The End and The Beginning

As of Friday, after 4 years and 9 months, Ch is officially no longer in Active service for the United States Marine Corps. I remember the day he told me that he was thinking about joining. We had only been dating for about 6 months when he decided that he was going to enlist. I was so scared but I knew this was something he had wanted to do for his entire life so I was going to support him. When he signed up his recruiter told him he would be leaving for boot camp sometime in January of 2005. In October 2004 we got the dreaded phone call that he would be leaving early. He was due to leave November 2004, 4 days after Thanksgiving. His last weekend we were able to celebrate his Grandparents 50th wedding anniversary so he was able to see the entire family. Early Monday morning, he left for 13 weeks of boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

The next 13 weeks seemed to take forever, especially to a 19 year old girl. I wrote him letters everyday and he wrote as often as he could. I did not hear his voice for 13 weeks. In February 2005 he graduated from Boot Camp. I never thought I would be so excited to see someone in my whole life. Little did I know, this would be the shortest time we would be apart. Ch came home for 10 days and then had to report to Camp Pendleton to start School of Infantry for 10 weeks.

After school of Infantry he was stationed with 2nd Battalion 5th Marines out of San Mateo in Camp Pendleton. In December 2005 he was deployed on a 7 month Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU). He was on a naval ship which visited Okinawa, Philippines, Guam, and many other foreign countries while he was away. In July 2006 he came home a day early. I was the only one to greet him on base and I don't think I let go of him for 20 minutes. Once we got back to town the first person we went to see was his mom. She saw him through the front window and ran out to him so fast and hugged him even longer. It was so wonderful to see him again.

Ch was home for a few months and was able to celebrate Christmas with us that year. In January  2007 we were married and one week later he was off to training in 29 Palms. In March 2007 he was deployed to Iraq.

In July 2007 we welcomed our daughter, A, with my mom and sister as my birthing coaches, while Ch was thousands of miles away. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to endure and hope that it never happens again (knock on wood). In October 2007, when A was a little over 2 months old, she met her Daddy for the first time. I don't think there was not a dry eye there as he embraced his daughter. We moved down to San Clemente with roommates but were soon transferred to Fallbrook for a new position. We were preparing to get out of the Marines in 2008 when he was given the opportunity to re-deploy. After many discussions and prayer we decided that he would deploy again.

In late October 2008 Ch deployed to Iraq to be personal security detail to a general.

A and I moved in with his parents so I could have some help with her. It was a long seven months watching all her many milestones while he was so far away. We took so many pictures and each month I sent him a video of her so he could see all the cute things she did each day. (I'm biased I know lol.) In May 2009 Ch flew into San Diego Airport. We all drove down there to meet him and as soon as I saw him I ran up to him and almost broke his jaw. I guess I was a little excited haha. At first A was scared but as soon as Ch walked away towards baggage claim she yelled "My Daddy." Seeing them embrace brought tears to every ones eyes.

Soon we were settling back into our routine and this last summer Ch was able to take 40 days off so we could go on a 3 week family road trip with just the three of us. It was such a good bonding time for us and really brought us closer together as a family. Once we came home, Ch only had 3 weeks left.

Each Monday as he left to go down to Camp Pendleton I kept telling myself this was one of the last times I had to do this. I was so excited for the final day to come. Then it finally did. Ch got his final paperwork and threw a pair of boots over the power lines outside of Camp Pendleton like many Marines before him have done.

In August 2009, he came home for good. As he drove up I saw him in his cammies for the last time. I was filled with happiness, excitement, anticipation and fear. I was happy at the thought of finally having my husband all to myself since out of 32 months of marriage, we have been apart for 15 months. I was excited because now it was my turn to have him, no longer the Marines! I felt anticipation of what the future holds as well as fear of the unknown. Will he get a job? Will we get a house? Will we have a bigger family? This is all very scary because we don't have a set plan anymore. The Marines have been a part of us for almost 5 years and it was kind of comforting. Annoying, of course, but comforting none-the-less.

As I sit here with my husband on my right with his arm around me, and the cutest girl in the world on his lap, I am overjoyed. For even though I fear the unknown, the unknown is fine with me as long as I have him home. So here is to the unknown, the next exciting chapter of our lives and the many memories to come.

P.S. Since I was in the reminiscing mode I decided to include the pictures from the three Marine Corps Birthday balls that Ch and I attended. They are from 2005, 2006, & 2007.