Deployment Positive Monday- Weeks 12 and 13

Life. Is. Busy.

And absolutely awesome, to be quite honest with you! I don't even know where to start with this post because so much has been going on in the last two weeks. I guess the first thing I should touch on is the fact that I just got back from four magical days in Disney World! A friend and I decided to drive down and had a great time at all the parks, and we even saw SeaWorld and Universal Studios for my first time as well!

I met Mickey Mouse and lots of other characters at The Magic Kingdom, went on a safari at Animal Kingdom, had drinks from around the world at Epcot, spent some time petting and playing with real-life penguins at SeaWorld, and-oh yeah- went to Hogwarts!!!

It has been a crazy week since I've been home from Florida as well. It's hard to believe that we are approaching the 90-day-13-week-3-month-mark, but boy does it feel good to have such a substantial portion of this deployment behind us. 

We are also approaching my absolute favorite time of year. Growing up in a small New England town, having a love for the fall is almost a given. Autumn in Kentucky can't really hold a candle to the crisp feelings of Septembers in New Hampshire, but it's not as much about the weather as it is about baseball AND football season finally converging and being played at the same time! Words cannot describe how excited I was to watch the Red Sox [stomp on the Tigers] in high definition on ESPN, while I drafted my fantasy football team. Plus, it doesn't hurt that my birthday is less than a week away... I'm just kinda a happy girl these days. 

... And whenever that handsome soldier of mine decides it is time to come home and join in on all the fall time fun, I'm more than ready to welcome him with open arms (and probably a patriots tshirt). 

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 11

This past weekend was I think the first weekend of this entire deployment that I wan't traveling somewhere or didn't have anyone come down to visit me. I'll be honest, I tried really hard to make sure a weekend like that didn't happen while Andrew was gone, but gosh darn it, was it nice! I got so much accomplished, our entire apartment has been cleaned and organized and honestly, it felt pretty good to just have nothing to do for an entire day.

I'm not saying I would want every weekend to be like that, but it was so nice to just focus on me for a little while. While Andrew is gone, it is so easy to look forward to what is to come and get caught up in future plans, but this weekend I just got to live in the moment. The biggest bummer of the weekend was that I seem to have hurt my back during a workout... I feel like such an old lady, I can barely stand without moaning and groaning. The worst part of the whole thing is that all I can think about is going to  visit Mickey Mouse next week and not being able to ride on Space Mountain.

I guess it's crazy that just as I'm saying how great it is to enjoy life as-is and in the moment, I'm simultaneously looking forward to my biggest trip of the summer: DISNEY WORLD! I told Andrew this is officially a tradition that I go down to Disney while he is deployed, since his mom and I went for a visit last time he was gone. My friend and I are driving down this Saturday and only staying for a couple of days, but we are both really looking forward to the little get-away. I don't think anything (other than running into my husband's arms in a crowded airport after a long separation) could make me happier than spending a couple of days on the most magical place on earth!

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 10

Wow... Double digits for weeks already. As hard as it is to believe that we have reached this little benchmark, sometimes I look back at X-day and think "really?! Has it only been two months?!" Deployments totally mess with me that way, I guess. It's been so nice to have been keeping busy, but sheesh, this seems like the longest summer ever, er... Um I guess since the last time Andrew was deployed, and if we're really being picky, the summer before that wasn't exactly a walk in the park either. 

Lately our days (or nights, depending on which one of us you are talking to) have been spent planning for the glorious month we get to spend together between Andrews homecoming and SFAS. And let me tell you- if you thought I packed a lot of fun into this summer, wait til you see what we have got planned for that little snippet of time. We're still relatively unsure about when that will be (plus I can't tell you anyways because of OPSEC... Do we all remember OPSEC?) but it's just been exciting to look forward to it! 

This past week I was lucky enough to have an extended period of time off of work, so I went up to visit family in Pennsylvania! It was a great trip! As many people know, I'll take any excuse possible to visit loved ones! This trip was brought to you by the Dirty Girl Mud Run that I did on Saturday with Andrews sister and cousins! It was a blast! We ran 5k though all sorts of muddy obstacles and I couldn't stop smiling throughout the entire course. My army husband would have been so proud of me (loudly) encouraging ladies on other teams to get their bottoms down during the low crawl exercises... Mainly because that just meant they would get muddier, and wasn't that the whole point! 

At the end of the day, this was a fun thing to do for a great cause. They raise money to support breast cancer research and we even finished right behind a team with a breast cancer survivor who ran the race! Definitely a feel-good moment to watch her as she crossed the finish line with her 20+ teammates all cheering her name. 

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 9

Well for a girl who just spent her first wedding anniversary with her husband fighting a war halfway around the world, I must say, I am in an excellent mood! I had absolutely, hands-down the best weekend possible, given the circumstances. 

Andrew and I have known that we would spend our first anniversary apart since we set the date for our wedding, so there was never really a part of me that spent my time dreaming about a super romantic weekend reminiscing in the awesomeness of our wedding and our marriage (does anyone actually do that?) but that didn't make it any easier to spend such a big milestone without him. What did make it a whole lot easier (and fun) was the fact that my college roommate/maid of honor/best friend came down to spend the weekend with me here in Louisville. I still can't believe how lucky I am that she flew all the way down here just to make sure I wasn't lonely this weekend. That is truly the definition of an amazing friend.

I won't bore you with all of the details of the weekend, but in short: I got my breakfast comp'd at Wild Eggs because she told the waitress the situation, we went downtown for dinner and saw 7483728 bachelorette parties and the Louisville Slugger Factory, drank bottles and bottles of wine and stayed up way too late chatting and laughing, drove 35 minutes to the coolest dunkin donuts, got our nails done, laid out at the pool, made an epic wedding video, facetimed my amazing husband TWICE, and went to Buffalo Wild Wings for my anniversary dinner for junk food, beers, bug buck hunter and watched (preseason) football. Basically everything was perfect. 

I think my favorite part of the weekend was looking back through the hours of video footage that she had captured from our wedding. Watching it made it feel like it was just yesterday, and I love all the little candid moments she caught that the professionals simply couldn't. If you have ten minutes to spare, I highly recommend watching the following link, Amy did an amazing job and really somehow managed to show the essence of our relationship... Just goofy, head over heels love 

http://youtu.be/KwCqd1eAzNU

Deployment Positive Monday- Weeks 7 and 8

Yep, well now I've just skipped an entire week. I've been petty disappointed in myself for my lack of blogging this deployment, but for some reason, I just can't get myself to keep at it. I really don't understand it because I can't even put a price on how much my book of the first deployment's blog posts means to me, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. It kills me to think that I just won't have the same experience with this deployment. 

Maybe it's because I have been approaching this deployment with a completely different mindset. Part of it still doesn't seam real to me for some reason.  Obviously I know Andrew is away and at war, but everything from our communication to my living situation to his job is different. There hasn't been a single day since Andrew left 53 days ago that we haven't had some sort of communication (hopefully I'm not jinxing it by posting about it). I am working a job that I absolutely love and coming home each night to a home that a share with my husband (and the hardest part of this is that I still haven't adjusted to the idea of cooking for 1- I made about 4 times too many servings of dinner tonight... Hello leftovers!). Andrews job is allowing for us to communicate more, and giving him a lot more down time. Lately one of our favorite activities has been to do the same crossfit workout (same workout for both of us, but he completes it with more weight) and compare times. I kinda love it and can't wait to have him home to workout side by side again! Another favorite pastime has been planning for homecoming and all the things we want to do and trips we want to take before we are onto our next duty station. It's a little weird to think that chances are we won't be living in Kentucky at this time next year, but exciting weird. We'll be on to bigger and better things and we are both so excited to move and explore a new duty station together for the first time. Depending on where we are sent maybe we will even become first time homeowners! The future is an exciting time for us Dolans!

But, not to get ahead of myself too much, I'm still doing my best to keep busy and travel as much as possible while Andrew is gone. Last week I had a great trip to the Jersey Shore with my amazing inlaws then had a friend visit from Nashville over the weekend. It was great to have a girls night and we even went to a wine and paint bar and painted ourselves some "funky trees". It was a blast! 

That soldier husband of mine has been keeping busy too. He has been getting care packages in an average of under two weeks which is great and even received his anniversary care package this morning. It's still pretty hard to believe that this time last year we were in last minute wedding mode finalizing each and every detail. Hopefully this time next year we will be curled up on the couch together watching American Ninja Warrior and loving life in a brand new state. I can't think of anything better than spending our second anniversary together. 

Andrew has been getting lots of time in with his SFAAT team and his Battalion Commander even posted this picture of them on Facebook earlier this week. Can you spot my handsome soldier? 

Deployment Positive (Insert Random Day of the Week Here)- Week 6

It's pretty hard to believe that we have already just about hit the 6 week mark of this deployment. I guess it's the same feeling I have always had during separations; day to day seems to go by slowly, but looking back I can't believe we've already come this far. 

I've said it before and I will say it again... A large part of my sanity during Andrews time away has to be credited to my amazing family and friends. This past weekend I went up to my parents' house in New Hampshire and visited with them, my uncle, grandmother, brother and future sister in law! It was so great to catch up on lost time, and I love that my brother has found somebody who is such an amazing fit in our small little family. We spent lots of time talking about the upcoming wedding, which is one of my favorite pastimes!

Monday and Tuesday were strictly girls days. On Monday, Emily and I went down to spend the day in Boston and I met up with the greatest friends a girl could have. It was so great to see my girls from college and high school and pick up right where we left off. It's one of the best feeling in the world, knowing that months and months can pass and true friends are always there for you. It's amazing how we are all at different phases of our lives, but we hold a common bond of the past that will keep us together forever. Wow, that got sappy in a hurry... I guess what I am trying to say is that I'm a very blessed girl to have such amazing friends. 

Boston is probably my favorite place in the entire world, and this was the first time I had been there since the tragic events that happened at the marathon this year. To me, Boston has always had its own identity and there is some sort of unspoken bond between those who have called it home at any point in their lives. My heart absolutely swelled with pride and simultaneously broke into a million prices  when I watched the footage of the first responders and the heroes that emerged from the horrors of those events. I have never taken my roots in New England for granted, but I never ached as badly as I did in April that I wasn't there with my fellow Bostonians... Through the good and bad. It was amazing, albeit not surprising, to observe how the city has bounced back, and I am proud to always have a piece of Boston in my heart. Not only because it is where I met the love of my life, or because it is where he asked me to be his wife, or because of all of the little moments I have spent there over the course of my 26 years. It's because of the history of Bostonians, and what they have always been proud to sacrifice for the greater good of our fine nation.  It's the place that always makes me happy, no matter what. 

Speaking of things that make me happy no matter what, that husband of mine is still doing well over in the sandbox. He keeps telling me there isn't really anything new to report, but I suppose no news is good news. Next week I am heading to the Jersey Shore with his (excuse me, OUR) family! I can't wait for another getaway, but it definitely won't be the same without him. I sure do love keeping busy! Before we know it, he'll be home safe in my arms... And I can't wait!!'

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 5

Just to preface this: in all honesty, I planned to delay this week's post.

There are some days at work that are just so rewarding, and today happened to be one of them. There is a nationwide charity called Brides Across America, which donates weddings gowns to military brides at events twice a year. I am proud to say that my wedding boutique is one of the participating partners for this event and today was our Fourth of July Giveaway!

We had about 15-20 women register for the event and each one is engaged to a man in the military who is either currently deployed or has had a recent deployment. Actually, one was even in the military herself, which I thought was pretty cool. It was such a special day for me to help to give back to those in my own community! We gave away one dress to every bride who came today (they got to try on a couple of different ones to have the bridal experience and could choose their favorite) and most for veils and bridesmaid dresses as well. To see these women be so thankful and overjoyed was really an overwhelming feeling for me. 

I know first hand how difficult it is to plan a wedding during a deployment. There is so much weight behind every single decision you make. Every penny you spend, you question. Every contract you sign, you prepare for the worst. The anxiety level is high to say the least. So I can't imagine how what it meant to these ladies today to not have to stress abut the expense of a wedding gown. I'm proud of the management at my boutique for being a part of this amazing organization long before they ever had a military wife as an employee. I truly work for and with such kind-hearted people. I left work today feeling so fulfilled and happy!

In deployment news, Andrew is doing well and trying to keep busy working out once or twice a day during the downtime in between missions outside the wire. I realized a couple of days ago that if I am going to make our first wedding anniversary special for that boy I need to get a care package together and out to him soon. To me it still feels like August is so far away, but its only a couple of weeks from now! It is crazy how quickly the summer flies by, even when he it gone. I guess I'm just a lucky girl to be so busy!

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 4

Woohoo! I finally got to my blog on a Monday! Huge step for me, apparently. 

This week I am so so thankful for amazing friends and family who keep me busy and occupied while Andrew is away. I love looking ahead to the coming months and seeing every single weekend for the next two months occupied with visitors or trips! Honestly, nothing could be more exciting to me!

It all started this weekend with my moms visit to town. We had a great time shopping and catching up! Oh... And I died my hair. It's dark. Like, really really brunette. I'm still not quite used to it yet, but Andrew seems to like the pictures he's seen of it. It's funny because less than a month after Andrew left for his first deployment I cut off about 8-10 inches of my hair. It was a huge change for me at the time, as I had had the same hair style for years before that. Now, a couple of weeks into this deployment I have another big hair change. Maybe it's just my way of coping with a big void in my life. 

It's not only the weekends I have to look forward to. Today after work a friend and I decided to hit the mall for dinner and shopping... Literally until we dropped. It's so nice to not have to rush home after work to an empty house every day. AND when I got home the little neighbor girls came knocking on my door and offered me fresh baked cupcakes--- funfetti with bright Barbie pink icing and sprinkles. Seriously a great end to my day and perfect beginning to the week and month that we celebrate our great nation's independence. Not too shabby at all. 

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 3

Well I obviously don't have my life as organized as I did at this point during Andrew's first deployment. I don't know why I am having such a hard time getting to my blog on Mondays. I really am going to try from now-on though. 

Honestly, today's post isn't going to be as positive as I was hoping it would be. I am pretty sure that my heart is still recovering from the drama of last night's hockey game. I keep replaying the final minute and a half over and over again in my head, and still can't quite believe it. Honestly the whole thing struck a little too close to home for my taste, as memories of the 2003 ALCS came flooding back to me. It's amazing how almost ten years and two World Series rings later that wound still feels almost as fresh as the night it happened. 

Wait til next year, as we say in Boston. 

In some actual positive, deployment-related news, things for Andrew are going well. We are able to text every day and FaceTime a couple of times a week. I think at not even three weeks into this deployment, we have already facetimed more than we did during the entire 12 months that Andrew was away for the first deployment. That makes me a very happy girl! Basically anytime I can see my amazing husband's handsome face or hear his voice, my day is infinitely better!

Three weeks has proven to be a rather curious benchmark for me. I feel both as though time has flown by and dragged on. Three weeks is a good chunk of time, but then I think about the fact that we aren't even a month into it and that. And that thought makes me feel like time is absolutely standing still. I think part of my problem is that we really don't know how long this deployment is going to be. Countdowns are completely out the window at this point, because deep down I know I'm either being way too optimistic for intentionally setting the homecoming date absurdly far in the future. 

The good news is that I work in the bridal industry and everybody talks about the months ahead and how excited they are for the future to come. We tend to work on six to nine month time frames so its perfect for me... Regardless of how long this deployment ends up being.   

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 2

Oops. 

I guess I am not completely used to being back at blogging again.  I will get better, I promise. 

This week, for the first time ever in my life, I am thankful for travel plans going awry.  I have spent the past couple of days with my amazing in-laws for a little getaway from my normal routine. The trip couldn't have come at a better time, as I could feel myself starting to slip into that inevitable sadness that this deployment is actually a reality for the next X amount of months. That feeling usually hits me about a week into any separation, and then after a couple of days it will pass once I am fully used to this each new phase of our lives. 

Visiting Andrew's family always makes me happy and keeps me busy.  Mom and I built in our tradition for the first deployment of treating ourselves to an afternoon at the Hotel Hershey Spa. How wonderful it was to just let go and relax for a while!

Last night about 3 hours before I was supposed to fly back to Kentucky, I got a call from the airline saying that due to air traffic congestion (really? This just seems like poor planning to me) my flight would be canceled. At first I was irritated because I thought I would be stranded in Charlotte on a layover overnight, but after talking to a not-so-friendly US Airways employee I got it changed to fly out this morning.  I'll be a little late for work, but in the grand scheme of things it was totally worth it. Lillia and Gavin had a sleepover and as I was reading them their bedtime stories I couldn't help but hold them just a little bit tighter than normal. These precious little children, hanging on my every word, trying their hardest to understand why their aunt is home and not their fun-loving uncle, were so worth the stress of yet another flight mishap. I wouldn't have traded that moment for anything. 

As I continue to get accustomed to this deployment, I keep reminding myself to look for the silver linings in everything. That is one thing I will always be thankful to the Army for- at a somewhat young age I feel that I am always able to find the positive in a difficult situation, because in our world that is survival. 

Deployment Positive Monday- Week 1

I've decided that since Thursdays are my late night at work I will give Mondays a try for my weekly positive post. Plus it gives me a great distraction from all the housework I've been avoiding since Andrew left. 

I was really struggling with the idea of getting back into the weekly posts, but looking back on my blog from the first deployment, I can't imagine ever going through a deployment and not having that time in our lives documented. Even now, it is so cool to look back on all of the emotions, activities and events of 2011. When I read those old posts, everything still feels so fresh, and I have a feeling that in the years to come reading my own words will always have that effect on me.  Having a weekly blogging "responsibility"-if you will- also seemed to help the time go by just a little bit faster. 

So here I am, back to my weekly posts. I have been finding myself constantly comparing the two deployments and we aren't even a week into it yet. I don't know if that's normal for people who experience multiple deployments, and I don't know if its some sort of coping mechanism that my subconscious is somehow reminding myself that I've done this before, but its been happening. A lot.  

The biggest comparison I've been noticing is how much has changed in the 17 months since Andrew's return home. The little technology improvements that we don't notice on a day-to-day basis have made a huge difference in our communication already. Last time we didn't video chat until 92 days into the deployment and already we have facetimed twice since Andrew has been overseas. He is still in transit so I know that is likely to change, but it has been so comforting to see his face and hear his voice. We have also been able to TEXT... Not just email but text each other every day, all thanks the the invention of iMessage, which will continue to work for Andrew as long as he has wifi. 

I'm still adjusting to this new phase of our lives, but honestly the transition has been pretty seamless so far. The hardest part is the nighttime because of my active imagination, I'm always convinced that somebody is trying to break into my apartment, but as the days turn into weeks and months, I'm sure I will get used to sleeping alone. Plus, lucky me, my wonderful husband left me with not one but two hand guns on my bedside table and a teddy bear he got me when we were in college that wears an Army T-Shirt, so what else does a girl really need to feel safe?

Here we go again....

Well, I'm back. Andrew's second deployment started yesterday and now I am just trying to adjust to life with him gone. I have decided to return to the blogging world while Andrew is away because I found it to be so therapeutic over the course of the last deployment.

Things are a little bit different for us this time around, so there will be a lot of adjusting in the coming weeks. First (and most importantly), this is the first time we are facing a deployment as a married couple. We all know how much I hated the word "fiance" while we were engaged, but now the fact that I have to say the words "my husband is deployed" makes it sting just a little bit more. Also being a soldier's wife comes with more communication and information from the FRG (Family Readiness Group) at Fort Knox. Because of where we live, it is hard for me to be too involved with the FRG events going on on post, but it is nice to have the option to be a part of that support group.

Speaking of living arrangements, I have made the decision to say in Kentucky for the course of this deployment. I loved having the amazing Dolan support system last time Andrew was gone, and it's going to be so hard to go through this one without being able to share a glass of wine with Mom Dolan on a particularly taxing day, but it just feels like Kentucky is our home now. I have a great job here, which I love and amazing friends to keep me busy and I love returning to our home each night after work... It definitely makes me feel like a part of Andrew is still here with me.

Perhaps the biggest difference with this deployment is the timeline. At this point in his career, Andrew is considered a "Senior Lieutenant" and he will be up for Captain within the next couple of months. We received some amazing news a couple of weeks ago that Andrew has been given the chance to go to Special Forces Assessment and Selection(SFAS, or also simply called "Selection"), a three week course in Fort Bragg, NC. If he gets picked up for selection, we will be moving to Fort Bragg for about 2 years where he will be training for Special Forces in the Q Course. We are excited about the next phase of our lives and his career, and even more excited that because of the spot he is at in his career, he will most likely be returning home from the deployment earlier than we had originally thought! Waiting until after the full deployment to go to Selection could push his timeline back so far that it more than likely would effect his chances of getting picked up for the Q Course.

Yesterday was a tough day, and for the first time I realized that no matter how many deployments we go through, X Day will always be miserable. There are so many emotions and your mind just goes to all the places you really really don't want it to go. We spent about 3 hours waiting around for the busses, and said our "see ya laters" about a million times before it was finally time to go. I tried not to cry while he was still there, but who was I kidding... I was sending my best friend off to war for the second time in 3 years (and to make it hurt just a little bit more- he left exactly 17 months after his last homecoming) but thankfully I held the sobbing in until I was alone in the car.

I was lucky to have good friends spend the night at our place last night to keep me busy and happy. We ordered junk food and drank wine and watched friends, which was EXACTLY what I needed!

So the countdown is officially on. In the meantime, f you have any extra prayers to give be sure to send them our way!