Joe in all of his Navy glory :)

Happy Holidays...A Little Late :)

Wow, I have been gone a LOOOONNNNGGGG time! hehe I have missed my blogging buddies! I left for Vermont on Saturday, the 17th of December and have just returned. Upon returning I knew I must blog! It feels like I have been gone forever. I went to Vermont to visit my family. My parents and sister live there, and my brother (who is in Florida) and me went up for Christmas. It was a blast! We hardly ever all get to be together, so when we do, its a wonderful time. I got my hair highlighted, did LOTS of shopping, went to dinner, and hung out with my family. We all missed Joe very much, but it was still great to be back with everyone. Christmas day was lots of fun, we opened lots of presents and ate tons of good food! There is nothing like mama's Italian cooking!

I hope everyone's Christmas was just as good! I am back in Virginia now, faced with the harsh reality that I am alone again and won't see my family for a while. :( But I hear from Joe everyday via e-mail, so for that I am thankful! I miss him so much. But he is doing good, hanging in there too. It's almost been 2 months that he's been gone! Can you believe how fast time flies by?

Well, I hope everyone will share what they did over the holidays in the comments section. I would love to hear about it! Talk to you all later!

In Comes the Winter Weather!

Well, the cold weather has finally settled into Virginia Beach. We have gotten away with a pretty calm winter thus far, not too many really cold days. A big change from last year, when we were constantly being punished with lots of wind, snow, crappy weather, and even crappier drivers! For some reason last winter was especially harsh. It was soooo cold for soooo long! I remember when Joe and I got married last October it was freezing! On our anniversary this year it felt like summertime! Anyway, I believe the cold has finally arrived. It has been in the 20's at night and only in the 30's during the day. No snow yet, and we're praying it stays that way! I am anyway. And I realize that compared to some places, 30's sounds like a heat wave. But lets all remember one thing- I'M FROM FLORIDA!!! lol I am not living here by choice!

Anyway! I cannot believe that its already Wednesday! For some reason, days and weeks have been flying by. I was so afraid that when Joe left time would drag by, but I am glad to see it is passing as quickly as it has been. I don't know if its because of the holidays or what. But like I have said before, I keep very busy with going to the gym and hanging out with my best friend. Her husband is coming back in January, so I know when he returns they will need plenty of time by themselves. But thats fine with me- I am not the type of person who needs to be around someone and "entertained" all the time. I LOOOOOVVVVE relaxing, I love being by myself (sometimes). So I have no problems cleaning and spending "me time" by myself. Believe it or not, sometimes I feel as if I am always busy now and Joe's isn't even here! But she and I are constantly on the go! So it will be nice to just lay around and be lazy if I want. :)

I am especially looking forward to my trip to Vermont this weekend. I love going up there and spending time with my family. My parent's have a beautiful home right in the mountains, its awesome to stand in the middle of such beauty and just admire it. I only see my parents around Christmas time, so I treasure time spent with them. Also, I am looking forward to seeing my brother, who is, as you all know, going through a divorce. Its been very hard on him and his wife, so I hope it will allow him some time to relax and enjoy the holidays. Happy Holidays to all!

Phone Call from Afar, Battle at the Post Office!

First off, I just wanna say that YES I know I need to update my profile pic, but I can't do it while Joe is gone. I don't have any more recent pics of us! So, it will stay that way till he gets home in May. Although, I have been working out so much that if I loose some weight I might post some pics of me on the blog to show you the progress! I could use the encouragement sometimes, ya know?

Anyway, something GREAT happened yesterday! JOE CALLED! From the ship. (But I cannot say where he is for obvious reasons). He is doing good, busy, but good. Same for me. We talked for about 45 minutes! It was so great hearing his voice, knowing he was ok. There was a delay over the phone, which was kind of annoying, but it didn't matter to me. I loved it just the same. He was pulling into a port soon, and he said he would call me when he was on land. I hope its soon. I miss him. I just can't even tell you what a great feeling it was to hear his voice after so long. Its very difficult to go from seeing and hearing someone everyday to all of a sudden an abrupt stop! It was great. Better than great. So great I couldn't even sleep last night, just remembering what he said and how I loved the sound of his voice. :) I was hanging onto every word that he said and trying to picture him saying it over and over.

Speaking of Joe, my friend and I battled the line at the post office on Saturday morning to mail some boxes out, mine to Joe and she had 6 (!) to mail to her family members. She won't be going home for Christmas this year, so she had to mail everything. So we walked in there with 7 boxes total, and all of a sudden people started staring us down! LOL I know its the holidays, and the post office is already busy and crowded enough, but we had to do what we had to do! Thankfully the line moved fast, I was more worried about getting jumped on the way to the car after all the people behind us had to wait! But again, there was an employee at each desk, and everyone seemed to be in pretty good spirits. I had to mail Joe his other pair of boots, a pillow for his rack, some CD's, a few snacks, etc. A care package basically.

Well, that is pretty much it for now. I didn't really do too much else over the weekend. This weekend I am going up to Vermont to see my family and spend Christmas up there. So next week I'll be on leave....No work! Yeah!!! hahaha Hope you all are well. Today is my mom's birthday, so happy b-day to her!

~Julie

Family Drama

Well, there has been some news happening with my family. I am sad to announce, that after only 1 1/2 years of marriage, my brother and sister-in-law are getting divorced. There is much speculation as to the reasons why, but many factors have contributed to this final decision. I don't want to go into too many details, as it is a fairly personal matter and I do not want to throw there business out there into cyber space. I will say a few things about it to help everyone understand though.

My brother and his beautiful wife dated for almost 5 years, all the while my brother was in the Marine Corps. When they first started dating they lived close by each other, and saw each other frequently. My brother was deployed to Iraq in 2003, I'm not sure exactly for how long, but over 6 months. When he came back, she was waiting for him with open arms.

Unfortunately, my family took a little bit of time warming up to her. She wasn't like most of the people he had dated, coming off (at first) a bit more quiet and perhaps reserved than what we knew. But I tried my best to make her feel at home when she was with us, and even when she was not. We spoke frequently on the phone, and developed a close friendship we maintain to this day. Eventually everyone came to love and accept her. Her relationship with my mother wasn't always the best, but friendly at that.

In 2003 they became engaged, and married in May of 2004. I was so happy. She was raised with 4 brothers, so my sister and I welcomed her like another sister. They're wedding was beautiful, like a fairy tale. It was a blessed day. Shortly after, in October 2004, Joe and I married too.

Since the beginning of their marriage, things have always been rocky. They would argue and fight, more than the usual disagreements we all encounter in our own marriage. They spent days in separate bedrooms, ignoring each other. I always hoped and prayed that things would get better. His wife thought that his "fits" could be a result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, so we encouraged him to go see a doctor about it. His appointment is still pending. They tried counseling too. Again, I don't want to get into details, but I will only say that my brother did not think the counseling was benefiting them, so it stopped.

Everything came to a head last week, and she told me over the phone that they were getting divorced. She said it was him who wanted it, she simply agreed because she could not bear the hurt and pain anymore. I understand this, and so I respect their decision. But it has taken a while to really sink in. I love them both, he is my brother and I consider her my sister. I can't imagine one without the other. I don't know how they will live, or what will happen from here. This has been a very hard time for me. I feel selfish saying that, because I know they are going through much worse. I have tried seeing if there was anything else they could do, or try, but it seems like the divorce is imminent. I am so sad, for them, and for me, and for our families. I will never truly loose her as a sister, but it is so hard.

And so please remember, especially during this Christmas season, to truly be thankful for time spent with your family, friends, and loved ones. Every second is precious. If anyone can offer words of advice, wisdom, or even comfort, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all of you who read this blog, and keep me smiling.