Beyond Elation

A major part of my life is my boyfriend, who is currently an Electrical Technician 3rd Class (ET3) in the U.S. Navy! We recently found out that after C school in Virginia, he will be stationed on the USS John C Stennis in Bremerton, WA. That's my state! The last time I saw him was January 2nd, 2010 and I am picking him up from the airport this Friday, December 17th! That is twelve (12!) months apart, my friends. It wouldn't be worth it if we weren't truly in love.

Christmas 2009

Now I'd be a liar if I said this has been easy - it hasn't. Lots of tears, lots of letters sent, lots of phone calls and worries, usually on my end. But the good news of this coming Friday is not only do I get to see my love again for the first time in a year, but I also get to whisk him off to meet my family in the Seattle/Tacoma area. One of the unique challenges is that we've been together over a year and a half, but we've really only been side-by-side for a cumulative 5 months. That's not a lot of time.  So the regular timeline of meeting the family, getting into a more serious level, moving in together... that isn't an option. Our life goes more like:

• Meet, begin dating
• Get serious, fast (he was going to basic training; if we weren't serious, we wouldn't have made it)
• Meet family at the holidays
• [Eventually] get married
• [Eventually] move in together

The blessing wrapped in hard times is that we've had to grow, mature, and learn to love each other no matter what monkey wrench gets thrown in the works. Jealousy, concerns about communication, worries about the future... we can't ignore them and let time and familiarity sort it out. It's been a tough year, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm excited to reap the benefits of all our hard work in 4 very short days when we can be together and know we've really collaborated for our overwhelming happiness. 

Merry Christmas, indeed!