Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 16

Oh, Thursday, Thursday Thursday... we meet again.

Am I mis-counting? I can't believe I'm already on my 16th DPT! I'm not gonna lie, it feels pretty awesome to officially be into MAY, about to be completely done with four full months!

This week has been full of excitement from many different areas of my life. On Saturday my brother's girlfriend came up to Hershey from DC and we went to a great country concert together! One thing I really miss about Andrew being gone is going to country shows together, so it was awesome to be able to go with Em. Our senior year of college, Andrew and I must have gone to at least 10 different concerts together, and each has a very special memory that I will always hold close to my heart. Whether it be meeting Luke Bryan (remember that name, folks, you'll be hearing a song or two of his at our wedding) or walking along the beach after seeing Josh Turner on a late summer night in New Hampshire, each one has had it's own highlights that I re-live every time I hear their songs on my ipod or the radio.

Sunday was also a big day, as one Miss Alisia took her First Holy Communion! She has been counting the weeks until this day, and she is so excited that we are both going to take our first communion in the same year. Of course, the sad part of the day was when she told me how much she missed Uncle AJ and asked why deployment couldn't be like Ranger School where he comes home after 3 1/2 months (PS- as of this week, deployment has officially been longer than Ranger School. Yay? I guess that's an accomplishment of sorts). It was hard for me to explain, but I think all of her sadness disappeared when I came running up to her in line to take pictures with Father Dave and told her that someone special was on the phone. (I know, I know, I really shouldn't have answered it in church, but it's not every day I get a call from Afghanistan, you know. This was exactly the fifth time I have heard Andrew's voice since he has been gone. Can you blame me?) I think Ali was pretty excited about the call; what do you think?:

This was such a touching moment, I had tears welling in my eyes seeing that smile on Alisia's face. It was so hard for her and Andrew to hear each other, but I don't think it mattered to either one of them. She had her own special moment with Uncle AJ on her special day!

Sunday, of course, came the news of Osama bin Laden's death! I don't think I have  definitely haven't watched the news this much as I have this week since years ago; probably since 9/11. I- along with most of our country- am captivated by this. I thought the Royal Wedding was big news, but this just blows it out of the water. I heard somebody say "Hey, England! We'll take your wedding and raise you a funeral!" It's nice to be able to joke about it, but I did get a kick out of that. Lots of people have been asking me what the troops are seeing in response to this and what their reaction is. Honestly, I can't say much because of OPSEC, but Andrew says that our guys are excited, but it doesn't change all that much. We're still at war with the Taliban; bin Laden was the leader of al Qaeda. Hopefully in the coming weeks, this will continue to help to boost morale. The one thing that I have been loving about all of this is seeing America (for the most part) coming out and showing support for the troops again and showing that "united we stand"-ness that was so prevalent in the months following 9/11. It is a beautiful thing to experience as a military significant other; regardless of what it stems from. I love that people have been coming out of the woodwork to rally and show their support for our brave men and women who serve.

The rest of the week was absolutely crazy. Work is getting out of control lately, as we only have about 2 weeks until our biggest event of the year in Orlando. I'm excited to go, but I won't be able to relax until exactly 3 weeks from this moment with the event is OVER and Mom Dolan and I can just relax and enjoy everything Disney has to offer. I feel like I'm counting down the seconds! The best part is that we get back on May 31 which means the very next day will be June, that feels like it's right around the corner!

Mom has been working on putting together cookbooks for her Non-Profit Organization, Children's Playroom, for the past several months, and the whole project came to a head this week. I've been helping her put everything together for several hours each night. It's ridiculous, because it shouldn't be fun work, it should be daunting and depressing and completely overwhelming, but the two of us just couldn't stop laughing and having fun the whole time. She truly is an amazing woman!

Other reasons to be positive and upbeat today:
- I came home to two of the most smiley little faces (Lillia and Gavin) that came RUNNING up to me and demanding hugs from Aunt Tina. Best. Feeling. Ever!
- I saw ads on TV for season finales of some of the shows I watch! YAY! I never thought summer re-runs would come, I feel like we are finally making some headway in this deployment!
- Yesterday marked the 15 month pre-wedding mark! WOW, we're getting down to the real-time now! It's still hard to believe! After Florida I really have to hunker down and get some of this planning done or ya'll are going to be sorely disappointed when our wedding day actually comes! Don't worry though, we're promising one heck of a party, and you bet your boots we're going to deliver on that promise!
- Andrew's roommate, Jordan (also deployed to Afghanistan), is currently on his way home for his Midtour leave! Although we won't see him, it's good to know that at least for a few weeks he is out of harm's way and enjoying all the best things this fine country has to offer. Plus, it's another one of those things that seemed so far away when deployment started. Just another little step to check off that huge deployment list.

Slowly but surely, and day by day, we are making our way through this beast.