Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

       The phrase "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," dates back to the 1800's from a Roman poet, which is fitting since we will be moving to Europe in less than a month. This phrase can pretty much sum up Sam and I's entire dating relationship. We met at my sisters wedding in 2007 and by the time we had our first date we only had one full week together before Sam had to head back to the Academy in Colorado Springs. In fact by the end of our time together Sam was ready to be a "facebook official" couple (because everyone knows its not real until it is on facebook) but I was hesitant since he was heading back to the Springs and I wasn't real sure how living twelve hours away, not being able to see each other until November, would go. So we didnt become facebook official right away, but we did continue talking every single day for hours and hours and hours, in fact, now that we are married, I have no idea what we came up with to talk about for hours, but we sure did laugh a lot.

Sam and I's first official picture together. I went to visit him with my sister, Ben and mom in October 2007. We just couldn't wait until Thanksgiving to see each other! Aww young love!

        A few weeks after Sam headed to Colorado with his brand new car, and his dad, he came back to Springfield to surprise me. I will never forget walking up to my house, talking with Sam like our usual evening phone calls, and there he was standing in my driveway. This was the first week in August of 2007 and I loved having another week with him. He disclosed to me later that he actually didn't have permission to leave the academy at the time he left, so had they called him or something he would've been in serious trouble for being in Missouri instead of Colorado. I figured a guy who is willing to drive 12 hours and risk getting in trouble just to see me again was worth the distance. At the end of Sam's surprise visit we did become "facebook official" and began a four year long distant relationship that was worth every mile, tear, airplane ride, car trip and late night phone calls. Unfortunately, due to my husband's (I love being able to call him that) line of work distance will  always be a part of our relationship, even now that we are married. On August 5th we took Sam to the airport and so began our four weeks of living apart.

Putting Sam on the plane. I cried at the airport, Sam doesn't like to hear that I cry when he leaves, so he probably wouldn't like to know about the nights that I have cried alone, while he is away...good thing he doesn't read my blog unless I read it to him :-)

        
       I feel like I don't have a whole lot of room to complain about my husband being gone for a month. I have friends whose husbands have been deployed for three months, six months, and even twelve months. However, most people never have to live a part from their husband or wife unless they take a short business trip or vacation for a few weeks. Although, with the economy in a slump more and more people have to live a part from their spouse for awhile because of work, but those are unique situations and in the cases I have heard about they still get to see each other on the weekends. Sam gets very passionate about that, he said if he got to see me once a week then its not a long distant relationship, so the time he lived in Enid and we saw each other every weekend isn't considered to be a long distant but rather short distant relationship in Sam's eyes. Regardless, being apart from your best friend and love of your life for any amount of time sucks. I decided to view these four weeks as training for Sam's first deployment. I know Sam's deployment is not a phrase that any of my readers probably want to hear, but trust me as his wife "deployment" is the worst word in the world. However, Sam is finished with his training and this is the reality we live. If we were PCSing (permanent change of station) somewhere in the states, instead of the UK, Sam would most likely be deploying right away, but luckily we will already be over seas so we aren't sure how deployments will work. Since Sam is a pilot his deployments are only three months long, but my heart and prayers will always go out to those who have longer deployments to endure. Since we are not settled in a permanent home right now, and I am still without a job, for the month of August I decided to head back to Springfield to visit my family and friends to keep myself occupied while Sam is away.

One of the many delicious perks of Springfield

Reunited with the roomies! They introduced me to dipped cones from McDonalds...AMAZING

        The weekend before Sam left we invited his parents to Enid so they could see Sam before he headed to Washington. It was a great weekend and they came to see Sam off at the airport too. After I left the airport I headed straight back to Springfield and ran into Sam's parents on the trip home, they were helping us by driving my car back since one of my big tasks for August was to sell Sam's car, thanks Kevin and Becky! I had a Sunday lunch with my family and then meet up with one of my best friends, Anna at her house and we went to the pool, ate some Qdoba and had Orange Leaf with our friend Emily. It was a great first night in town! My first week in Springfield was filled with errands, making dinners for my mom, making dinner for my second cousin Sharon and Leon and my Grandma, lake day with some friends, and my mom and I headed to Kansas City for the weekend. It was so great to see my sister and Ben! We went ate at a delicious tea room, went shopping and got manis/pedis (thanks mom)! We headed back to Springfield on Sunday for my other besties, Stephanie and Nate's couple shower at South Haven.

My nephew Bentley

Yummy lunch at the tea room! Thanks Shauna and Ben!!

My mom didn't branch our much on her nail color, I tried out french tip shellac (sp?)

My pedicure! Very relaxing!

         I had a very busy and great first week in Springfield, but I still missed Sam and though I was keeping busy being a part from him was harder than I was expecting. Since Sam left I have yet to sleep through a full night, its hard to fall asleep without him by my side, but its also hard staying asleep. Sometimes, even when we were in Altus, I would go to bed thinking about all my friends and family who were going to bed that night alone either because their husband/wife is deployed or recently passed away, then as I would say my prayers, thanking God for my amazing husband, I would pray for those who popped into my head and were falling asleep alone. My second week in Springfield was also busy and fun! I worked on detailing Sam's car (I only had to spend an hour on it after the "professional's" were done), I got the recalls on his car fixed, Anna and I took a road trip with Hercules to Enid to stay the night and get some things in order for our upcoming move, I hung out with the girls at the pool, I ate dinner with Sam's family, spent a day with Sarah and Hazel, and attended a wedding expo with Anna, her mom and Emily. It was another fun and relaxing  week in Springfield.

This car has so many memories for Sam and for me! He had just bought it a few days before our first date, so this car with his Justin Timberlake "Bringing Sexy Back" playing when I got in, has been around for our whole relationship.

Nice and Clean! I have many memories of long road trips with this car....Springfield to FL, FL to Oklahoma, Springfield to IL...Its a great car!

The detailing job on the inside...I still had to scrub a bit on the ceiling, but it looks real nice

We will miss you Hyundai

Hercules on his first long road trip...preparing him for the long plane ride. He logged 8 hours in the car. He is wearing a Thunder Coat in this picture, it calms them down in stressful situations, hope it works for the plane ride.

Hercules crashed out on our couch in Enid, it was a long trip for him

Sweetest niece in the world, loved our day together!

Love her!

Sarah and I wanted s'mores but there is a no burn ordinance in this drought so we used a candle

Experiencing EVERY photo booth at the wedding Expo with Anna and Emily

More photo booth fun...cant wait to get in the photo booth at her wedding!

She brought the bag I made her! It came in real handy, but she was still over whelmed.

      Oh I almost forgot! The highlight of last week was selling Sam's car and his table and chairs! Military spouses do more than just holding down the forts while their spouses are gone, things are really coming together for our move. The worst part about Sam being away has been when I can't talk to him, but again I can't complain too much as I know people who have gone much longer without hearing from their spouse while they are away. As for my last week and half in Springfield I will pretty much be doing the same thing. Making dinner for my mom, hanging out with friends, working on making my car nice for our move, and taking a trip to Osage Beach to visit my friend Erin and her class of wonderful 8th graders! I have done a pretty good job at keeping myself busy, though it has been a slow moving month, full of many different emotions, with really long nights, I am excited to know we are on the downhill slide and we will be reunited in 10 days! Then we will begin our next big adventure, making our permanent move over to Mildenhall!! I am so excited for the next chapter in our newly wed lives!

Thanks for reading!

Oh yeah...I got bangs. I decided I was bored with my hair, since I haven't done anything with it since we got engaged a year and a half ago, but didn't want to cut it short so I got bangs. Hopefully, I wont always get bored with my look every time Sam is gone...but you never know. I hope he likes this look!