I won't reiterate the goal of this blog. (That's already explained in the handy "About Us" section above.) Instead, I wanted to give some insight into what life looks like for my family in this season and give a bit of back story to work off of in future posts. For the sake of privacy, I'll sign my posts as JJ and my wonderful husband will go by D.
My husband and I met in our freshman year of high school, though to be frank, we were about as close to high school sweethearts as off-brand cheese curls are to Cheetos. It took a few years after graduating for us to really connect with each other, but when we did, I fell in love with him faster than I'd care to admit. (No, really, you'd gag at how sappy the first few months of our relationship were.)
I knew from the get-go that he was going to enlist in the Navy and, if we're being transparent, that was something that took me a long time to come to terms with. My mom was in the Army before I was born, but I had never experienced or known someone who had experienced life with a loved one in the military. It took a lot of soul-searching on my part to commit to this journey with him and I didn't make that decision lightly.
He left for boot camp very early on in our relationship which set the tone for our next year. I was lucky enough to be able to fly out to Great Lakes to see his PIR, and then after that he was off to Pensacola. He went to school there for about nine months, came home to California and proposed, and a few months after that, he came home again to marry me. We learned quickly that the only way to make it work was to communicate openly and honestly with each other, and even that didn't make it easy. Anyone who has been in a long distance relationship for any length of time can tell you it's a roaring pain in the rear. We didn't perfect it, but we did make it, and that's what counts.
We've been married for close to two years now, and we are expecting our first child (a boy!) in September. D is finishing up his last few months here at his current command and we are prepping for a PCS in late December. Until then, I'm working part-time at a pet spa and trying in vain to keep my patio vegetable garden alive.
We are headed towards some big changes this year and we are equal parts terrified and excited. I'll be shooting for two posts a week to start with, but realistically one might be all I get published for a while until things settle down.
Like I said in the About section, please don't hesitate to get in touch! Tell me your stories, ask questions, tell me my recipe tasted more than a little like cardboard, I'd love to hear it all.