Pre-Deployment Leave

So my first entry will be about one of the best times of my life. Pre-Deployment Leave. We were together from the sixth til the twenty eighth. It is officially the longest amount of time we have ever been able to spend together in the year we have been dating.... 22 whole days. It was amazing. Part of me was worried we were going to get sick of one another, but it never happened. Ryan said so himself, "I didn't think it was possible to fall even more in love with you, but I did."

Ryan came up to DC with me and we packed up a lot of my stuff and put it in my car. I am moving at the end of July so we decided to use this chance to bring home some extra stuff I don't need anymore, like winter clothes and stuff. From DC we went to Atlantic City, NJ. We were there about three days and stayed at the Caeser! A friend of his had a comp room so we got it for like, $26! For two nights! I gambled a little. I had about $40 I was willing to play with and over the three days it became about $170. I stuck with Black Jack and quit when I was ahead and did well. Ryan went with Roulette and a bit of Black Jack and lost $400. We had fun though. We built a sandcastle on the beach and swam in the frigid ocean and had free drinks at the casino... a good time overall.

After Atlantic City we went to my family's home in NJ. We hung out with them for a few days and were setting up for my Graduation Party mostly. That Saturday we had about 60 people, family and friends, at my house for the party and it POURED the entire time! We still had a blast and my friends from high school got to meet Ryan and they all got along great. We were in NJ until that Monday at which we left at 4:30am. I slept the whole way to DC, about four hours, where we switched from my car to his, then drove the rest of the way to South Carolina. We got there after 5pm, so nearly 13 hours in the car!!! Ugh it was a long long time. I've never done a trip that long in a car.

South Carolina is where Ryan is from, so we stayed with his family and spent time with them. I got to try lots of Southern foods, boiled peanuts, sweet tea, squash casserole, yellow bar-b-que sauce at Maurices, Sonic, and lots of other things. I met his entire family and we bonded which was great. I played golf for the first time with Ryan and his uncle and fell in love with it. I want to play golf! We also went with his other uncle to a shooting range and I got to fire a gun for the first time, it was something Ryan really wanted to teach me to do and be safe with so it was great. We saw Transformers opening night, went out to his old hang outs, celebrated his mom's birthday, had a party at his uncle's lake house, and went bowling.

It was the best three weeks of my life.

On the way back I even somehow convinced Ryan to stop at South of the Border! He wasn't too thrilled about it, but he got some fireworks in the store there and was ok after that.

Now the bad part comes. His deployment. It is soon. Like wicked soon. So soon I feel like I want to dig my fingernails into time and make it drag to a stop so he doesn't have to go. For security I know not to post when but girls, I am so scared. It is the first deployment for both of us and he will most likely be gone until February. My mom is coming down for when he leaves and his family is coming up...it will be the first time our moms will meet. I don't want him to go! I am so nervous and scared and worried and trying to keep a brave face. When he dropped me off at home after the leave vacation I sobbed for ages with him.


It has been two days since I have seen him. He will be gone in less than 10. I hope I can see him this weekend... but this will be IT. The last times together. God I am so scared. I didn't expect this all to ever sneak up on me.



Oh, the second part of my blog title hasn't kicked in yet, the Disney part. Starting in August I will be an intern at Disney World, so the double Ds will kick in. Not those kind. You know what I mean.


All for now,

Allie