Love, Valentines, and Learning to Share Again

Considering the fact that on valentines day last year we were approximately 8,000 miles apart and not even 30 days into our first deployment, celebrating Valentines 2012 a few days early made me one of the happiest girls in the world. As military families will tell you, we don't ever miss holidays, we just don't always celebrate them when the calendar tells us to. So for Valentines Day this year, we had a fabulous dinner, I was showered with lots of thoughtful gifts, and I got to spend time with my man. Not much can top that.

However, I made a mistake long ago. Once upon a time, before I understood what "army life" really meant, I told Andrew that flowers were a waste of money. (I know ladies, what was I thinking?) So guess what, every birthday and holiday I drop hints for how pretty flowers are (because I do love flowers, I just don't think they are necessary all the time, especially when you see each other day in and day out... But for special occasions, holidays, birthday, feeling sick days, I think they are a beautiful way to show somebody you care) and every year Andrew reminds me that "you always agreed they are a waste of money". He doesn't even allow me to argue that he is taking this completely out of context before the conversation is over.

So imagine my delight and surprise when real-valentines day rolled around, and these beauties were waiting for me on the kitchen table!

I am one lucky, and very in love girl!

My first reaction was to call my favorite boy and thank him for completely warming my heart and making my Valentines Day special. The second thing I wanted to do was take pictures!

Problem.

Our nice camera is in Kentucky.

It was my camera for a whole year. But now Andrew is home and I spend a lot of time with him below the Mason-Dixon line with him, so it just made sense to have it there.

But in that moment, I wanted it here. I wanted it to be my camera again, and not have to share.

It took about .25 seconds for me to snap out of it (and take another look at my beautiful roses) before I realized how silly I was being. A year ago I would have given anything to call up Andrew just to say hi and thanks, all while knowing I would be seeing him in two weeks.

Six weeks into post-deployment life and real-life is back! It's so nice to not have every thought revolve around the deployment, or the fact that Andrew is home (and feeling stressed if I wasn't spending every.single.second. with him). It's so hard to explain, but I spend so long, praying for my life to be "normal" again, and now, seemingly in the blink of an eye, it is- and I couldn't be more thankful.

So yes, there are changes going on, and new situations to get used to. But they are wonderful changes, and I am grateful for them. We are at a healthy point in the reintegration process, finally back into the swing of our lives-- both separately and together-- and pretty much loving every moment of it. As I wrap up my final project with my job here in Pennsylvania, I'm really looking forward to the job search process and the promise of new challenges and adventures once I move to Kentucky in a few months.