Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 44

This week has been absolutely fantastic. I have the best friends and family in the entire world, hands down, but more on that later.

Yesterday marked ten months of deployment gone boy. SCORE!

Today, our unit welcomed home our very first soldiers from Afghanistan! These are the times I wish more than anything that I was living down at Fort Knox, I can't even imagine the joy on those families' faces when their soldiers returned home to them. It was just a small group, but the wave has started, and will continue over the next two and a half to three months.

Our FRG (Family Readiness Group- the wives of the soldiers in the unit) is sending out more emails than ever lately, all with new messages about homecoming and block leave and returning to "normal life" once the brigade returns home. It's oddly comforting to know that there really is a light at the end of this seemingly never-ending tunnel, it's not just me imagining it's there. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in a moment in time, and I forgot that this deployment will eventually end. It's almost our turn!

Now, onto the most amazing weekend EVER!

On Saturday morning, Mom Dolan and I set off for a Scrapbooking day at Dottie's (her best friend who lives a few towns away) house. I had my huge scrapbooking box with me (decoupaged with newspaper clippings from the Sox 04 World Series Run- one of my favorite home-made projects ever!) and as we walked in the door I was slapped in the face with the sound of "SURPRISE!!!!!" by what seemed like a million women.

I'll admit, the three seconds before I realized what was going on felt like they lasted for-ev-er. I walked into the room, and put my box down, just as I realized "oh, is this all happening for me?" and as I put my sunglasses on my head, I saw them. My girls. My roommates from college, and my best friend since the first grade. Not to mention the countless family (Em, that includes you!)

It's one of the strangest feelings in the world, and I'll never quite be able to describe it, but seeing people I cared so deeply about, here in an environment that I had never seen them before (nor did I ever think I would see them before our wedding) absolutely blew me away. Thank you thank you thank you girls for coming down and making me feel so loved. I am so very very blessed to have you all in my life.

The last time we (my seven roommates and I) were all together was our graduation from Stonehill in May 2009. I was a wreck. We all were. We had just spent the 4 best years of our lives with some of our greatest friends (and senior year with a couple of legitimately crazy boys living down the hall who loved to put fireplaces in our stairwell) and none of us could accept the fact that that chapter in our lives had come to a close. We huddled. There was nothing else to do, we didn't want to let go of that moment.

So what do you think we did the moment we were all 8 together again for the first time in nearly two and a half years (after I got over my initial shock, of course)? Yup! We huddled!

My Bridal Shower was nothing short of phenomenal! I can't describe the joy I felt that day! I really wish I could post a video of my reaction, but I'm having technology issues at the moment, hopefully I'll figure it out someday.

Thank you so very much to everybody who made this day happen! I feel so blessed to be loved by my family, my friends and to be coming into a family who is so loving as well. Saturday was probably one of my favorite deployment days, and I can't help but smile when I think of myself walking into that room and being completely bombarded with love!

Here I am with my Lexa Lou and my rehearsal bouquet! She did an awesome job!

My Marching Aunts!

I know I've written a lot about how amazing and supportive Andrew's entire family has always been, and not just during deployment and Ranger School, but all the time, but I just have to brag a little bit more about my soon-to-be in-laws. After all, what's the point of being spoiled if you can't share your joy with others, right?

On Friday after a long week of work, I came home to a bright red gift bag on the kitchen table. I didn't think much of it until mom said that it was a special gift just for me. I knew it would be a good one when she wouldn't let me open it until she got her phone to take a picture!

I waited patiently (something nearly impossible for me to do when I know that something exciting is about to happen. also why I know the last month of deployment is going to drag on for-ev-er) for her to get the phone then first opened the paper rolled up and taped together with American Flag stickers.

The aunts go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!

The aunts go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!

The aunts go marching one by one,

They stopped to make the countdown fun

And they all go marching around and around....

Still slightly confused, I opened the other wrapped portion of the gift and started tearing up almost immediately. My favorite picture of Andrew out on a patrol a few months ago looking as happy as I had ever seen him before, in a frame that said "My Hero".

Thank you so much, Aunt Mary, Aunt Kathy and Aunt Lori! You guys are the greatest, I am so lucky to have you as family members, bowling teammates and friends!

Moral of the story: my in-laws are better than yours. And I'm not sorry!

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 8

Week 8?!? Really? For a second I thought I was counting wrong (which wouldn't be a huge surprise, to be honest) but wow, this coming Sunday really does mark 8 weeks since Andrew left! I never thought I'd say this, but time really isn't dragging as much as I thought it would! I love going to write my Thursday entries each week to see how far we have come! I can hardly wait for double digits! WOAH!

Okay, stream of consciousness over, I promise. Just had to include that little sidebar. Focus Kristina! I guess I'm just caught up in all the positiveness (possibly not a real word) going on this week! I work best with lists, so here we go:

• No more cuddling with the Muzzleloader! Last Friday, Mom and Dad Dolan got home from their two week trip to Florida. While they were soaking up the rays and living it up in the warm sunshine, their son was worried about his one and only back home (alone) with a non-functioning garage door (E-town Dolans know what I'm talking about here) and workers always in and out of the house. I felt safe at all times, but Andrew was sure to tell me exactly where the muzzleloader (aka big huge gun) was and that I should be sleeping with it in bed while they were away. At first I thought it was silly, but I did it anyways (obviously not loaded) and by the end of the two weeks, kind of actually felt comfort in having it by my side at all times.

• 50 Days came and went. Last Monday officially marked the passing of 50 days and nights since I have hug, kissed, laughed with and held my soldier. I keep reminding myself that each of these small milestones add up to one big huge gigantic party called homecoming!

• Two Months is also fast approaching! Next Wednesday to be exact! Just another benchmark to check off!

• Surprises have a tendency to drive me absolutely bonkers, but Andrew's parents came to dinner after bowling on Tuesday and told me there was a surprise waiting for me at home! My initial thought was "Andrew's Home!!!", but I knew they could never keep a secret that big, or leave him home when most of his extended family was out to eat! It was driving me nuts all night, but when I came home, I was so excited to see a tv hooked up in my bedroom! I hadn't even asked for it! I was so excited, and to make it even more perfect, the show that just happened to be on when we turned it on for the first time: FRIENDS! 

• My First Care Package came! Yep, folks! You heard me right! It came, meaning Andrew sent it from Afghanistan to me! I knew it was coming, and I knew what would be inside (lots of DVDs he can get for a pretty cheap price over there) but seeing this box, beautifully wrapped in more Priority Mail tape than I ever knew existed, waiting for me on the dining room table when I came home yesterday absolutely made my day! Plus there was a little extra something in there that I didn't know about: aNOTHER Valentines' Day present! I am such a lucky girl! He sent me a blue stone native to Afghanistan, called the Lapis Lazuli in a heart shaped pendant! It is beautiful and I love that he picked it out just for me! That boy sure does know how to make me smile!

• Once again: Dolans are amazing! Not just Andrew's immediate family, but his extended family as well. I am so excited to take the Dolan name and finally officially become a part of this incredible family. On Sunday, Andrew's Aunt Lori and Uncle Dave were having a dinner for their son, Ryan and his new fiancee, Brittany, who had just gotten engaged a week before. They are still in college, so it was nice to have them home for their spring break and talk with another bride-to-be about plans, thoughts and ideas (oh my!)! Aunt Lori cooked a whole turkey dinner that was to die for and when it was time for cake, they all started singing (to the tune of the happy birthday song) and every single Dolan sang "Happy Engagement to AJ, Kristina, Ryan and Brittany" during the third line. They brought the cake over and they had included our names on the cake as well. I was just excited for Ryan and Brittany to be celebrating this joyous time in their lives, I certainly did NOT expect anything like that, but it was a really nice surprise! Sometimes it is a little tough to be spending this engagement thousands of miles apart from each other and not get to celebrate the way most normal, civilian couples do, so it really meant a lot to me that our names were included on that cake. (I am fully aware that this is the timing I practically begged for and we as a couple decided would be best for us- and I wouldn't change the timing of this engagement for anything in the world- I just want to make it clear how thankful I am to be marrying into a family to recognizes our situation and embraces and welcomes me into their lives each and every single day) It was also hilarious that when I walked in on Sunday I noticed Ryan and I had matching shirts on (white and blue stripes), then I walked into the kitchen, and Brittany was wearing a matching shirt too! I felt bad at first, thinking I crashed their matching shirt party, but apparently they hadn't planned it either! Of course we had to take lots of pictures (and Mom even ran home to get mini-AJ) so that he could be there enjoying the cake too!

We all spent the rest of the night going over potential wedding venues for Ryan and Brittany, dates, colors, flowers, guest list, everything under the sun! It was a great night full of more laughter than imaginable and lots of happy celebrations!

I Hate Myself for Saying This. . .

.... but I love Valentines Day!

I do. I really, really do. Every year I try to convince myself that it is just a silly made up holiday and I don't need anything special or anything like that, but every year when this day rolls around I realize that it is just such a fun excuse to feel love in the air for the day!

Today was awesome for so many reasons:

• Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training! WOO Baseball Season is almost here!
• My bosses were out of town so my co-worker and I can wear jeans to work (and of course my Papelbon Jersey to support my team!)
• The weather was absolutely beautiful (57 degrees on my way into work, I should have worn flip flops) and it finally is starting to feel like spring around here!
• Got to talk to my soldier who got my care package that I mailed exactly two weeks ago
• Walked to lunch with AmyMarie (my coworker) and had one of the best caesar salads ever
• Called a(n undisclosed) location about our rehearsal dinner and it looks like everything will work out to have it there
• My car has been in the shop, and the mechanic called me back with the price to get everything fixed and it was actually lower than I was expecting to pay
• Came home to a big box addressed to me on the dining room table; opened it up to find a miniature rose plant from Andrew (this was definitely my favorite part of the day! I love that he thought to get me flowers [and a jumbo hershey kiss]! It is so meaningful that if I take care of them I'll be able to have them maybe forever!) They had a tough journey, I'm guessing, and need a little TLC but in a day or two I might have a full-fledged miniature rose bush!! Thank you so much, honey!
• Andrew's parents and I had a wonderful Valentines Dinner. I told them I would be happy to go out to Shannon's or find something to do so that they could have their own romantic dinner, but they were happy and excited to share it with me! We had steak and potatoes and salad and a wonderful cabernet my parents brought down when they came in November (wow, was that really almost 3 months ago?) I honestly couldn't have been blessed with better future-in-laws (Victor and Lisa... we sure lucked out marrying into this family!)
• Amy made a flour-less chocolate cake this weekend and we devoured it! It was the perfect ending to the perfect night!

Our Valentines Dinner... in the midst of a Kitchen Remodel! Love this family!

Now I am off to bed a little bit early to get some reading done before I hear that "ding" on google chat telling me that my Valentine is messaging me all the way from Afghanistan! What a great day!

And just a side-note: I am taking bets as to how many engagements and proposals will happen tonight? I'm waiting for them to start showing up on my facebook news feed!!

Happy Valentines Day, Everyone!

Deployment Positive Thursday- Week 3

This morning I came into work (a few minutes early for once) to discover the door to the office locked. Seriously. LOCKED. There are only four of us who work there, but I am always the last one in since I work fewer hours than my bosses and co-worker. And I am the only one without a key. At first I checked my emails on my iPod (since I could still get the wifi signal even though I was outside of the door) to see if anyone had emailed me, but of course not. I was kind of miffed, but knew eventually everyone would be in. So I went to sit in the truck and wait for everyone to come in (yeah, I'm still driving Andrew's truck, have you seen all the snow we have in Central PA? No way do I feel like digging my car out from underneath all of it! Plus I feel a lot safer in "The Silver Bullet" as we call it).

As I was sitting there, just listening to some music, I thought about how nice it felt to just sit and think. Life has been out-of-control-busy lately--and believe me, I'm thankful for that--but it was the first time in a long time (definitely since deployment started) where I could just be alone with my thoughts. It was so liberating, in a weird way, to just sit there and know I didn't have a million things I needed to go and do right away, or be in a rush to get anywhere, or finish another project for work. None of that. Just me and my beautiful country music and my thoughts. I thought a lot about this deployment and how it is so much different than I ever expected a deployment to be, how lucky I have been to be able to talk to my wonderful fiance every day for the past week and a half, and how nice it is to have settled on a date, ceremony site, and reception location for our wedding. Nothing was pressing, and there was nothing I could do about the fact that I wasn't at work. It was a beautiful morning gift.

Eventually my bosses and coworker all came in (my bosses are a married couple and went to a late breakfast and my coworker had a dentist appointment) and I got right to work and had one of the most productive days I've had in a while. I had a task at hand and clearing my mind earlier in the truck really helped me to de-stress and just focus on my project.

My morning gift wasn't even the best part of my day, though! Two more little gifts were creeping my way, in the hours to come. The first, was a call from an unknown number around 2 this afternoon on my cell phone. I almost didn't pick it up, but boy, am I glad I did! You'll never guess who was on the other line; none other than a certain Ranger friend of mine: Andrew Dolan! I couldn't have been happier for our 3 minute phone call! And can I please say that this call was infinitely better than the last call I got from an unknown number with Andrew's voice on the other end. Bahhhhh I still get chills when I think of that bad time in Ranger School. But this was a happy call (once we got past the awkwardness of "who's this" "no, who is this" nonsense) and I am so thankful for it!

My third gift today came at dinner time! Andrew's parents and I went out to Shannon's house but before we ate, Mom and Shannon were acting kind of weird. They got the camera out and told the kids they had a surprise... for Aunt Tina (that's me!!)! Totally unexpected that I would be getting a surprise. They made me stand in the corner with my eyes closed while they brought down my early Valentines Day present. I literally screamed when I opened my eyes to see the face of my solider, right where it should be at just over 6 feet off the ground:

Just to be clear- this is just a cardboard cut-out! He is not actually home with us!

I honestly could not have asked for a better Valentines Day gift, or a more loving family! The kids and I were so excited, it was like actually having Andrew there eating dinner with us. They couldn't get enough of their new, fake Uncle AJ! I couldn't get enough of him! It was such a happy moment! I even asked Gavin while we were eating dinner, "Whose God-daddy is that?" and he said with all the pride, love and excitement an (almost) three-year-old could possibly have: "This is MY God-Daddy!"

Love these kids. Love this family. Love my soldier.

Dearly. 

I've got a Sneaky Soldier on my Hands. . .

So after all of my venting and complaining (mind you- the work complaining was definitely warranted) you'll never guess who walked into the office Friday morning at 11:30am?! ANDREW JAMES DOLAN in full multicam uniform! I can't even tell you how excited I was (even though I had a small idea that maybe he was being sneaky- and the fact that his mom hardly said a word to me coupled with Weiss being super awkward made me think maybe something was up). But I never, ever thought that in reality he would actually get here in time :) It was such a great Christmas gift! I am such a lucky girl!

Andrew said he left Kentucky right after work on Thursday (around 6) and drove until Pennsylvania and decided to stop at a truck stop around 3am to sleep until 9 and then make the rest of the drive. Now THAT is devotion! AHHHHH I'm still grinning just thinking about it!

We had a great time at the DDMP party- lots of laughing and drinking and AMAZING food! I am so happy I got to share it with him.... it was the perfect start to the holiday season!

Goin' to the Chapel. . .

And we're gonnnnnnnnaaaa get MARRIED!!!!!!


Andrew Proposed this weekend!!!! More details to come, but I had to put it out there for the whole world to know! I'm sooooooooooooo happy! And so very very in love!

Here is a little teaser:

YAYYYYYYYYYYYY :) :) :)

Probably the Only Surprise I will EVER Successfully Pull Off!

Well the day finally came for me to see Andrew after 3 1/2 LONG months apart of waiting 3 weeks for a single phone call and only writing letters back and forth! I was excited for today because I knew I would finally get to jump into Andrew's arms, Andrew was excited for today because it was one day closer to seeing me and the family and because it would be his first day out of Ranger School in over 100 days. 

This morning at 12:30 I drove with McAdam's girlfriend, Jen, to Camp Rogers at Fort Benning to pick up our guys! Andrew had no clue I was coming (Jen had suggested I hide in the back of Zack's truck so that Andrew would really have no clue I was there, but as we waited and waited (for almost 2 full hours) I got too excited that I couldn't hide from him! We waited and waited outside Camp Rogers basically forever but soon the guys started piling out and all the wives and girlfriends and families started waiting around the gate looking for their Ranger to come out. Some guys were wearing ACUs and others were in Civis so neither of us had any idea what to look for!

At one point Jen ran away from me because she thought she saw Zack, but it turned out that she RAN (in a full sprint) to the wrong guy! She came back and she was so sad and embarrassed, but then we continued looking for our guys together!  A few hours minutes later Jen said "Kristina, there's Andrew! There he is!" I couldn't find him so she pointed him out again! I scanned though the mass of Rangers coming my way and when I finally met his eyes and I let out an absolute shrill of excitement! Haha! I didn't plan on screaming but that's just how it went! I RAN as fast as I could into his arms (by the time I spotted him though, be was honestly only 5 feet from me).  He was overloaded with lots of gear but he didn't even have time to drop them before I was in his arms! I didn't see the look on his face when he first saw me, but Jen said he had the biggest smile on his face and was just shaking his head in disbelief! I wish I had seen it, but I have a perfect image of how he reacted and that is second best!

After the initial hugs and kisses were over we found Jen and McAdams again and loaded all of the guys' gear into the back of the truck and Jen drove us all back to the good olde IP (Independence Place- where Zack and Andrew live). I can't express how excited Andrew was to see a Tupperware container full of his mom's famous home-made chocolate chip cookies! I don't think we had even left base before every single cookie had been eaten! 


It was so nice to hold Andrew's hand and look into his eyes as we drove back to the apartment. Everything that I had been missing for the past 100+ days was sitting there right next to me and it was everything I had dreamed it would be. I kept whispering to him "I can't believe this is real!" It was so amazing, it was so weird that everything Ranger School had put us through was all behind us. I cried for about a nanosecond and then it was like the past 3 1/2 months just disappeared. Every single moment of feeling lonely and sad, every day spent without Andrew, every worry and every last tear was worth it all for that first hug. I'd do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant seeing that smile on Andrew's face at the end of it. God,  I love that smile!

The rest of the 8(ish) hour pass was a blur. Andrew's first priorities were food and bathing! I put some laundry in while he showered and he told me after "do you know how nice it feels to shower without 60 other naked dudes around you?!" I guess it's the little things that you miss! It sure did make me giggle though! After a few phone calls to family and friends, and a jump from the landscaping company (the truck didn't take the 3 1/2 months of neglect so well) we went to Commandos and Ranger Joes to get all the Rangeriffic merchandise we could get our hands on! Commandos is my favorite, because they make every Ranger class feel special with the signage out in front of the store! We loaded up on so many t-shirts, sweatpants, shotglasses, sweatshirts, bumper stickers.... you name it, they had it! And we were all too happy to pay a small fortune for it. (Actually though, their prices were very reasonable, but it sounds better this way!)

Next up was dinner with Andrew's Ranger Buddy, Joe Shane, and his wife, Ashley, at Red Robin! They are such a cute and fun couple and she has the cutest southern accent that I am oh, so jealous of! We had lots of fun and the boys pigged out on burgers, all you can eat fries, and lots of milkshakes and Andrew's (secret) favorite, Strawberry Freckled Lemonade! After dinner we I drove back to the apartment (the guys can't drive while they are still in Ranger School so that only leaves yours truly to drive the Silver Bullet!!) where we watched Archer and played a loooooong overdue hand of Monopoly Deal!

Around 8:30 McAdams and Jen came over and it was time to take the guys back to the barracks. I got to drive again (yay me!) and then filled up the truck with gas so that that was one less thing that Andrew would have to do once he graduated. 

I can't wait to see him again tomorrow! Today was like a dream! I still can't believe this is all coming to an end! Today made everything so worth it. Now the goal is to make it through the next two days and I'll have my very own ARMY RANGER! It still doesn't seem real, but it's not stopping me from getting mighty excited!

Shhhhh. . . .

Surprises are fun!!

So all throughout Ranger School our plan has been that I would drive down to the Graduation with Andrew's parents, sister and her 4 kids (a 2 day trip from Central PA to Ft. Benning) and get to Benning on Thursday night just in time for Graduation the following morning.

Welp, little does Andrew know that plans are a-changing! I'm so excited! Andrew's sister-in-law talked me into (really, I didn't need much convincing, I guess I just hadn't thought out all the details) flying down a few days early and surprising Andrew on his 12 hour pass the Wednesday before he graduates! One of his buddy's (Zack) girlfriend is flying down early too (but Zack knows about) and we can both stay in his apartment (right across the hall from Andrew's) on Tuesday night before we go to Camp Rodgers on Wednesday morning and pick up the guys! I hope I can pull off the surprise, I am so excited! AND it means I get to see my man a full TWO days earlier than I had originally thought! I can't wait!