Sorry for the wait....

It has been 2 months exactly since I have last blogged.  During these last few months I have been so busy with preparing for finals and moving back home that this blog just had slipped my mind.  Now that school is over I hope to keep everyone more up-to-date on everything.  I had my first official day of work today at Diamond Drugs. My job....packaging the pills for the Correction Facilities.  I am learning a lot and at least today went fast.  Another day another dollar.

As for the whole reason I started this blog.  THOMAS! He his doing well.  They finally reached the base that they should be staying at for the rest of his deployment this week.  The last two months have been moving place to place and living out of a duffle bag, which he got annoyed with.  He has received all of the packages his family and I sent him, he is especially happy about his XBOX that his Dad sent over (what a video game nerd).  I have been able to talk to him at least once a week either on Facebook or he calls.  They hopefully will be setting up satellite internet here in the next few weeks so I might actually get to Skype him.  I am currently getting a package together with some homemade Oatmeal Raisin cookies which are his favorite! I wanted to send him some banana bread because he loves it but it would never make it there before it started to mold (i guess he will have to wait).

Other than that, there is not much to tell... the army is very hush hush in most things so when I hear from him we talk about when he gets home and what cool stuff he is buying over there (like a chinchilla blanket....creepppyy).  Just hearing from him is enough for me. 

Continue to pray for him and all the men and women overseas right now...pray that they will all make it home back to us safely.

 

From Texas to Afghanistan

Sorry I have not posted in awhile but not much as been going on.  Everything has been going well.  I have been able to chat on Facebook with Tom everyday which is nice.  We were able to Skype for about an hour last night seeing as it was their last night in the states.  They left Fort Bliss early this morning to make their long journey to Afghanistan. Tom will have about a few hour lay over in Baltimore Maryland today which is so close but yet we can't see each other.  He is excited and ready to go, unlike a lot of the other soldiers.  We will be unsure from here on out when we will get to talk.  They were told that internet might not be strong enough over there to Skype but hopefully we can communicate through phones on base, email, and snail mail. 

They had a solider come and talk to them about the conditions of the place where they will be stationed.  Tom said that where he is going they have not found any bombs in at least nine months which is a good thing.  It would be more reassuring if things didn't change daily.  Tom is afraid they will just be bored over there the whole time...good thing he has his Xbox! I doubt they will be bored and I am sure they will be kept busy. 

As for me, I am okay.  Last night was another goodbye....you would think after the millionth goodbye it would get easier but it doesn't.  Hopefully he can get on the internet during this lay over so then we can talk before he goes.  They do not fly right into Afghanistan and yes they do fly on commercial airlines  if you were wondering. I was surprised because in all those movies you see the soldiers all laying with their luggage and such on a plane floor.  Nope, not the case.  Their luggage and weapons are kept where all luggage is kept and they sit in normal plane seats.  I am unsure if they will charter the whole plane themselves because I think there are only a select few individuals who are leaving with Tom.  They are going over there a little early to establish everything then the rest of their unit will head over (at least that is what I was told a few weeks ago). 

My one prayer for this year is for him to come back safely.  If we don't get to talk much that is fine, all I want is for him to return home all in one piece and breathing (a little morbid i know).  I have told him since day one the less I know the better off I will be so hopefully he will only share good things with me so I do not start freaking out more than I already am.  The good thing is....he might be home by Christmas...that is if everything goes according the plan.  The downfall is he won't get a two week leave (which i am fine with as long as he is coming home early).  I would love to bank on this and say he is coming home then but lets face it this is the Army and their minds change constantly.

So please keep Tom, his unit, and all the men and women fighting in your prayers.  They are doing so much for us so we can take a few minutes out of our hectic days and pray for them.  As soon as I hear that they have arrived safely at their destination I will let everyone know.  Until then we are all in a waiting game (and i have a feeling it will be like that for the next year). 

Two weeks down

It has already been two weeks since Tom has left! In some ways it feels like I just saw him but when I look at the big picture it seems like this last two weeks have drug on.  I have been so busy with school and being sick the last three days that I haven't had time for it to soak in yet.  School is keeping so busy and stressed that any down time that I do get I am usually sleeping.  I was able to video chat through Skype with Tom two nights ago. When it first came on the first thing I noticed was he was so tan...Jealous! I guess I need to go spend two weeks in a desert so I don't look like a ghost.  It was good to talk to him face to well computer screen basically but I will take what I can get.


I started talking to one of Tom's battle buddies wife yesterday.  She is 23 years old and has two children...God bless! They just had their second child on my wonderful birthday this year.  She was saying how her older daughter keeps asking to video chat with her Daddy and that she missed him so much! While we were talking I was like I do not know how you do it...she simply said "because I love him." She might be young and so am I but if you are in love there is nothing that can stand in the way of it (not even the Atlantic Ocean).  It was finally good to talk to someone who knows exactly what I am feeling right now and also hates when people tell her "oh a year isn't that long...it will fly!" Ha! 

Well I need to stop procrastinating and get some studying done. Continue to pray for the men and women who are currently deployed, because in all reality it is the least we can do for them!

Another day down!

In my high school AP English class we did a section on poetry.  It has always been easy for me to explain myself in poems, so I thought that would be a good way to convey my feelings through this deployment.  Some will rhyme and some will not....I will explore the world of poetry and do all different types.  I decided to start with the simple rhyming poem...the easiest ones to write. I hope you enjoy!

In Love With a Soldier

I may be young and you might not understand,

But my love for this boy was not really planned.

It takes someone special to win your heart over,

I was never lucky until I found him, my four leaf clover.

People ask why I go through with it and make myself stressed,

That is not how I see it, I think of myself as blessed.

I am in love with a United States Soldier, who has gone to war,

When will I hear from him again…that I am unsure?

Goodbye is forever, and our goodbye is not,

I will love him forever; in my heart he will always have a spot.

I go to bed at night hoping he is okay,

Hoping he is safe each and every day. 

If I have one word of advice to all of you reading this,

It’s never to take granted one hug or one kiss.

Realize the time you have with your loved ones is special,

Because honestly you never realize what you have until it’s gone.

392!!

Only 392 more days left of this deployment (if all goes well).  I heard from Tom a couple of times over the past week through facebook messages and skype chat.  He is doing well. He says he likes it at Fort Bliss because he is able to eat healthy and work out daily.  Ever since we have started dating he is constantly complaining on how I need to eat all the time and how he eats when I eat.  I am a growing girl I need to eat haha!

March 9th! That is the day that the 420th EN CO departs for Afghanistan...don't mark that down with anything permanent, because over the last year I have realized that the Army never does anything on time!

Until today I thought I was doing really well.  School has kept me extremely busy, which has been good. I just took my anatomy exam today. I have been keeping up with studying as we go over it in class and I have been studying basically day and night for the past several days to prepare.  After I left the test I realized that I had a more difficult time actually retaining the information than I did before he left. I know I know that should be no excuse! I honestly didn't realize that this was happening until I handed in my test. I don't know how I did and a could possibly surprise myself, but I don't think that will be the case.  I now know that I need to try and relax and not stress out so much.  Like Tom always says "what is you worrying about it really going to do?" I am not posting this up here to be criticized and told what to do (like i am sure some of you would like to).  I told myself from the start of this blog that this is a way to express my feelings throughout this journey...so don't ruin it!


Another day is underway and I have some more studying to do.  Continue to keep the men and women who are fighting for our country in your prayers!

And so it begins

Only (well hopefully) 396 more days until Tom's deployment is over!! This is going to be a scary, yet I feel a very rewarding journey for both of us.  I cannot sit here and complain I knew what I was getting myself into when we started dating...but that doesn't make it easier.  Yesterday was a weird experience.  The countdown began and the realization of it all was starting to appear.  The only good thing was that he kept me busy by running a bunch of errands to get a few last things done before having to be at the Reserve base at 1600 (i am finally starting to get the hang of military time).  I did really well with not crying the entire week until he put his uniform on.  As I sat there watching him zip up that jacket and lace up his boots, I realized that he was leaving and this wasn't just some messed up dream I have been having. At that moment I realized I was head over (boots) in love with a Soldier of the United States Army!  As tears started rolling down my face, Tom looked over at me..........(i am assuming you are thinking he would say something romantic that makes me cry more)........well sorry to disappoint you but he looks at me and says......"Really already! Hahaha cry baby!!!" That right there sums up our relationship...as soon as I start to take life a little too seriously or start to get outside the realm of reality, he always brings me to laughter.  He knows exactly when to make fun of me that is for sure.  I think in a way that statement right there made the whole "saying goodbye" a lot easier. There is nothing more heart breaking then standing there saying goodbye to your loved one and looking over and having to see a father saying goodbye to his children. I think I cried more at seeing that then saying goodbye to Tom.  I could never imagine what that is like! At 6:30pm the town all stood together on Philly Street as the buses were escorted by police out of town.  The amount of flags, signs, and people showed that these Soldiers are truly in the hearts of everyone.  I wonder if Tom saw all of his family, myself, and my parents standing there to support him....don't worry I will probably hear about how I was crying like a little girl if he did.  I have yet to hear from Mr. Thomas but hopefully I will soon.  I saw one of this military friends status saying that they made it safely to Fort Bliss, so transition number 1 was a success.  Please keep him and the rest of the men and women in your prayers.  Pray for a safe return for all!