Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 39

Another thursday has come and (almost) gone and still no Andrew. He is coming soon but I have no earthly idea when, and it is getting a little frustrating to be quite frank with you.

I think Gavin said it best tonight: "Aunt Tina, dod you know that Uncle AJ better hurry up and come home because I don't think I can wait much longer. I am too excited!"

The brightest part of my never-ending week was a super awesome package Andrew sent home from Afghanistan last month. It was a complete surprise (which is the best, cause anyone who knows me knows I don't exactly have much patience waiting for surprises) and absolutely brightened my whole week. He sent lots of afghan items he bought from local vendors as well as stuff he wanted to have at home at the end of deployment. Let me say that again incase you missed it... The end of deployment! We are actually talking about this whole crazy long year being over!

Also in the box was my birthday box I sent him in June (because he "could bare to throw it away") along with all the birthday cards our amazing family and friends sent him.





So yeah, that boy sure does know how to make me smile and get excited to see him again. Fact of the matter is though that all I really want to do is ride shotgun in his truck flying down some backroad and listening to country music. And yeah, okay, also kind of looking forward to having a real conversation without fear or the taliban listening or our skype signal dying. And as many hugs and kisses as humanly possible. And dinner dates. And eukre. And monopoly deal. And catching up on lots of archer. And drinking. Oh yeah! And we are going on vacation.

Okay, wow I'm officially pumped! Hey US Army! Can you send my soldier home to me now?! I've been waiting a really long time to see him!!!

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 38

Well I'm finally back home after a long week in Philadelphia for a work event. Events always drag every last bit of energy out of me so I am really really looking forward to this weekend. I am slowly recovering from my recent baseball heartbreak, but I don't know that I will ever completely get over that one.

This week I received an email from our unit's FRG (family readiness group) that filled my heart with joy. I was at a bar with coworkers and some of our exhibitors from the event when I realized a had gotten an email. I don't know what made me check it right then, but I started tearing up almost immediately. It may seem little to some people, but to me it is the very first step in the homecoming process. Not R&R, homecoming. This small, seemingly meaningless step just reassures me that this WILL eventually come to an end. I WILL see that boy again soon. And things WILL return to normal. Our new normal, and we can finally start our lives together.

So, what is this step? Our do-not-mail date! I can't believe it!! We have an actual, physical date that I can (and did) mark on my calendar that I can no longer send packages to Afghanistan any more! I cannot express the emotion that came with that email. This has been such a long road, and it has been challenging at times, but my God, the end is finally in sight.

As you may know, posting specific dates for anything regarding troop movement or redeployment (aka coming home) strictly violates OPSEC. Soldiers' safety is always the number one priority, but I'd be more than happy to tell anyone who asks/emails/texts me!!

So as I head to bed (early for once) I will leave you with this picture of my favorite soldier:


 

Andrew emailed me this picture this afternoon of his day today. "Training today....I like this picture, cause I think it shows us doing what we should be doing, preparing the Afghan Army to take over security in the country."

Look at that face. I don't know anyone on this planet who loves their job as much as he does.

... And I get to see that face in real life in front of my very eyes in a matter of DAYS. I really really really can't wait!

Happy Birthday to my One & Only

In case you couldn't tell by basically every other post in this blog, I am a woman who is completely, madly, head-over-heels in love. What I don't say often enough is how lucky I am to have a man like Andrew in my life; someone who fights for what he believes in, who is strong yet caring, and absolutely perfect for me in every single way. Forget the Army and separations and deployments... nothing matters to me except for that feeling I get when he wraps his arms around me again and every second, every tear, and every worry of the time we spent apart completely disappears into thin air. I feel so blessed to have found my missing puzzle piece so early in life. I know you are going to say I was way too sappy on this, but Happy Birthday, Andrew, I love you so so much!

A little over a month ago, I started collecting birthday cards from family and friends for my favorite soldier. All told, I received 52 cards. Yup, you read that right. F-i-f-t-y T-w-o!! Enough to make up a whole deck of playing cards! You guys are amazing! I bundled all the cards up, along with some other birthday surprises and sent them off to Afghan-land three weeks ago to allow for ample time for shipping. I was ecstatic when I found out he had gotten the package last Saturday, exactly one week early! Andrew decided to wait until today to open his cards and eat the cake so I don't have anything to report on that yet, but I can't wait to hear what he thinks... more on that later.

I also had a little bit too much spare time on my hands, so instead of designing Save-the-dates one afternoon, I decorated the inside of the care package as well. Your birthday only comes once a year and I love to go all out!

Hope you enjoy pictures in my posts, cause you're about to get a ton of them:



Most of the cards before I sent them out





Ransom note style letter... "Read me first" 




With Andrew's Favorite type of puzzle inside. I used to make these all the time when I was studying in Italy (and one during Recycle at Ranger School) for Andrew to complete. I only gave him one letter and he figured it all out! 




CAKE IN A JAR!! Andrew's favorite- Carrot! I also attached little poems to each gift inside the box!





I had so much batter, I made extras for us to eat back home with the kids. I saved these for today so that we could all be celebrating Uncle AJ's birthday together! For 3-week-old cake, it wasn't half bad!




Fork & Knife to eat it with :)




Candles that spell out his name (the "W" is behind the A, don't worry, he is not going by Andre!)




I really wanted to make my own cream cheese frosting, but all the recipes needed to be refrigerated which is only slightly impossible when shipping packages to Afghanistan... so I settled for Duncan Hines which got the job done.




Red Sox Fans are from Mars, Yankees Fans are from Uranus - Why Red Sox fans are smarter, funnier, and better looking
Couldn't pass this book up!





The inside of the Care Package





...which of course I had to plan out





Stuffed to the brim with goodies and cards!

 Even though I didn't get to talk to Andrew at all on his birthday, I have to keep reminding myself how spoiled we are to get to communicate as often as we do. I took today as just another lesson to never expect anything when it comes to deployments or the Army. Obviously nothing is going to stop because some Lieutenant's fiance somewhere wants to talk to her soldier on his birthday. After being blacked out on May 17th (our weirdly special day, read about it here) and today, I've decided to pre-prepare myself for no communication on my birthday, our pre-versary (1 year til our wedding date), our anniversary and the date he proposed. This way, if I do get to hear from him on these days, I'll be absolutely positively giddy.

So with that, I think I'll call it a night. A million thank-yous to everyone who sent a card for Andrew's birthday and for everyone's continued prayers and support.

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. 

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 11

The day I have been dreaming of for almost six months is finally here (or, um, will be tomorrow)! Red Sox Opening Day! There are no more glorious words to hear in my world as a sports fan. A new beginning. A new(ish) team. New ways to reach the ever-present goal. It is a beautiful, beautiful time of year! All I have to do is make it through the next 17 hours, and then baseball season will officially be in full swing. Yeah, pun intended... I'm that excited right now.

I'll be honest, I've been planning this post in my head for several weeks now (tomorrow is one of those "benchmark" days that feels especially good when I get to cross it off the calendar) and I had been thinking that I would write about the beautiful springtime weather and how it ushers in a whole new season of America's most beloved sport. Well, Mother Nature has different plans for me, as we are expecting a wintery mix tonight and Boston is expecting a full 6 inches (good thing our Home Opener isn't for another week). So even though I would love to write about all the cute sundresses and skirts I'll soon be wearing and how gorgeous the weather has been, I'll be wearing boots, pants, a sweater and a heavy coat and gloves to work tomorrow to ring in Opening Day. But honestly, nothing can get me down, a brand new season awaits! 162 games, I couldn't think of a better way to pass the time before Andrew comes home on Midtour Leave!

Speaking of my favorite soldier, I was so happy to hear that he received my latest care package yesterday-- in under two weeks! That's pretty much unheard of! It was loaded with everything a baseball fan needs for opening day... peanuts, cracker jacks, a Red Sox program that his parents bought when they went to a spring training game, lots of other goodies and whiffle balls! I also decorated the inside of the box so that  it would look like Fenway Park- complete with a replica Green Monster on one panel. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but you'll have to use your imagination on this one!

In other news, and keeping with the theme of positivity, I am happy to report that my brother, Mark, just landed his first full-time job! After graduating from college last May, he worked over the summer and then took the fall off to hunt and fish before diving head first into the real world. (I'm proud to say he took a page out of his big sister's book on this one- I did the same exact thing except I spent my time with Andrew before he started BOLC II training, not hunting). The most exciting part about it is that the job is in Washington, DC, only two hours away from me! I'm so excited to have him close by, and can't wait to start seeing a lot of him and his girlfriend this summer! Here is one of my favorite pictures of us as kids, goofing off after dinner one night:

At only 18 months apart (almost to the day) and with me being small for my age, we were often mistaken for twins!  Here we are practicing some crazy funky dance moves! I'm pretty sure the whole family was in a goofy mood this night and if I remember correctly we were listening to the Beatles... on Vinyls! Something we liked to do every once in a while. You can be assured that my dad was at the sink working on the dishes and my mom was taking a break from clearing the table as she snapped this gem.  

So all-in-all it feels great to cross another week off of this deployment list, and the start of baseball season is sure to make time start flying! I really can't believe this day is finally here! And even though the Red Sox don't start until tomorrow, some teams had their Opening Day today, which means Baseball Highlights were all over the TVs at the gym. I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear when I saw that! This is the best time of the year!

GO BOSOX!!!