Reflections

I have a online ticker for Sean and I's anniversary on my computer and today it reads 1 month and six days. (This would be for our Justice of the Peace wedding, not our ceremony in case anyone is confused) I look back over this past year and marvel at where I was then and where I am now.

This time last year, Sean and I were dating (as best as you can 9 hours apart)talking on the phone all the time, constantly texting each other and talking from time-to-time about marriage. I knew at this point last year that I was going to marry him, although I didn't know that it would be quite so soon. I remember being a little bit scared about how much my life would change, but also being very excited about all the new opportunities that would come with it as well. All I knew at that time was that I loved this man and it didn't matter where he was going, I was going too.

Now, almost a year later I look at the good times and rough times we've had. I am an Army wife, something that I never planned on being as I was growing up. I was never one of those girls that had a thing for those "men in uniform" and I never had a favorite branch of the military. I had some friends like that, but I was never one of those girls. I didn't know anything about the Army before I married Sean. I couldn't tell you what someone's rank was just by looking at their uniform, what unit they were in and forget all those acronyms that come with being in the military lifestyle. I was a newbie and I still am. I still have to ask Sean questions everyday about things he tells me or things I hear.

I love this life. I don't love the deployments that inevitably will come, I don't love the long hours or the whole "hurry up and wait" menality, but I love our life. I love coming home and seeing Sean in his ACU's, looking so handsome and in charge. I enjoy the people that I meet and the opportunities that this lifestyle will provide with me being an Army wife.

I think about this past year and the things Sean and I have gone through, being apart for the first five months of our marriage and how that is going to prepare me for future separations. I think of us as a strong couple, even though we are still growing and learning how to be married. To me that's not something you can learn or even do in just a few months time.

My husband may irritate me and frustrate me at times and sometimes I think I hate the Army and some of the things that they do, but I would never want to be anywhere than where I am right now, with any other man in the world.

Memories of My Mother

I thought in honor of Mother's Day it would be fitting if I posted a memory or two I have of my mother.

One thing I will always associate with my mother is my love of reading. It was she who started reading to me when I was little. Everyday before naptime we would have a story. Some days it was chapters from Robin Hood or Winnie the Pooh, other days it was a Bible story from my illustrated Bible. I loved it when my mother read to me. Her voice was so soothing and she read so well.

Another memory of my mother is when she would curl my hair. I was always dressed to the nines in my holiday outfits. My mother would buy or make a lovely dress, I had frilly socks, matching shoes (usually patent leather) a bow or headband to match my dress, a matching or co-ordinating purse and even sometimes gloves. My mother would roll my hair in curlers the night before and I HATED having that done. For one, I was tender-headed and I didn't like my hair getting yanked on and I also hated having to sleep in the curlers. She started doing this to my hair when I was around 3 or 4 and to this day I do not know how she managed to get a headstrong little girl to wear those curlers to bed! The effects the next day were always great though and I had a headful of bouncing, golden-blonde curls. I realize now that it took a lot of effort on my moms part to dress-me like this, especially when she made co-ordinating outfits for my brother and I when we were small.

My mom is the most intelligent lady I know. She is a very giving, funny and beautiful woman and I hope that someday I will be the kind of mom to my children that she was to me.