Our plans

We had everything planned. And really, I do mean EVERYTHING. Here's some of it...

-Engaged before the new year.

-Married by civil ceremony in March (so we were legally married before he deployed).

-Real marriage ceremony and reception in September. In Philadelphia, because that is "where we fell in love". Location and date already picked. It was going to be a military wedding (unfortunately he spilled "the secret"). The bridesmaid dresses were going to be red, strapless, floorlength gowns. It was going to be a very, very, very subtle patriotic theme.

-Our dog was going to specifically be a golden retriever named Commodore Barry (which was picked for a reason). In September were were THISCLOSE to adopting a dog. We visited a shelter and fell in love with a puppy but it didn't work out.

- We were hopefully going to have two kids, a boy and a girl, Gunnar and Sklyar, respectively. Middle names were going to be Joseph (after my father's first name and Matthew's middle name), and Elizabeth (after several of my family's middle name and my middle name). We (actually he) bought a baby name book which helped us choose these first names. They both had meaning to us, or maybe more so to him but I totally loved it: he collects WWII rifles and restores them (Gunnar), and he's a pilot (Skylar.) I still love both those names.

-Our next home, in about 3 years, was possibly going to be Charleston, SC. It was perfect since it was one of his original picks before he got Dover, and my family is planning on moving to SC.

-He talked about maybe teaching at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs (where he went to school), so that was potentially where we'd live for an extended amount of time in the future.

We only made it as far as step one... me moving to Dover to live with him. You can see how it's been hard for me to let go. I'm a planner and I'm and even BIGGER dreamer.