games, and just hanging out. It really was a wonderful time.

engagement: in photos.

In keeping with the non-traditional route we've been taking the past few months, here are our post-marriage engagement pictures!

We had such a great time taking these, and feel so blessed to have these amazing pictures. Alexandra Grace is a wonderful photographer, and you can view the entire photoshoot here! Enjoy :)