Thank you, Veterans.

They didn’t apply for it, they volunteered for it. It’s not a job, it’s a calling. They signed on the dotted line and now stand on the thin line that separates the ability to live in freedom from the oppression of living in fear.

They run toward danger and serve as human shields for strangers. They take on impossible missions and find a way to complete the task. When they can’t find a way, they make a way. They won’t let you down. They won’t leave you behind.

They do jobs most people would never consider in places most people have never heard of. They seek out danger and put themselves in harm's way so that we can enjoy the liberties we so often take for granted. They don't ask for a 'thank you'; they usually don't know how to react when they get one because credit and accolades are the last things on their minds.

They live out of backpacks and rucksacks. They sleep but they do not rest. They are never comfortable, almost always cold or hot or wet. They don’t get days off; they are always focused and on guard. Yet they do not complain.

They come home bruised and broken but they find a way to move forward and to soldier on. They see things we can’t imagine and see them again in their dreams. They don’t have the words to explain it; we probably couldn’t understand anyway.

They appreciate the value of a two minute phone call, treasure a piece of mail from home, and savor a care package of stale brownies. They take nothing for granted and make use of every resource. They can fix anything with nothing and are the masters of the Plan B, or C, or D.

They miss birthdays and anniversaries, holidays and special events. They don’t get to go to ballgames or dance recitals. They often don’t get to carve the Thanksgiving turkey or trim the Christmas tree. But when they get to enjoy those things, they don’t take one moment for granted.

They are dedicated and sacrificing and dependable and honorable and a thousand more good things. They are Veterans.

And I’m proud today, and every day, to be the wife, granddaughter, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, and friend of so many wonderful members of military service. 'Thank you' isn’t enough to tell you how grateful I am for each of you for your service and your sacrifice. Happy Veteran’s Day.

Blame it on the Jet Lag

I was cleaning off my computer desktop tonight and ran across a blog I wrote in August but apparently failed to post... I'm blaming it on the honeymoon jet lag. :)

“In six months, you’ll meet someone, fall in love, get married, and be kicking back on a beach in Key West with a tropical drink….”

If someone had said that to me, I would have laughed at them. I certainly wouldn’t have believed them…but they would have been right. It just proves the point that life is sometimes stranger (in a good way) than fiction and you just never know when your dream come true might be around the next corner.

Robert and I got married last Sunday, in a beautiful lakeside service under a picture perfect blue sky. Well, mostly picture perfect. We’d been worried about August heat and had a heat-stroke prevention plan that included handheld fans and water bottles for the guests. The possibility of downpours didn’t occur to me until about Tuesday when the weather personalities started using the R word (and friends, they weren’t saying Robert!).  I bought a few umbrellas just in case and although rain clouds flitted around the sky most of the day, the ceremony was spared a soggy fate (unless you count the people who shed a few happy tears during the event). On the way home from the ceremony, the bottom fell out and we got several emails and text messages of rainbows and even a double rainbow, signs we were happy to claim as our own personal messages from heaven.

We planned a wedding in ten weeks, which by most standards is warp speed. We couldn’t have done it without the love and support of our very patient families and friends. I know I’ll leave someone out but when a thank-you note doesn’t seem like enough, blogging to the entire internet (or the 17 or so followers who read this blog) seems a little more fitting J

To Robert- Thank you for loving me, for putting up with the Bridezilla moments, and for always knowing two things: how to make me laugh, and when I need a hug… even if it’s in the middle of a crowded aisle in a store full of strangers. Marrying you was, is, and always will be the best thing I’ve ever done. And, I’d do it again today, tomorrow, and any day after that…

To Mom & Dad- There will never never never be words big enough to say how much I love you both and how much I appreciate all the sacrifices you made and continue to make to support my dreams. You guys are my loudest cheerleaders, biggest encouragers, and best friends. I am the luckiest daughter in the world. Thank you for listening, laughing, and for loving me (and Robert too!)

To Beth & Steve- I couldn’t ask for more wonderful in-laws than you guys! You accepted me into your lives and into your hearts and that means more than you’ll ever know. I promise to love Robert as much as you do J Thank you for raising such a phenomenal son and for sharing him with me.

Jaime & Tim- For as long as I can remember, you guys have been extra parents (when I was pretty sure I already had parents!) but as it turns out, you can never have too many people loving you and I’m so very grateful for your encouragement, support, and willingness to stop what you’re doing anytime I said “I need….” Even when it was warranted, you never said “I told you so”. Thank you for sharing in our special day and for welcoming Robert into our family.

Karen & Israel- What do you say to the people who made Happily Ever After possible? “Thank you” just doesn’t seem like enough. For introducing us, for sharing in our lives, and for playing such important roles in our wedding, we are truly grateful.

Mary Kelly- You simply rock. From nail polish and shoes to ink and fonts, you are indeed my Girl Friday in the decisions big and small. I would be lost (and completely out of fashion and out of my mind) without you!

Tish- I hereby bestow upon you my water wings J I know you’ll use them wisely and well. I will always be grateful for you telling me what I already knew when you helped me to believe that swimming doesn’t always mean drowning. I love you to pieces.

Cassie & Herb- Thank you for photographing our engagement and wedding! You guys are phenomenal!

Adella & Debbie- Thanks for helping behind the scenes on the wedding day! You were there to celebrate with us but you pitched in and lent helping hands and we so very much appreciate you both! 

I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone or lots of someones and for that, deepest apologies… For our friends and family at the wedding- we love you and we thank you for sharing in our special day. For those who couldn’t attend or who couldn’t be invited due to space constraints, we love you too and we hope you understand that a small ceremony just seemed to fit with where we are in our lives.

And…  I’ll post some funny pre-wedding stories and some photos soon… as soon as I pick out which ones I love best…. For now, blog buddies, I hope your days are filled with some love, some laughter, and best of all, someone to share your Happily Ever After with…

Leaving the Light On

Almost three months into the Happily Ever After of married life, I find myself spending a lot of time these days pouring over engagement pictures and wedding photos and honeymoon snapshots, missing Robert, reliving the memories and daydreaming about what the future might hold.

While we said from the beginning that the marriage was more important than the wedding, we did try to make our wedding day unique but not weird, and special but not silly. The best compliment we’ve gotten (and we’ve heard it more than once) was that “the wedding was so ‘you guys’.” It was fun and relaxed and simple… simply perfect. If we had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.

And three months later, the uniqueness that has come with doing everything a little outside the box continues.

Some brides donate their wedding floral arrangements to hospitals or retirement homes, never to see them again. Some brides press their flowers in a heavy book and then wonder what to do with the flattened florals over time. And some brides know the well kept secret (or their moms do, at least) of Victorian Seasons in Apex. This weekend, my bridal bouquet was returned to me (thanks, Mom!) in a fantastically amazing way. The fun folks at Victorian Seasons embedded my bouquet flowers into a candle, one lit by a small light bulb so that the ‘candle’ never actually melts. What a special way to remember a special day!

Since Robert deployed, I’ve been counting the days until he comes home. I might just be in a sentimental mood today but it’s very comforting to know that our wedding flowers are helping to ‘leave the light on’ for him. I miss you, love; come home soon. I'll be right here waiting.

Dance for a Chance

If you’ve known me longer than, say, 2 minutes, you know that these two things are a given: 1. I’ll do practically anything to help a child and 2. I’m on a perpetual quest for a fitness concept that keeps me entertained and that actually works to get me back into those jeans that have been relegated to the back corner of the closet.

Saturday was a perfect opportunity to combine these two things!

My sister-in-law, Karen, and I joined her friend Natassha at Dance for a Chance, a Zumba marathon to raise money to help Johnston County Partnership for Children and The Miracle League build a ball field for children with physical challenges and a playground where children of all abilities can play together. I’d tried Zumba before and unlike Shakira, my hips do lie when they try to tell my brain that I can move like the people on the Zumba videos. The great thing about Zumba, though, is that when you get lost in the choreography, you can just dance around until you find yourself again. In a live class, Zumba participants are about the most fun-loving and unassuming people I’ve ever met- if you’re having fun, and getting your cardio groove on, they don’t really care if you’re in step with the music or dance like a frog in a blender.





For two hours, we lived William W. Purkey’s quote of “You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching” and let me just say, it may not have been pretty but it was FUN! Fun to the tune of 1000 calories burned and 4400 dollars raised for a great cause!

I can’t wait to see the playground and ball field when they are complete; thanks, Dance for a Chance, for helping to make sure that kids of all abilities can share the simple joys of childhood- swings, slides, and sportsmanship!



One happy little Zumba crew!



For All the Marbles

When Robert deployed, I immediately started counting down the days until he will be back home. Everyone said time would fly by. Everyone was wrong. That time that’s supposed to be flying is apparently stuck on a tarmac somewhere; it’s been replaced by seconds that tick by at a snail’s pace and hours that stretch out before me like a road I’ll never get down.

To help with passing the time, my niece and nephew (with some help from my awesome sister!) gave me a jar of marbles, the number of which matches the number of days he’s scheduled to be gone. Every night, I take a marble out and when the jar’s empty, he’ll be home. And as much as I’m a “glass half full” kind of girl, I’m excited for a glass completely empty!

Since I believe everything happens for a reason, it's no coincidence that the jar was filled with marbles as opposed to something else (like chocolates or pennies). I hear the phrase "it's for all the marbles" from time to time; it means that you believe in your choice so strongly that, no matter what, you're willing to stand by it for the long haul. You're willing to do anything, risk everything, and hold back nothing, in support of your choice. You wouldn't trade it for anything, and nothing in the whole wide world could make you change your mind about it.

My bedside jar of marbles shows me daily that our marriage is bigger than the momentary trials and challenges that will come with a deployment during our newlywed year. The marbles remind me that there's a very long Happily Ever After waiting on the other side of this temporary deployment. They are an unspoken promise that love and committment are stronger than the distance and the time. They are an encouragement that this too shall pass. They are the markers of time that tell me that day after day, we can do this and it's going to be all right. I guess you could say the marbles are keeping me from losing my marbles. :)

Lucas and Linde

Yesterday, I received a message on facebook from Melissa, one of my most favorite folks in the entire world. She asked me to share a link with my blogbuddies...Please Pray for My Aunt.

Lucas, the little one in this youtube video, and his mom are Melissa's friends and they need a little help. Lucas' aunt Linde has cancer and could use a little encouragement (couldn't we all?).

So, please check out the link, send up a prayer for Linde and her family, and if you have 44 cents to spare, drop an anonymous card or note to Linde just to tell her you're in her corner as she's in the fight of her life.

The address, in case you can't see it on the video, is:

Linde B.
PO Box 1245
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

A random act of kindness, a prayer said for a family, a note sent to a friend you haven't met yet. Isn't that what it's all about?

Over the Edge

I hoped 2011 would be the year I’d get out of my box, away from my comfort zone, into some new adventures. Oh, when will I learn to be careful what I wish for??

A few months ago, some officemates asked if I wanted to participate in Over the Edge, a Special Olympics fundraising event that consists of rappelling down a 32 story building in downtown Raleigh. I thought it sounded fun so I agreed to join in; it wasn’t until people started asking if I was scared that I wondered if maybe they knew something I didn’t. Should I be scared? Should I back out? I gave it serious thought but finally decided that if I walked away from everything that scared me, I’d never try anything new and that would defeat the purpose of my 2011.

Oh, that's a long way up... or down.

So, I found some sponsors and some cheerleaders and Saturday, in the windy cold, we headed toward downtown. As we drove, the butterflies in my belly morphed into pterodactyls but I hoped their wings would come in handy, should the ability to fly become necessary.

When I saw the rappelling harnesses, I instantly felt better. They were just like the ones we’d used for ziplining earlier in the year. My new-found confidence disappeared quite quickly when the equipment manager told me that rappelling was nothing like ziplining. Uh-oh, this isn’t good. But, I already had the free t-shirt so quitting was not an option.

In my very attractive helmet, gloves, and harness, I headed over to the parking deck to practice. After a short tutorial on the equipment and what to do, I was doing it! And it was fun! A one-story rappel, no problem! I’ve got this, or so I thought…

Trial run...

I headed back up to the roof of the Capitol Center. And I made the cardinal mistake- I looked down… way down, to the specks that were people waiting in the courtyard to watch. Uh-oh, maybe Robert was right when he said this wasn’t a great idea. But by then, I couldn’t let a good case of helmet hair go wasted so….

I hooked into my ropes and hopped up on the edge of the building. I heard my cheerleaders screaming, took a deep breath, leaned back until my legs formed a 90 degree angle with the building, and began to walk down the building; no turning back now. I was really doing it!

Over the Edge... the first step is BY FAR the most difficult.

No turning back... this might actually be fun!

Ready to have my feet back on solid ground... very, very ready.

And I did! For 32 stories, I rappelled down a building! There were some moments that I crept along, and some that I cruised a little more quickly than I intended; some where I dangled facing away from the building and some where the wind was blowing me around like the pendulum on a clock. Jessica, the rappeller beside me, and I raced a little… with my dad cheering me on to pass her and my mom sending me subliminal messages that “this is not a race”. Rappelling was fun but to be honest, I was pretty excited to finally get my feet back on the ground.

When I got to the bottom, I found out that my sister-in-law had emailed Robert the live streaming video of my rappel so he was able to watch from the other side of the world. I love that he supports everything I do but I think he’ll be happy to hear that I have no dangling plans for the foreseeable future. J

Over the Edge was a GREAT experience and Special Olympics continues to amaze me with their creativity and ingenuity on fundraising events. From the Polar Plunge where people jumped into freezing water to the Over the Edge where people dangle from a skyscraper, I wonder what they’ll come up with next. I also wonder how much convincing it’ll take to get me to join in on a crazy adventure. Not much, I’m guessing, outside my box is turning out to be a fun place to be. J