Open Letter to my Blog Friends

Dear Blog Friends,

Thank you!  Thanks for all of your wonderful, supportive, encouraging comments to my post from last night.  I feel oh so warm and fuzzy inside.  To be honest, I think I felt so much better just writing that post, let alone getting all the fantastic support from you.  

I woke up this morning feeling really positive.  I mean, yeah, this whole deployment thing screws up our "plans" for school and life and whatever, but - plans can change.  Nothing is set in stone.  Whatever happens, I know that we will grow and mature and our marriage will only get stronger.  We can deal with the time apart - I mean, clearly it's not ideal, but it's not insurmountable.  And do I wish that Matt would be here for our first anniversary, the holidays, our birthdays, and our second anniversary?  Sure, of course I do.  But we have a gazillion more birthdays and anniversaries and holidays to celebrate when he gets home.  

I was a military girlfriend and then a military fiancee for years - no reason why I can't be a supportive wife as well, right?  It seems like now that we're getting into the details, it seems completely manageable.  And I refuse to be upset and unhappy for the next few months.  Instead, Matt and I will have a great time together!  Today, he met me at work and we went out to lunch and just walked around town for a bit.  I loved that we had a mid-day date - it seemed so special and fun.  

So.  I refuse to let the Army get the best of me!  I will not let them completely disrupt our lives, despite the fact that, you know, they are completely disrupting our lives!  :)  Instead, we will truly enjoy the time we have before Matt leaves.  And when he does leave, I will keep myself busy.  In fact, I'm already making a mental list of some projects/things to do!  Such as....

1. Organize the scary closet in the guest room (Matt joked that this will likely take 99% of the time he's gone)

2. Join the community orchestra

3. Take a yoga class

4. Learn how to cook lots of good stuff (and remember how to cook for one again)

5. Hang some photos in the apartment

6. Visit lots of friends - especially those in Chicago.  I have lots of friends there!

Well, there are some other things too, I just can't think of everything right now.  Matt and I also plan on going on a Mediterranean cruise when he gets home - we want to go to Spain, France, Italy, and Greece, at minimum.  So, I'm sure I'll busy myself by planning that trip, too.

Anyway,  just wanted to let you know that I think things will be okay.  And, I also wanted to let you know that Matt is okay with the deployment.  While he was active duty, he tried to transfer to a deployable unit three different times, all to no avail.  He originally enlisted in the Army so that he could deploy.  When it didn't happen, well...obviously, that was a disappointment.

Now that he has been recalled from IRR, he really feels that he would have rather been stoplossed.  It would have been much less disruptive - he would have deployed first, BEFORE applying to grad school, BEFORE moving to Indiana.  Yadda yadda.  But, overall, now that it is here, he is ready for the deployment and feels okay about the whole thing.  The main thing he is unhappy with is the length - he is fine with a deployment but just doesn't want to be gone for a year.  

SO, there's the rest of the info, I guess!  Some other, random, unrelated news:  I had to add word verification back to my comments.  I'm sorry.  But over the last couple of weeks, I have gotten a gazillion spam comments in...Japanese.  Blah.  Also, my "wedding ring dermatitis" is almost gone!  So, that's good.  My mom called it "ring rot."  Gross!

Well, I guess that's all for now.  Time to relax in front of the TV!  Happy Tuesday!