My Husband

Grrr, he's so dang cute. I love him so much. He has duty today so he's staying at the barracks over night (way gay) and I miss him already. It'll be the first night I've slept alone since he's been home from deployment and well, I think I'll try to stay awake all night so we can sleep all day together tomorrow. We'll see how well that goes... I'm about ready to pass out and I didn't even get anything accomplished that I wanted to! Anyways. So, the procrastinator that I am has yet to go and get a base pass for my car. It's really not that big of a deal since I don't go to base much and when I do, I'm with RyRy and he has one on his car. Usually it takes like 5 minutes tops to get a temp pass and I don't mind waiting. But today, I was definitely kicking myself in the ass for not getting the real deal 2 months ago. Here's what happened. I had just left Taco Bell with some lunch for Ryan and  pulled up to the gate with my temporary pass that was good through "28 Sept 2010." Every other time I came to base on the day my pass expired it was never a problem. I was allowed through the gate and knew that at the end of the day, that pass was no longer good... blah blah blah we all know that. Well today, it was a problem. The guy just stared at me until I rolled down my window and said something along the lines of, "You obviously don't know what day it is,do you?" with the smirkiest of attitudes. I laughed and said "Ya, actually it's September 28th, 2010." He proceeded to tell me that my pass was no longer good and I'd have to get a new one at the visitor center. I was already irritated that he treated me like I was from outer space, but now my husbands lunch was getting cold because he wanted to stand there and be on some power trip with his M16... dude, get real, you're not that bad ass. So anyways. I rolled my eyes so he could see and I drove off to the visitors center. Knowing I was right all along, I took the pass that I already had inside and asked them if my pass was still valid for today. They said yes and sent me on my way. So, back in my car I go, rounding the corner to see the same guy standing there.

Guy: "I told you to get a new pass"

Me: "Ya and they said that my pass was still valid and I didn't need a new one"

Guy (doing an asshole smirk/laugh): "Ya, like I believe that."

Me: "Well, that's what they said. They just handed it back to me and said I was good through midnight."

Guy: "Let me see your registration and insurance"

Me (while thinking to myself, "who do you think you are asking me for my information!? that's not your job, your job is to wave your hand as I drive by" but giving it to him anyways because I wanted to get lunch to my husband): "Oh my God..."

Guy: "Ya see your insurance card is expired."

Me: "No it's not. It says valid through Sept 2010. There are still 2 days left"

Guy: "It also could have expired yesterday."

Me (as I'm speeding off ): "Whatever, I'll call my husband."

I had done a good job and keeping it together and keeping my attitude while I was talking to the guy, but as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I started crying and called Ryan... who of course, came to my rescue :) I was still crying when he got there but that husband of mine is a great problem solver and brought a smile to my face almost immediately. We drove through the gate and that same guy waved us through as I smiled a big smile just for him. HA! I won :) Ryan laughed at me and said that I'm so spoiled.. I sat there and frowned-smiled, because he's right. I like knowing that I have him to save me... even if it's over something silly like getting through the gate. I know he'll always have my back. He'd do anything for me, as I would for him. He makes me feel so cute sometimes. I feel giddy and excited and yes, spoiled with lots of love. It's a fun feeling and I love it. Now if only he could come home so I could give him a kiss and maybe tickle him a little... oh my husband, he's so dang cute.

Willy

I don't even know how to start this one... I've typed about 15 things only to delete it and reword what I'm trying to say. Part of me wants to go on a rampage and use the F Word in every sentence to explain how bad this hurts. I want to scream and yell at God, as if it were somehow going to bring him back. I want to hit something because I'm so angry and I don't understand. But instead I sit here and feel this empty feeling all over again. I sit here and ask myself questions that I'll never get the answers to. I sit here and count the millions of reasons this shouldn't have happened. I look around the house and see all of the toys that he'll never get to play with again and think to myself how bad it's going to hurt to get rid of them. Ryan keeps telling me to think that Willy wouldn't want me to be sad but all I can think is that Willy wouldn't have wanted to die either. He was so young... too young to be robbed of a happy future. Too young to be taken away from a family who loved him. That's it, just too young. If God could read this, this is what I want to say...

You took Tank away from us 4 months ago. He was the greatest dog and had spent years in our family. You took him away so unexpectedly and in such a cruel way. He was just a month and a half away from being reunited with Charly, a reunion I was looking forward to so much because their love for each other was so strong. You took him away and didn't give us any answers... but then you gave us Willy. You brought smiles into our lives and hope into our hearts. The night before you took him from us, I thought to myself as I watched Willy play in the kitchen, "He'll never be able to replace Tank but he sure is doing a good job at filling up my heart." And then, you just took him away. You took him away without warning. All I want to know is why? What did we ever do to deserve this? More importantly, what did Willy do to deserve this? What are you trying to teach us? I don't understand the things that you allow to happen. What makes it even harder is that I never will. All I ask is that you cut us a break because we need it. We really do. I can't take much more.

Willy Bud, I love you and I'm going to miss you a lot.. I'll never forget the day we brought you home. You were so cute in the car ride back. I know you were excited to finally get out of the car after 7 long hours of driving. You know what we were excited about? You being a part of our family. You making our house a home. And in those short couple months that you were here with us, you did just that. You filled our house with laughter and love... and pee :) You were a good boy, buddy. You made my heart feel whole again. I don't know why you had to go but I hope that you're in a better place. I hope that you found Tank and he's "showing you the ropes." I hope that you felt so loved, because you were and you always will be. Rest In Peace my little Willy boy. I love you.

Let The Blogging Begin!

The idea of blogging has popped in my head a few times here and there... usually when I'm mad or irritated or I just plain want to bitch about something or someone without having to make anyone else listen to me... but I never really got around to it, until now! And I'm pretty darn excited to say the least. Writing has always been a good release for me. I seem to express myself more freely through writing, although I must say I'm also a pro at verbal communication... just ask my husband. Haha :) Please forgive me in advance if I talk about "The Mr." a lot. We're best friends and do basically everything together... besides two things. One is work because he's a Marine and well, I just don't have what it takes to be one of "The Few and The Proud" (but I am damn lucky to have married one) and the other is poop because that's just gross and I don't care to be a part of that. But other than that, I really do enjoy spending every minute I can with him. Anywho, 'nuff 'bout that. I also wanted to start this blog so our friends and families in a far away land (The Wonderful West Coast) could feel more "in-tune" with our life and just be able to read about some of the crazy, fun, not so fun, exciting, and boring days we have. Before I go I'll add a little about what's been going on lately...

I'm working a job here on Emerald Isle but since vacation season died down after Labor Day, unfortunately so did my hours so I've had a lot of free time lately to do not so much. As many of you know, Ryan is getting closer to his EAS date (Expiration of Active Service or something like that.) Meaning he can get out of The Marine Corps in January but we're still considering our options. Right now, he's looking at Federal jobs and has his eyes set on a couple that he'd really enjoy doing. He's also considered extending his contract and staying in the Marines for another year or so to give him some more time to apply for the MESEP program... that's the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program... meaning he'd go to school and become an Officer in the Marine Corps. Whichever path he chooses to follow, I hope and pray that it all works out for him because he's the best and truly deserves it. A cool thing about him choosing either one of those paths is that we'll have the opportunity to go some place completely new and do something completely different and we are so looking forward to that! Washington DC is a possibility and the only down side we've decided about that is that the traffic will suck but what could be worse than Camp Lejeune traffic, ya know? So, that's an exciting possibility. Also, some places in the southwest... CA, AZ, NM, TX which would be totally bad ass because the southwest offers so many things that we both enjoy doing and so many new things that we could explore together. Wherever we go, we need to be able to take our Kayak though because that is our newest hobby and it is so much fun! I don't care if we move to Maine, Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska... as long as we have our life together, everything will be just perfect *Big Cheesy Grin* 

Hmm, what else is up? The Holidays are coming! I'm really excited for them this year! I'm exciting for Fall to come and the leaves to start changing colors and the air to get a little cooler... and by "a little" I mean an itsy bitsy teeny weeny little bit cooler because we absolutely hate cold weather and there is really no point in freezing your butt off every time you want to do something. But for real, fall is such a nice time of year. Stores start selling their holiday scented things that I love so much and we can start making soup and we can use the cool weather as an excuse to stay inside all day and snuggle up and watch movies. We don't ever do anything crazy for Halloween... I can't even remember the last time I actually celebrated... but there is always a different feeling on Halloween than any other day and I like it. Last year we went to a restaurant in Morehead City and ordered a pizza and Ryan accidently dumped a whole glass of beer all over it right as the waiter put it on the table. Haha. It was funny. We sat there and just laughed and enjoyed our beer soaked pizza. Oh shoot, I almost forgot another reason I like fall. MY BIRTHDAY! If you want to know, it's on October 4th. I will we the big 2-2. Twenty two. 22. Double Deuces. It's exciting. I feel like people will take me more seriously now when I say, "Hi, I'm Ann and I'm 22." That sounds much better than "Hi, I'm Ann and I'm 21" because really all they hear is "Hi, I'm Ann and since I'm finally at a legal age to drink, I do so every single night until I puke or pass out... whichever comes first." Ya know what I'm saying? Even though I've never been that girl, it will be nice to not stereotyped when telling someone my age. I do enjoy a good glass of champagne that my wonderful Dad recommended to me though. Thanks Dad!

And, that's my post for today.. we got a new dog and she's barking at Willy so I need to go rescue my balding dog... he really is going bald, it's so sad but he's so damn cute he deserves lots of kisses! Adios Amigos.