navysgirl
Regular Member

Hey Chicky! I haven't talked to you in a while! I hope you're doing okay!

I think once we hit November, I'm going to feel so much, much better. September and October have just been very depressing and tough for me because I felt like I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. John will be home on leave in the winter.... yay! Even though he'll have to go back, when he comes home, we'll (most likely) be over halfway done with this dumb deployment and we'll be 6ish months out from our wedding. I. Can't. WAIT. haha

I never thought of putting videos on youtube. That's genius!!

How are you doing? Anything you're looking forward to that's coming up soon? Have you hit any milestone swith the deployment yet? :-) Those are the best and help a whole lot!!

Haha, I know the feeling. OPSEC is basically the "privacy statement" of the military. What we can/can't say about missions/deployment, that kind of thing. TAD/TDY is just training. The military is like alphabet soup. After 18 months of officially being with John, I still don't understand half of what he says when he talks about work. haha

I am so sorry that he experienced that and that you are worrying about it. The same thing kind of happened to me-- but not to the same degree. John was outsid when a mortar hit his base. He tells me he was pretty far away, but he saw the explosion, I believe, and 3 people died in it. Before that, I was okay because I was under the assumption that his base was pretty safe; even before he left, his commander had assured everyone that no one had died or even been injured in combat for a few years (he couldn't even remember the last time it had happened). There was mortar fire 2 times in one month, and that scared the living hell out of me. I lost 10 lbs in about 3 weeks because I couldn't sleep or eat. It was just awful. I can't even imagine what you've been through since it was so much more immediate for you! I really want to give you a hug right now!!

Oh man there's so many acronyms to learn!

I put videos on youtube and just send pics in emails.

This has all been a whirlwind. Four months ago I was VERY single and never thought about the military ever. Then he walked into my life and changed everything. We only knew each other for two months before he left and he's been gone for two now. Sometimes I worry that I'm being a baby about the whole thing since we weren't together long, but I fell in love with him the moment I saw him. I had this gut feeling he was everything I'd been looking for. I finally found him, then he left again! haha

It was pretty much smooth sailing until I got the email about his friends. It was a real eye-opener how dangerous his situation is. It really broke my heart because he watched it happen ( all I know is there was an explosion ). It shook me up and I'm trying to find that same level of peace I had before. That's why I joined this site!

One thing I learned ASAP was don't trust the military with dates! But it's rough that you can't know. Five months is an accomplishment though! Life has a way of teaching you patience, huh? You're right. There really is nothing to do but keep going. The time will pass anyway. Might has well make the best of it.

And how are you feeling at 5 months?

btw, your smile just makes it look like you're enjoying it more.

(If you look at the picture really closely, you can see that I'm laughing, not kissing John. Haha. I don't tell many people that. From far away, you can't really tell.)

Do you send him pictures / video via email or SD cards? I'm glad you can do something for him-- not having control of the situation is an awful feeling. How are you doing with the deployment? When did he leave? Are you feeling okay at this point? Your "dangerous deployments" thread broke my heart. I hate that we all have to go through this. :-( But then again, I'm on the hippie spectrum of life, soooo there's that... :-)

Nov. 6 makes five months for us... I can't wait. The past months have felt so stupidly slow. I don't know if I can say how long John is deployed for because of OPSEC, but I will say they weren't given a date for return, which is kind of spooky. I guess, technically, he's TAD (or I think some branches call it TDY) so he's not "actually" deployed. Right now he's on shore duty, so he wasn't supposed to deploy at all until he goes into sea duty. But that's the military for you, I guess. :-\

But we keep plugging along, right? There's nothing else to do but keep going!

If you're interested in blogging, totally try it! I dragged my feet with it and only started about 3 months after John deployed. I wish I would have started it when he did instead, now. If you neglect it, then, whatever. :-) At least you tried!

That's so cool that your friends liked it! The care packages are like one of the only things that are getting me through his deployment to Afgh. I at least feel like I'm doing SOMETHING for him when I work on them... I'm glad other people like them too, though. :-) It's nice to know!

And yep, that's my fiance. The picture was part of our engagement photo shoot. And it was totally a surprise-- our photographer was just like, "Okay, you guys are going to do this when the light turns red." About 5 seconds after, the light turned and he shoved us out on the street. I was sure that my whole face was red for the photos. People were cheering and honking their horns. So embarrassing. :-) But I love the photo now, so it was worth it.

Oh yes, the whole paying the bills thing with freelance is not very easy. I'm still working toward that. I also do other media related freelance work too. And before this I went through a long period of unemployment, so I don't recommend writing for a living lol.

I'm actually jealous you blog! I have horrible commitment issues with things i don't have to do, LOL. But, i've been thinking about blogging for about year. Maybe one day I'll get around to it. A couple of my girlfriends are really crafty and I showed them your blog. They love it!

Is that you and your fiancé in your picture? It's really sweet!

Very cool! I would love to write full time, but I don't think I could pay the bills... at least, I don't think I'm enterprising enough to be able to. I don't even know how to get started freelancing. I'm very jealous! :-)

I write fiction occasionally (I would love to have the time to think and write a lot more than I do), but the most I'm writing right now is stuff for school (I'm a teacher) and my blog (which I am totally hooked on). I'm so glad you write too!! :-D

Thanks! :-) I appreciate the comment! I started my blog because I feel so isolated (I live no where near John's base... or anywhere with a military presence), so I'm glad you can relate to it! And writer!? :-D What do you write?