Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 13

Hello, Keystone State!!

As of Tuesday at 12:42 PM I am officially a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania! Of course this was a long time coming, and I am a little upset about giving up my first-in-the-nation-primary by losing my New Hampshire Residency, but overall I am very excited to officially be a Pennsylvanian! Mom Dolan came down to the DMV with me on my lunch break (she was one of my proofs of residency) so we decided to document the time we spent there:

 Here I am with Lenny, who was oh, so happy to help us. Not really.

 Taking my vision test... which I told him I didn't need to take because I am blind, but he made me take anyways. And I almost failed.... WITH contact lenses in.

 Waiting for my temporary license! This guy was a resident of E-town too and kept telling me "Welcome to Elizabethtown," (even though we were in Lancaster) "I'll see you in all that traffic." I wasn't really sure what he was talking about because we live in a small town, with almost no traffic, but I just smiled and nodded and said "thank you, sir!"

The newest Pennsylvania Resident!

So excited to have my new License! All-in-all not a bad hour!

Even waiting for an hour in a ridiculous line at the DMV (which, let's be honest, pretty much everyone hates), Mom and I had such a fun lunch break! We got all my forms sorted out and proofs of identity and residency and then just had one of our great chats!

My next step is to get my registration and license plate squared away (to do Friday!) and then get Little White inspected and I'll be all set! It feels great to have all of this out of the way.

In other news, Andrew is doing well in Afghanistan. He got his Easter Care Package on Tuesday that I sent out last Monday, which is pretty much a miracle as far as deployments go. Only 8 days!! I didn't even have time to tell him "do not open until Easter", since I thought it would take at least another week or so! Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come as far as mail is concerned. The Battalion Commander writes an email to all family members each month stating how things are going and what is to be expected in the coming weeks and in last month's email he said that since the weather is getting better, mail will also be getting to the troops faster since it won't be delayed due to snow storms and such. Fingers crossed no more month-long waits for Care Packages!!! Here is a picture of the Easter package I sent him: complete with a chocolate bunny, Easter eggs, Easter grass, a Red Sox Yatzee game, more candy and- of course- ARCHER!

Today was also a great day because on my lunch break I finally went to have my engagement ring appraised (so that we can have it insured- after almost 6 months I think Andrew was about to have a heart attack thinking about me walking around with that uninsured rock on my hand. And I was all too familiar with the phrase "that's the only one you get, if you lose it or break it before it's insured its too bad, so sad!"- the romance never dies) I also got it cleaned for the first time since Andrew proposed that magical, freezing cold day in Boston Common, and boy oh boy does that sucker shine now! I haven't been able to take my eyes off of it all afternoon! It's so nice that no matter what goes on in my life and what stresses I'm facing each week I can look down at the promise of a life together. It makes everything else go away and those stresses just seem to be lifted off my shoulders.