Roll the Dice and Have Some Faith: September 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Letter to a Military Spouse

So someone shared this with me recently and I wanted to share with anyone who might actually read this...

"While I have never had the pleasure of meeting your or your husband, I felt the need to write you and express a very deep feeling that I have in my heart.

I, as a person, am not brave. I do not tackle things head on, as I hate confrontation. I will travel 100 miles out of my way just to avoid a conflict. I am an American woman that has no idea what is going on in the military other than what I hear on the news.

I have never had to let go of someone so that they could go fight for people that they didn't know, people that sometimes do no appreciate or understand what they are fighting for.

I have never had a sleepless night of worry because of a report that another bomb has exploded and I still haven't heard from my husband.

I have never had to wait for months on end to hold the one that I loved so.

I have never had to tell my children that daddy wasn't coming home tonight because he was so far away fighting for something that they aren't yet old enough to understand.

I have never had to hold my head high and suppress the tears as I hear that it will be at least another six months of separation before my loved one gets to come home.

I have never had to deal with a holiday away from the one that I thought I would share every day of my life with.

And I have never had to feel the panic rising in my heart at the sound of a ringing phone or knock at the door for fear that it is the news that everyone is terrified of getting.

For the reasons listed above, I can not tell you that I understand how you feel. I can not tell you that you must be strong. I can not say that you shouldn't be angry, because you "knew what you were getting into when you married a military man." I can not say these things because I have never had to walk in your shoes.

What I can say for certain is that because of your unselfish acts of bravery and your husbands willingness to stand up for those who see him as "just another soldier" -- I will never have to walk in your shoes.

I do understand that as a military wife you are expected to uphold a certain amount of control, but I never understood how you could do it, until now. I have figured out that you are not like other women. You are of a special breed. You have a strength within you that holds life together in the darkest of hours, a strength of which I will never possess. The faith you have is what makes you stand out in a crowd; it makes you glow with emotion and swell with pride at the mention of The United States of America.

You are a special lady, a wonderful partner and a glorious American.

I have more respect for your husband than I could ever tell you, but until recently I never thought much about those that the soldier leaves at home during deployment.

Until this moment I could never put into words exactly what America meant to me.

Until this moment, I had no real reason to...Until I heard of you.

Your husband and his military family hold this nation close, safe from those who wish to hurt us...but you and those like you are the backbone of the American family. You keep the wheels in motion and the hearts alive while most would just break completely down. Military families make this nation what it is today.

You give us all hope and you emit a warming light at the end of a long dark tunnel.

Because of you and your family...I am able to be me. I am able to have my family. I am able to walk free in this great land. Because of you and your family, I can look ahead to the future with the knowledge that life is going to be okay. Because of you and your family, I can awake to a new day, everyday.

I realize that you are a stronger person than I will ever be because of these things and I just wanted to take the time today to say thank you to you and your family for allowing me that freedom.

I will never be able to repay this debt to you, as it is unmatchable. However, I hope that you know that no matter where you are...what you'res doing...what has happened today...or what will happen tomorrow...your husband will NEVER be "just another soldier" to me...and you, dear sweet lady, will never be forgotten.

You are all in my prayer's everyday and I pray that God will bring you back together with your loved one safely.

May God Bless You!

(Author Unknown)"

"For those I love, I will sacrifice"

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Trip to DC

So last weekend, I went to visit Ben and we took a trip to DC for the weekend. I must admit, our expected itinerary was pretty busy, but it's been almost 8 years since I was there, and as an 8th grader, one can not honestly experience and appreciate DC for everything it is. It is such a powerful city and there is so much respect in the city that you can't even imagine as a 14 year old.

First, I would like to say how safe I really felt the entire weekend. It was very clean, the traffic was NOT as bad as I expected it to be, it was a lot bigger then I remember it being, but I really loved it. The homeless people were not begging you for money. They had what they had, and they slept on the park benches with everything they had and just left everyone alone.

So the plan was the following:

Get in Friday at 2, get to the academy about 3, get in to DC around 5 and rent bikes and ride around to all the monuments and around that National Mall Friday afternoon, then get a pizza and hang out. Well this didn't happen. I got in to Annapolis (the academy) at 3, but Ben didn't get out of class and back to his dorm until almost four, so I saw by a fountain and read and actually saw a few of the guys in his company which was nice. We ended up not renting bikes because we didn't get to DC until almost 7:30/8ish (before we left the yard, Ben had to pack, go to the library and get a book for the SMT guys, and then get his bike and get to jeep). We did however get pizza and hang out. We walked around downtown and just enjoyed the really nice evening.

Just messing around while waiting for Ben

Saturday, we planned on going to the Smithsonian, the Newseum, and the Spy Museum. Instead we woke up, went and worked out (and I purposefully wore the same colors as he did, haha) went to the Holocaust Museum and the Smithsonian of American History and then around and saw the monuments and the White House. It rained a little bit, but we didn't let that put a damper on the day. We ate breakfast at a "Cosi" that I like to compare to a Starbucks and Panera combined and for lunch, we had hotdogs from the little food stands that are all over the city and for dinner, we went to Fogo de Chao (where on the way, I got cat-called by a homeless man who told Ben "you've got yourself a good one!").

All of the shoes at the Holocaust Museum

Us before working out and going for a run around DC

While walking around, we saw the White House, the new World War II Monument, the Washington Monument and the Capitol building.

Washington Monument

WWII Memorial

Us in front of the White House

Ben with our tower we built in the Smithsonian of American History

Date night Saturday night! <3

WWII Memorial

On Sunday, we had originally planned to go to the Holocaust Museum, Arlington, the Navy/Marine's Monument, and the Pentagon 9/11 memorial. But all we ended up having time for was the Spy Museum and the 9/11 Memorial before heading back to Annapolis. The 9/11 Memorial was a little confusing because we missed the sheet that explained it, so as we were walking through it, we were trying to figure it out, but it ended up making us think about it more since we didn't know anything about it, and after we found out we were right about most assumptions about it. Sunday night when we got back to Annapolis, I checked in to my hotel while Ben went back for their 6 pm reformation and I got Chipotle for him, me and his roommate Ryan. We spent the rest of the night working on homework before I fell asleep on his lap while attempting to read.

Place we ate breakfast Sunday morning

My secret identity during the Spy Museum! lol

9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon

Whoops! Guess it's time for a new suitcase!

Monday morning, bright and early, I headed back to the Academy to take Jeep back to Ben and we had just enough time to park on Hospital Point and walk Ben to class where we had to say a quick goodbye since he's not allowed to do anything "ungentlemenly" in his uniform, and then I went to my shuttle and headed to the airport, and this is when the fun started! As I'm walking across the yard, I'm dragging my suitcase behind me and the handle ended up bending so bad that it wouldn't go back in to my suitcase, so after getting through security and finding my gate, two nice gentlemen tried to help me literally kick the handle back in and it still wouldn't go, so after 15 minutes of struggling with my suitcase, I decided I would just break the handle because if I didn't, it was not going to fit on the airplane.

Needless to say, the weekend was pretty amazing! I miss Ben so much when we're not together, but when we finally get to see each other, everything is perfect and I fall for him more and more. I cannot wait to see him next, unfortunately, I do not know what that will be :( but I know that the next time I do, it will be just as great as this trip was.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Retail Therapy, with a purpose!

So this coming weekend, I'm headed to Washington D.C. to go visit Ben and I decided I wanted to go shopping and get some new clothes for the occasion and also, why not go shopping now? It's getting to the end of summer and so stores are getting their new fall stuff in so EVERYTHING's on sale! Check out some of the deals that I got today while shopping at the Dayton Mall.

Vanity