Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 22

Seven Championships in Ten Years.

Boston, you're my home.

Okay there has been lots going on lately and in my mind I was going to write this post tomorrow night about something completely different, but sorry... I'm gonna need to brag about my hometown for just a second.

Since 2001 we've racked up 3 Superbowls, 2 World Series Victories, 1Larry O'Brien Trophy, and of course the newest member of the club: 1 Stanley Cup. That ain't too shabby. There is something about being from a small city with a huge heart that just makes me so proud. Even thought I'm not technically "from" Boston, New Englanders (with the exception of those Western Connecticut folks) stand together behind their teams. It's a magical thing, really. It's one of my favorite things about going home; seeing people in Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics gear everywhere I go. Just thinking about how crazy the parade is going to be for the Bruins this weekend is making me positively giddy. If only Andrew and I could celebrate in Boston with the rest of our city...

I was pleased to learn that Andrew was able to wake up super early (about 3:30am local time) to watch Game Seven tonight this morning. They played it on AFN at the MWR and I can totally picture his face and all of his excitement as the game unfolded. (Here is where I add that originally I had planned on blogging about him and how much progress we are making on this deployment. A quick update will have to suffice: 150 days down as of yesterday and today marks exactly 5 months. All told, it's been an exciting week as far as benchmarks are concerned).

But the fact of the matter remains that this is America. We're a baseball country and if nothing else proves that to you, check out Sports Center's Number 1 play of the day just an hour after the Bruins won Lord Stanley's Cup.... Johnny Gomes in makes a diving catch in left field. In a baseball game. The All-star break is right around the corner (okay, still like a month away yet, but I've told you before, a girl's got to have things to look forward to) and the Sox are kickin' some serious tail. Keep it up down the stretch boys, and we'll make it 8 parades along the Charles in 10 years. Welcome to Title Town, folks.

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 21

A Message From a Far Away Place...

"To my family and friends - Thank you so much for the cards you sent and the support you have shown both me and Kristina while I have been gone.  I think I can speak for everyone over here when I say that it means a lot to know that we have all of you in the states rooting for us and watching our backs while we are gone.  I feel extremely blessed to have such a strong network of friends and family back in the states.  Thank you, and I look forward to seeing you all as soon as I can."

And my positive for the week...

I recently realized that we are officially more than halfway to Andrew's midtour leave! I can't believe that next week will mark 5 months for this deployment, it doesn't seem like things are going quickly by any stretch of the imagination, but this is a huge milestone!  It feels great to have such a big chunk behind us... plus the summer is bound to fly by on the homefront. I've got lots to look forward to and keep me busy so really, when you think about it, fall is right around the corner!

Also, I would like to add that this is a fabulous time to be a Bostonian. Bruins are on a roll and the Sox are kickin it in New York! That's more than enough to make me and my soldier two very, very happy fans!

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 12

Another week in the books feels great! We had our last bowling game for this season on Tuesday, which by my early deployment calculations tells me we are almost a quarter of the way through this sucker (if you go off the assumption that Andrew will be gone for exactly 365 days- which he won't). Before the deployment started I set little markers in my mind for what would consist of each 1/4 of our time apart, so it feels great to know that we are so close to being done with the first quarter!

This week Mom Dolan and I also met with a woman who will most likely be designing our wedding invitations! She was AWESOME and had so many creative and fun ideas! I can't wait to start working with her more as the months go by, but for now we have a pretty good idea of what we want (sorry, it's a secret!)... I am just so excited to really be getting into the thick of wedding planning. We have been engaged for almost 6 months and I felt like up until this point people have been looking at me like I was crazy if I was trying to plan anything so early. Now I am still early, but vendors are appreciating having so much time to work with.

Friday will also be a very happy day for all of Red Sox Nation (we can only hope). After an absolutely dismal start to the season, tomorrow is their Home Opener against the hated Yankees, which will be sure to be action-packed. Hopefully all we need is a good solid home stand to turn this all around.

With baseball season now in full swing, I can get used to my new summer routine. It feels good to have something to look forward to every night other than talking to Andrew and crossing another day off of my Deployment Calendar!

The Longest 2 Months in Sports

Every year, as they count down the final seconds of the Super Bowl and begin the celebrations on the field, my heart saddens a little bit. (To be completely honest though: I skipped the sad feeling in 02, 03 and 05 though when the Patriots won) Surprisingly, this sad feeling doesn't usually come from the fact that my team lost, it comes from what I know lies ahead...

The longest two months in sports.

The time between the end of football season and the official beginning of baseball season. This year we only have to suffer through 51 days of this torture (for Red Sox fans; we open on April 1st) but gosh, April seems like millions of years away right now.

Every year I try to help pass the time by feigning excitement in March Madness, but it's just not the same. I'm a Football and Baseball kinda girl. Simple as can be. I'll always be a Boston fan, nothing's ever going to change that; it's just a part of who I am.

There is one good thing, however, that comes with the end of the football season: the end of countless debates and arguments between Andrew and I. No more pointless "Tom Brady has the worst hair ever" or "Ben Rothlisberger looks like a homeless hick" comments (trying to keep this clean for the kiddos here... you know where these accusations can start going...). UGH Football season can be so stressful because of all the bantering back and forth, back and forth!

But alas, the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel: Baseball Season. There is nothing on this earth that Andrew and I could agree more whole-heartedly on. The Red Sox. The single most amazing team in the whole-wide-MLB. We've got the history, the curse, the beloved ballpark, and now, thanks to Theo, we've got some serious talent in the field and power at the plate. If all goes according to plan, this will be one heck of a year to watch the boys from Beantown work their magic. Theo and the rest of the management team stated last off season that 2010 would be a "rebuilding year". While it was disappointing to hear (and watch) at the time, I am constantly reminded of the Sox last rebuilding year: 2006.

2007 brought another World Series Championship to Boston. Rebuilding: Success!

So here is to the next 51 days passing quickly and quietly. The signs of spring are right around the corner, and before you know it, they'll have that massive American Flag waving and covering the entire Green Monster and it'll be time for the first pitch. I can't hardly wait....

Something to tie myself over until April 1st:
My favorite moment in (my own memory of) Red Sox History:
Dave Roberts steals Second on Mariano Rivera in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS

I'm Officially Never Going to Sleep Again

This week started out wonderfully, and except for the darn Steelers/Jets game the weekend was just about perfect! Not that I was rooting for the Jets, but football is one thing that Andrew and I will never see eye-to-eye on... but that is another story for another day. Moral of the story: GO PACKERS!

Monday was hands-down the BEST day since deployment started.... and it'll be hard to top in the 350+ days we have left. Mom (Dolan) and I spent the day at The Spa at the Hotel Hershey. Ladies: this is something you must do for yourselves every once in a while. Deployment or not, we all have stressors in our lives and I cannot tell you how much a day of pampering can do for you. It was simply wonderful. We spend hours at the hotel. We had lunch in our robes at a special restaurant only open for spa guests and visited all the shops inside the hotel. We even brought home cupcakes so that Dad could enjoy the benefits of our day, too!

I decided that while we were there, we might as well meet with the wedding coordinator since I still don't have the contract I asked for almost 2 weeks ago. She agreed to meet with us and she put my mind at ease. Sometimes I forget I still have over 18 months to plan this wedding! We talked about some details and she recommended a photographer (who I already contacted) and a DJ so I am checking things off my to-do list left and right! I absolutely can not wait to get married at the Hotel. Being there on Monday really made everything sink in and it actually feels real now! Even in the winter, with all the plants dead and the grounds half-covered with snow, it is beautiful. In the summer... it will be simply breathtaking.

Aside from Monday, this week I have gotten back into the swing of things and the fact that deployment is actually happening and will actually be for a full year has really started to sink in. Sunday and Monday night Andrew sent me emails about 10 minutes after I went to bed. I can't express how frustrating it has been to wake up in the morning to emails from someone you love who is so far away and know that you won't be able to communicate with them for another 20 or more hours. I felt so out of the loop with Andrew's whole life, I didn't even know where he was (expect for that he wasn't to his final destination yet) and it was hard to know that if I had just stayed up 15 minutes longer I would have been able to talk to him.

Last night we had our weekly Bowling League. I love it! We are the Bowlin' Dolans (PPF, as Aunt Lori calls it: Aunt Kathy is a Past Dolan; Aunt Lori and Aunt Mary are Present Dolans; and I am the Future Dolan) and even though we (mostly me) don't have the best average, boy do we have fun- and we won 4 out of 4 games this week! It is so nice to have something to look forward to each week, and as always the Dolans are the best family I could possibly marry into! I couldn't ask for a more supportive and loving bunch of people! Everyone was excited to hear any news from Andrew, but unfortunately I didn't have any. It's tough to not have ANY news for people who also care so much about his well-being.

When I got home after bowling and dinner at Hennigans (also a weekly tradition) I thought I would be able to out-smart whatever force decided that Andrew and I shouldn't be communicating these last few days. I went to bed around 11:30 to read, but kept my iPod there so that it would ding if I got an email or Facebook Message. When it "ding-ed" (dung?!?) around midnight I was so excited! I immediately messaged Andrew back and was absolutely heartbroken when he said he only had 2 minutes left on the computer. Memories of our 5 minute calls after each 3 week phase of Ranger School came rushing back to me: each of us hurrying to say everything we felt was important in the little time we had. Not so much communicating, rather talking at each other. We did get our "I love yous" in though so will count that as a plus.

After Andrew signed off I felt defeated again. It was a let down that we didn't get to have a conversation like I have been dreaming about for the past week. Tonight hopefully I will learn my lesson and just stay up all night until I hear from my soldier. This morning I awoke to a long email from Andrew, though which made me feel a lot better about things. I got updated on which FOB (Forward Operating Base) he is at and how long he thinks he will be there (about another 2-3 days).

My favorite line of the email made me giggle. I can totally hear Andrew saying this to me:

".... so all-in-all I'm doing well. The food is good, the sleep is plentiful, the tents are warm, and we [poop] in plastic bags.  What more could a guy want in life?" 

I may have edited the "pooping" word slightly, but you get the picture. He sounds upbeat and happy. He also got word that come April he will most certainly probably get his own platoon, which is exactly what he was aiming for. He will be leading 40 men into battle and I can't think of anyone better suited for that job. It's what he has trained for, what all the blood, sweat and tears (to be clear: his blood, his sweat, my tears) during Ranger School were working towards, and it is what he is destined to do.

Cheer, Cheer for Ole' Notre Dame!

Andrew and I just got back from a great weekend at Notre Dame! It was kind of a spur of the moment thing (well as much as it can be, with airlines and travel arrangements needing to be made) but it ended up being such a great weekend.

 

I am so thankful that I have been getting so much time to spend with Andrew before he deploys. I am pretty much dead broke at this point, but I keep telling Andrew, we can always make more money, but we can't always make up for the memories that we didn't make. 

Dierks Bentley (another country guy) has a great song called "Can't Live It Down" and my favorite line is: 

"There's times I've wasted money cause I know that I can always make more cash; but wasted time is something, man, when it's gone you can't get it back" 

So that is my motto for the moment. I'm just living it up and soaking it in as long as I can... and MAN oh man, am I enjoying life!

BUT that is all beside the point! Andrew and I had a great weekend in South Bend. I woke up at a ridiculous 4:45 AM to make my 6 AM flight in Harrisburg to get to Louisville by 10. Then we went to the gym, showered and drove the entire length of the state of Indiana to get up to South Bend by dinner time! The GPS said it was a 4.5 hour drive, but IT LIED! It's okay though, we had lots of fun on the trip! This is what we saw for most of the time:

  We got up to South Bend after a stop at the Cracker Barrel for lunch just in time to eat right across the street from campus with Uncle Dan and Matt. Then we went over to the first Basketball game of the season at the new Purcell Pavillion and watched the Irish absolutely STOMP on Georgia Southern. We headed to bed pretty early cause tailgating was to start early the next morning.
  
... and it did start early; for the boys :) Anne Michelle and I went over around noon after the guys had started around 7:30. I love tailgating with all of them! One of Sean's buddies from college lives in South Bend so they call him Townie. A few years ago he bough an old ambulance and that is now their official tailgating vehicle! It's pretty awesome! Unfortunately, Andrew, Matt and Uncle Dan went out to get some Keystone light and ended up with the most horrid beer in the world. It's called BEER light. On the box it asks "what time is it? BEER 30." It comes in a purple can and nobody (except Anne Michelle; cause she's a champ-- and later Townie because he is Townie) could finish a whole can. So we ended up selling half of the case to some Utah fans (gross) for ten bucks. Horrible deal for them! 

The game was FREEZING and it started raining just as we were wrapping up the tailgate and going into the stadium, but it was still all a part of the experience. Andrew and I sat up near the press boxes for the first half and then took Matt and Anne Michelle's seats three rows back from the 40 yard line. It was definitely an amazing experience, and the Irish were unstoppable. They beat Utah 28-3; their first win against a ranked opponent since 2005.

  

After the game, we went to grab takeout at Rocco's (a family tradition) and then had dinner at Matt and Anne Michelle's which was great. The plan was to continue the party and go out to the bars that night, but Matt was in Sweatpants and Andrew fell asleep on the couch so that was a no-go. (I still hate that term a little; I think it's one of those things from Ranger School that will always stick with me). Andrew and I drove home the next day and another great weekend was in the books.

Or so I thought. Instead of flying back home at 6:10, I decided to switch my flight, stay the night in Louisville and fly back the next day. Great decision! The Patriots kicked the Steeler's butts and we had a few beers and all had a grand olde time! Dierks Bentley really got the right; and I can't live it down... and I don't want to.