The start of the rest of my life.

Rewinding the clock to 2007.

I was 17 years old with not a care in the world. Graduation is coming up soon, and unlike most seniors in high school I wasn’t applying to colleges…but signing my life away to the military. My best friend had joined and I decided to follow in the same footsteps. I wasn’t ready for college, and all I knew is that I wanted to be a nurse sometime in my life. Right now wasn’t the right time. My boyfriend of a year wasn’t excited about me leaving, but honestly I couldn’t wait to move on to bigger and better things. After graduation I had my going away party and said goodbye to all of my high school friends including my boyfriend. Basic training was one of the most memorable times of my life, though I didn’t care to admit while I was there. I made a handful of friends that I still communicate with today. Soon after graduation from BMT I was diagnosed with an aggressive bone tumor. Needless to say a silly high school boyfriend couldn’t take the pressure and the distance, so we soon broke up. Once again I found myself going home to have surgery. Recovery was hell, and one of the hardest times in my life. Finally in December of 2007 I was able to go back to my base and continue my medical training for my job in the military. McChord AFB was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, but I wasn’t able to ever explore with anyone because at that time I didn’t know anyone. So I spent my time in my dorm room on the internet. Till one day I came across this handsome young soldier on Myspace. To this day I have no idea how I came across him. He was stationed at the neighbor army base Ft. Lewis right next to McChord. I sat there and stared at his picture for about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to talk to him without sounding crazy. After writing and deleting the message about 5 times, I finally got it perfect and sent him a message asking him if he had time to show me around the area. I waited for about 2 days for a response and gave up hope when I didn’t get one. Finally one day after work I got back to my room and saw that glowing inbox with the response. I was ecstatic. After exchanging messages for about a week, he finally asked for my phone number. I sat back thinking…oh my lord what happens if he is some crazy man that’s going to want to kill me. I gave in anyways…messages lead to texting, and texting lead to phone calls. Finally we had a date set up. The first day I met the man of my dreams and the man I will one day marry.