Here's a not-so-short rundown of what life has been like for the past year.
July: Packed up a 16 foot uhaul truck, drove 5 days across the country, we still liked each other after all that time cooped up in a car together. I earned the name tiny tank (sorry I had to drink so much coffee to stay awake, jeeze) and we realized that after Montana there was nothing until the east coast. Just cows. Got to Havelock, where Matt was supposed to get 10 days leave to help unpack, but that never happened, which left me to empty an entire uhaul truck of everything except a couch and a amour, in 100 degree heat. Rescued a little kitten who we named Dobby (before we were even set up with housing...) and settled into a routine of getting up at 4am to drive Matt to work. We purchased a second car, and after that I was a lot less crabby - getting to sleep in until 6 will do that to a girl.
August: We stayed inside and played Diablo III to avoid what I called Satan's Buttcrack Weather, learned that Dobby liked human food and to be carried around in McDonalds bags, made amazing friends with the Stewarts, Wolfes, and Petries. Matt took an unfortunate tumble off of a helicopter and used his face to break the fall, which you are allowed to tease him about relentlessly. I found out that I needed my tonsils out, because they were blocking 80% of my airway. I also took my first trip to urgent care, after having a high fever and horrible flu for 5 days.
September: Nothing much happened - we were still settling in and learning to live together and discovered unique quirks about each other. For example, I did the dishes all wrong, and Matt didn't know what kind of towels to buy for the kitchen. I fought with TriCare almost daily to have them take my darn tonsils out.
October: I finally won the Battle of the Tonsillectomy, having my surgery scheduled for Halloween. No hard feelings about that one, I promise you. Nicol and Casey were in town for him to do some training, and I got to meet them in person for the first time. Matt surprised me with the gift of an iPad, since my computer bit the dust. Getting my tonsils ripped out went smoothly, and I was even able to hang out with Lyzz, Kristen, Chris and Annabelle for a low key Halloween party. I dressed up as Hermione and Matt as Harry Potter, and with the help of Percocet I made it through the night.
November: Matt was moved 'upstairs' at work - from working on helicopters to working in administration. We were both ecstatic about it - the hours were much more reasonable, the people didn't act like buttholes, and no more night shift! Much of November passed in a drug induced haze for me - while the surgery for removing your tonsils is pretty easy, the recovery left me in more pain than anything else I've ever experienced. Matt was right there with me the entire time, from my constant and unexpected vomiting to another urgent care visit for another high fever. Lyzz and Allyssa both took turns babysitting me while Matt was at work, mostly for company but also to make sure I didn't start talking to Dobby in my delirium. We went to the Wolfe's for Thanksgiving, where we were introduced to their two new cats. One of them was not very happy living in a house with a dog, and as a joke Matt said we would be happy to take him home with us. We went there with 2 pans of brownies and left with a new addition to our family - Sirius Blackcat Hertzog. We also were able to purchase our tickets back to Seattle for Christmas.
December: Allyssa and I were forced to spend more than 2 days apart, which was rough on both of us. I was at her house to watch her cats and sent her plenty of pictures of her furbabies. We made it to Seattle on the 21st, surviving both the long flight and the apocalypse. Our trip was spent dividing time between two families and friends, which was stressful but very much fun. I hadn't realized how much I missed everyone until I was back there again. We spent New Years with the Hertzog clan in Lake Chelan, where we got plenty of time in the snow and with family.
January: We headed back to North Carolina, only because Matt would get in a lot of trouble if he didn't show up at work. Allyssa picked us up from the airport, and we had a sweet reunion with me running into her arms. It was a rough transition back into the dreary everyday routine, and both of us were depressed and homesick.
February: Matt had the luck of having a 24 hour post on the 13th, which left us able to have nice romantic Valentines Day. We lazed around, went to dinner at Sonic (the food options here are limited to say the least) and went to see the new Die Hard movie. Matt's father passed away suddenly on the 23rd, and we scrambled to not only deal with the devastating loss, but also find a way back to Seattle. We flew out less than 48 hours later, after showing up at the Stewart's door puffy eyed and carrying a 30 rack of beer. I will never be able to articulate how much it meant to be able to walk over there and not have to hide our emotions, but just be with a family we loved and were comforted by.
March: March started with being in Seattle, surrounded by family and friends who loved and supported us in a time which can only be described as shitty. As heart wrenching as it was, I'm so so grateful that we were blessed enough to be able to get back and be surrounded by family. The service for Matt's father brought in more than 450 people who celebrated his life and mourned his loss with us. My family was so very understanding that while I loved them and wanted to see them, I was quite busy trying to plan a memorial service and be a help to my mother in law. My birthday came and went two days after the memorial. I went out with friends to a local bar, and was showered with free birthday drinks. I had fun, and it was a perfectly timed distraction and reason to focus on having fun. We flew back, and tried to get back into the routine of things while still feeling the loss of such an amazing person. Allyssa's birthday was also in March, and we took a trip into Greenville for her to get a tattoo as a birthday celebration. It made me very excited to start getting tattoos of my own - sorry mom, I know how you feel about that. Don't worry, I still have virgin skin.
April: I still can't believe it's already April, and with it "spring" weather in North Carolina. I think spring means something different in the south. In Seattle it means rain and jackets and tea and maybe a few sunny days where you can see the trees blooming again. Here, it means thunderstorms and rain and cloudy days where it's 80 degrees. I'm reminded that I'm not even remotely ready for summer, and should prepare myself to be taking lots of cold showers and avoiding being outside as much as I can. We started playing D&D with the Stewarts and a few other Marines that are becoming good friends, although that deserves a post of it's own in order to contain the all of the nerdy things. Needless to say, as a natural gamer, Matt is off and running and leading and knows what he's doing, while I'm still working on learning the differences between 10 different dice. They all have different numbers, and we all know how good with numbers I am (here's a hint: I'm not).
That about wraps up my first post. I'm excited to put this together not only for family and friends to read, but also to keep track of everything that happens. It will be fun to look back in the years to come and think "Oh yeah, we actually lived in North Carolina. And we somehow survived."
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