Post #2

• ·         Boot Camp
• ·         Advanced Individual Training
• ·         My Wedding Day
• ·         Giving Birth to My Children
• ·         Driving From Montana to Washington D.C.
• ·         Living in Washington D.C.
• ·         Living on Camp Pendleton
• ·         Driving Down the Coast of California to Mexico
• ·         Saying Goodbye to My Uncle Roger
• ·         My husband and I’s story

I have many great memories but the one that I am going to write about is how I met and married my husband.   

I was 16 years old and still trying to find myself, I had tried all sorts of activities from choir to track and field.  My sophomore year of high school I was a cheerleader and also a part of a club called Skills USA.  Skills USA is a club for students interested in a vocational field.  The club was made up of aspiring carpenters, mechanics, welders, and machinists; every year students from the club would compete to see who the best was, the winners from the school competition went on to compete at the state competition that was held in Havre every year.   I was a welder, a goofy kid named Brandon, who was in the auto body contest, and a handful of others were chosen to compete at state that year.  

Brandon caught my eye right away, I was so amazed by his outgoing personality and his ability to make everyone laugh, and he also had a little rebellious side that I did not mind.  The whole weekend we were away we flirted by childishly making fun of each other and awkward eye contact.  I was heartbroken the day our trip was over I knew I would probably not see him much once we got back home.  Brandon was a senior, two years older than I, and we did not have any classes together.    I figured he would probably forget all about me and our little “romance” was at its end.

The night we got home from our competition, my phone wrung and it was Brandon on the other line my heart dropped to my stomach, and you bet I was smiling from ear to ear.  We ended up talking for hours and at the very end of our conversation he worked up the courage to ask me to prom, of course I said yes, and that is where our story began.  We were inseparable from that point on and spent the whole summer together.  I have never had so much fun in my life, causing all sorts of mischief (innocent of course).

Brandon had ended up winning a full ride scholarship to Wyo-tech, one of the best automotive colleges in the country, by winning first place at the competition we had been at.  That dreadful day came that we had to say goodbye and go our separate ways.  He went off to experience college life and I still had two more years of high school left, and I had never been so depressed in my life.  Brandon was my first love and I did not know what I was going to do without his presence.  My mom tried making me feel better by saying “if it is meant to be, it will happen” meaning if Brandon and I were meant to be together forever it would happen on its own.  I was convinced that he was “the one” and that I would in fact marry him someday. 

At first we talked often, but as time will have it, over the months we gradually talked less and less.  I never forgot about him though and we never stopped talking completely.

After I graduated high school, I joined the National Guard.  I had completed my basic training in South Carolina and then I had to attend advanced individual training which was in Maryland.  I had heard that Brandon had also joined the military after he finished college, except he decided to join the Marine Corps and go active duty. 

I had not been at my AIT in Maryland long before I received an out of the blue phone call from Brandon.  I told him where I was for training, and he was shocked when he found out that he was only stationed about an hour from where I was.  I told him that he should come see me one weekend, and he did.  We ended up having such a great day together, reminiscing about old times and what we both had been up to in the meantime. He had me twitter pated yet again. 

Once again, it was time to say our goodbyes and I had felt that horrible feeling of my heart dropping into my stomach.  I got into my cab and went back to base and he got in his car and went back to Washington D.C. to his base. 

From that day on we talked every single day.  I eventually graduated from training and came back home and Brandon still had years left in Washington D.C.  I wished that I didn't love him and I hated that he had such a huge effect on me.  I thought that there is no way this long distance relationship would work and thought about stopping our conversations.  Then of course, Brandon decided that he would come back for Thanks Giving for two weeks and requested that I spend the whole time with him.  I did as he asked and had yet another wonderful time, I had met his whole family and they were so warm and loving.  I was falling deeper and deeper.

The next thing I know I am packing up all of my belongings into my little VW beetle and moving across the country to be with my first love, my high school sweetheart. On August 25, 2012 I did marry Brandon, my mother was right, “ If something is meant to be, it will happen.”