Probably the Only Surprise I will EVER Successfully Pull Off!

Well the day finally came for me to see Andrew after 3 1/2 LONG months apart of waiting 3 weeks for a single phone call and only writing letters back and forth! I was excited for today because I knew I would finally get to jump into Andrew's arms, Andrew was excited for today because it was one day closer to seeing me and the family and because it would be his first day out of Ranger School in over 100 days. 

This morning at 12:30 I drove with McAdam's girlfriend, Jen, to Camp Rogers at Fort Benning to pick up our guys! Andrew had no clue I was coming (Jen had suggested I hide in the back of Zack's truck so that Andrew would really have no clue I was there, but as we waited and waited (for almost 2 full hours) I got too excited that I couldn't hide from him! We waited and waited outside Camp Rogers basically forever but soon the guys started piling out and all the wives and girlfriends and families started waiting around the gate looking for their Ranger to come out. Some guys were wearing ACUs and others were in Civis so neither of us had any idea what to look for!

At one point Jen ran away from me because she thought she saw Zack, but it turned out that she RAN (in a full sprint) to the wrong guy! She came back and she was so sad and embarrassed, but then we continued looking for our guys together!  A few hours minutes later Jen said "Kristina, there's Andrew! There he is!" I couldn't find him so she pointed him out again! I scanned though the mass of Rangers coming my way and when I finally met his eyes and I let out an absolute shrill of excitement! Haha! I didn't plan on screaming but that's just how it went! I RAN as fast as I could into his arms (by the time I spotted him though, be was honestly only 5 feet from me).  He was overloaded with lots of gear but he didn't even have time to drop them before I was in his arms! I didn't see the look on his face when he first saw me, but Jen said he had the biggest smile on his face and was just shaking his head in disbelief! I wish I had seen it, but I have a perfect image of how he reacted and that is second best!

After the initial hugs and kisses were over we found Jen and McAdams again and loaded all of the guys' gear into the back of the truck and Jen drove us all back to the good olde IP (Independence Place- where Zack and Andrew live). I can't express how excited Andrew was to see a Tupperware container full of his mom's famous home-made chocolate chip cookies! I don't think we had even left base before every single cookie had been eaten! 


It was so nice to hold Andrew's hand and look into his eyes as we drove back to the apartment. Everything that I had been missing for the past 100+ days was sitting there right next to me and it was everything I had dreamed it would be. I kept whispering to him "I can't believe this is real!" It was so amazing, it was so weird that everything Ranger School had put us through was all behind us. I cried for about a nanosecond and then it was like the past 3 1/2 months just disappeared. Every single moment of feeling lonely and sad, every day spent without Andrew, every worry and every last tear was worth it all for that first hug. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant seeing that smile on Andrew's face at the end of it. God,  I love that smile!

The rest of the 8(ish) hour pass was a blur. Andrew's first priorities were food and bathing! I put some laundry in while he showered and he told me after "do you know how nice it feels to shower without 60 other naked dudes around you?!" I guess it's the little things that you miss! It sure did make me giggle though! After a few phone calls to family and friends, and a jump from the landscaping company (the truck didn't take the 3 1/2 months of neglect so well) we went to Commandos and Ranger Joes to get all the Rangeriffic merchandise we could get our hands on! Commandos is my favorite, because they make every Ranger class feel special with the signage out in front of the store! We loaded up on so many t-shirts, sweatpants, shotglasses, sweatshirts, bumper stickers.... you name it, they had it! And we were all too happy to pay a small fortune for it. (Actually though, their prices were very reasonable, but it sounds better this way!)

Next up was dinner with Andrew's Ranger Buddy, Joe Shane, and his wife, Ashley, at Red Robin! They are such a cute and fun couple and she has the cutest southern accent that I am oh, so jealous of! We had lots of fun and the boys pigged out on burgers, all you can eat fries, and lots of milkshakes and Andrew's (secret) favorite, Strawberry Freckled Lemonade! After dinner we I drove back to the apartment (the guys can't drive while they are still in Ranger School so that only leaves yours truly to drive the Silver Bullet!!) where we watched Archer and played a loooooong overdue hand of Monopoly Deal!

Around 8:30 McAdams and Jen came over and it was time to take the guys back to the barracks. I got to drive again (yay me!) and then filled up the truck with gas so that that was one less thing that Andrew would have to do once he graduated. 

I can't wait to see him again tomorrow! Today was like a dream! I still can't believe this is all coming to an end! Today made everything so worth it. Now the goal is to make it through the next two days and I'll have my very own ARMY RANGER! It still doesn't seem real, but it's not stopping me from getting mighty excited!