Guest post - Mommy Musings

hopefully things are still going smoothly with our move! Please enjoy one of my favorite bloggers and fellow Jersey Girls!

Hey guys!  My name is Mandy and I blog over at Mommy Musings. 

I am so very excited Allie is allowing me to take over her little space on the internet today!  I have been following Allie's blog forever and love all the stories about her and her husband, and their new puppy!  Like Allie I am a Jersey girl and my hubs was a Marine {well is, once a Marine, always a Marine right;-) } 

We have been married for almost seven year {woah!} and have two sweet little girls, Little M and Baby C.

But the only reason we were able to get married and have these girls is because of what happened on February 26, 2005.  The day Skip came home from Iraq.
When Skip and I met back in 2003 he was in the police academy, as well as the Marine Corps Reserve.  He drilled out of Pennsylvania and was an MP.  We were in the early stages of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and sure enough Skip's unit was called to active duty.  After some training in California in the early summer of 2004 and our engagement just three days before he left, I sent my man off to war.

The time he was gone was total hell for him and exhausting for me.  I had sent other friends and family members off to the desert before, but when it's the man you want to spend the rest of your life with, everything changes.  I really only survived that deployment with help from my family and friends and of course my Battle Buddies...my Marine's Girls.

Month after long month passed and before we knew it dreary February was winding down.  I cautiously started to get excited {because as we all know, until their boots are on the ground nothing is set in stone}  I got a phone call when he was in Kuwait {PTL!} and another the night of the 25th when he was on a layover in Germany.  Then the morning of the 26th came.  After barely any sleep, my girls and I headed over to the base to wait for our men.

I cannot even describe to you the absolute joy I felt when that plane touched down.  And after what felt like FOREVAH the door opened and there was my fiance, my Skip walking {practically running} towards me. 

Skip is behind the guy who is waving

I wanted to scream and cry and never let him go all in the same moment.  When he held me in his arms it simultaneously felt like he had never left and been gone for years.  The sense of relief though was ridiculously overwhelming.  He was safe, he was home, he was okay.

Skip finished up his contract and got out of the Marines the following year.  We were so lucky to only go through one deployment together, but we were even luckier that he came home.  Every year on February 26th we watch he video we have of his homecoming, hold each other a little tighter, say I love you a few thousand more times, and thank God we are able to live the life we dreamed.