Hello, Goodbye

After three long months of school and work and not much else in South Carolina, I had packed up my apartment and was finally on a plane to Hawaii to be with Hubby for the two remaining months before he deployed to Iraq. Twelve hours later, I found myself in his arms once again, a day that seemed so far away was finally here.

We wasted no time in settling into a married routine. He worked during the week, I'd workout in the morning, do some schoolwork, go to the beach and cook dinner so it was ready when he got home or just after. Saturdays were strictly college football days or "Christmas" as he dubbed every Saturday, and nothing else was to be done. A college football "sabbath" of sorts. Football on at least five stations, football on the internet, football magazines, football t-shirts, college football coffee mugs, an actual football. Football. Football. Football. Football, for fifteen hours every Saturday, excuse me, Christmas. He would wake up at 5am to watch GameDay and I would saunter out of bed around 8 or 9 to cook breakfast, pancakes, eggs sometimes bacon. I loved it. Our first tradition. Sundays were laid-back as well. We'd get up whenever our eyes opened. Well, more like I'd wake up, get bored of sitting there and then wake him up. Brush our teeth, I'd wash my face and put in my contacts, lather on the sunscreen and head down the street to the beach, so we could come and go before the tourists got there. I'd trail Hubby across the sand, making a bigger deal of how hot the sand was and how it burned my feet than I probably should have. We'd spread out a blanket for me and he'd set up his chair and we'd relax and read and enjoy the sun, when the rays were too hot, we'd jump and play in the water. I kept up with Hubby in the water until a monster wave stripped me, quite literally, of my dignity (a story for another place and time). After that incident, I played spectator from the comfort of my blanket as Hubby body surfed. We had our first Thanksgiving together with ten of our friends on the island. I cooked my first turkey (which was fabulous). We tailgated for the Hawaii-Boise State football game and blew the locals away with our SEC style tailgating. We had date nights. We worked out together. We had cookouts. We snorkled. In just two months, we did everything we wanted and then some. The problem? It was just too quick. In the blink of an eye it was December 9, the day before the deployed. We were getting ready to say goodbye once again.