Before you go...

Before Ryan left I spent four days with him, I took off Thursday and Friday from work and we enjoyed our time together. Thursday we woke up and drove down to Busch Gardens... we hit only a little bit of traffic, stopped once at Chik-fil-a for lunch, and got there by 2pm.

On the tram going into Busch Gardens. Man was it hot! It wasn't as bad as most of the other days but it was still pretty warm!

Apollo's Chariot, fun on one of the big four rollercoasters in the park!

Then in the bird area Ryan was determined to make a friend. We had the option to spend $3.00 on a disposable ketchup container thing of nectar or do it on our own. We chose to do it on our own!

And it worked! I love this picture!

So cute!

Then we went on Griffin. It stops there at the top and holds you over this 90 degree drop for a few seconds than drops you. It is awesome! We went on this one twice. We made all the big rides and even the small ones we wanted; including the swings and bumper cars! Then we had a great dinner at the Oktoberfesthaus.

Pre-Fireworks

Ignoring the piece of the bridge we had a great view! They shot them off over the water. We got home after midnight and then slept very late the next day. When we got up, around 1:30, Ryan decided we should go to the Marine Corps Museum since I had never been. We get on 95 and do really well for awhile and then....

We stopped. Dead. We were in the HOV lane, it was barely 2pm and the road was stopped. You can even see the museum in the background there and we just were not moving. My car thermometer was saying 117 degrees since we were roasting on the black road. Two hours later we get to the museum... which is only open until five so we only had two hours to go through it sadly.

At the Marine Corps Museum

Such a Marine :P

Wearing a WWI uniform, not my best look!

I love the sayings all around the main hall.

View looking up, so cool.


Since we left so late we had planned to eat at Tunn Tavern, but it closed at 4. We wanted to do a nice dinner so we held of eating. It took us barely twenty minutes to get home and then we walked to Trattoria Franco up the street. I love this Italian place, we went for my birthday and wanted to go back. Now it is after 5:30 and we had not eaten all day so we were starving. We decided to make a production out of dinner. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco and some calamari with garlic bread and we started to eat slowly.

Then we ordered salads, I got my tomato/basil/mozerella favorite and Ryan had a caeser. A bottle of wine was next, then two different but amazing veal dishes. Dessert was a cannoli. They let us go outside to smoke then come back in and even after we paid they let us take our wine outside and sit and smoke in the cool night air.

This is Ryan's You are such a dork look. I get it a lot.

Much better!

Yea it was a hot day! Overall dinner took us over four hours and it was amazing. We talked about lots of happy moment from our marriage so far, going back to dating days even. Even when we talked about some of our biggest fights we remembered the aftermath and fixing things, but we forgot what most of the fights actually were about.

It is a great hole in the wall with authentic and wonderful Italian food and if you come to Alexandria ever you must go there! We walked home and then, in the Italian spirit, Ryan humored me at watched Moonstruck with me. Then we finished season six of Weeds. I may have cried once as we sat and talked, but it was a great night.

Saturday was Ryan's going away party. We borrowed a grill and had a mix of Marines, wives and babies, and neighbors. It was such a perfect send off. I made my corn bread and the awesome grilled cheese jalepeno poppers I mentioned earlier this week, plus we had burgers and chips and beans and tons and tons of food! Desserts ranged from peach cobbler to cheesecake stuffed strawberries (OH.MY.GOD. Carrie wins!) to smores.

Hanging out by the truck.

Ryan holding Baby Bentley, who is a month old. Ryan rarely holds babies so I had to take this. It just melted my heart! He will be such a wonderful dad one day.

Little Liam, our neighbor, is quite the camera ham!

The hosts

Ryan and Russ with Liam doing an adorable photobomb with help from Adam

Ryan and Liam... see what I mean? He will just be terrific. I can tell :P

Us with our neighbors, all of which have been great since Ryan has left. I am so thankful for them, those here and those not pictured.

Russ, Lauren, Ryan and I.... Russ worked with Ryan and Lauren is a great friend. They were our first official 'couple' friends.

My love... he was a tad tipsy at this point! I may have been too.

<3

Ryan and Jack. Jack is now out of the Marines and the last time I saw him he was bald and clean shaven. I honestly had to double take because I did not recognize him when he arrived!

Smores

Love the fire pictures! We destroyed some wire hangers to make the roasting sticks. Lauren and I then drove the truck to take the grill home since we borrowed it from her and Russ. Of course it is my second time driving the truck and of course we get pulled over for an inspection at the main gate to base. So I am trying to open everything and find where Ryan keeps the paperwork and just cursing my luck. And the guard did not prop the hood open right so it started to fall and I dove and saved his neck. Literally.

The party ended late and Ryan and I stayed up in bed just talking. There may have been sobbing on my part. It was my last night with him and I lost it. He calmed me down and we eventually fell asleep. The next morning we got up and walked to Southside for brunch one more time.

Post - Eggs Benedict euphoria.

Before I knew it we sorted his luggage and Adam was helping Ryan carry the bags to the car. My heart started racing, it was too soon! How did this happen!? We planned on taking the metro to the airport but trying to fix his bags we took too long so we drove.

Adam and Ryan, the three of us were staples on the front stoop.

One more before we go, this is where we took our first picture before moving in.

As we drove I got so teary, I tried to hold it together. I parked in the wrong terminal and we had to shuttle to the right one. We hurried through and Ryan had about an hour and fifteen minutes before his flight. We get his bags in and ask about a buddy pass for me to go through security with him. They send us to the ticket counter and after an agonizing wait the woman tells us, "No it can only be for minors and the handicapped." AND MILITARY ORDERS. I may or may not have sobbed that at her and Ryan had to pull me back away from the counter.

Suddenly I am hugging him and kissing him goodbye in line at security. Tears are streaming down my face as I give him a letter to read on the plane. I watch until I cannot see him anymore. I then walked the whole way down the airport, no shuttle for me, back to the car, silently crying. Once I got in the car I burst out into sobs. The kind that made my ribs hurt and I felt like I was going to throw up. 8 months. It had been ten minutes and I was losing it.

I finally calm down and start to drive home. I called my mom and talked to her. I then meet up with my neighbors at home. I was teary but they plied me with wine and we sat outside and talked for ages. Ryan texted me until his flight took off.

Once I went back in the apartment and forced myself to eat I cried again. It seemed so so empty. I calmed down, went back outside to relax, and then got into bed. I set up my Big Fat Greek Wedding in my DVD player and got into bed and.... sobbed my heart out. It was too big, the air conditioner too cold, my stuffed animals came out of the closet (including Mutsy wearing Ryan's tshirt) and it was still awful. I just cried and cried. Then Ryan called from Phoenix and his connecting flight to tell me goodnight. I finally settled into sleep.

I woke up about five times. I was hot, I was cold, I was thirsty, I needed water, I heard something... each time I restarted the DVD. I was so overtired I overslept this morning and barely made it to work on time. Ryan texted me around 4:30am telling me he was there and safe.

Today we texted back and forth. A guy he deployed with in 09 is now a SSgt and out there and got him from the airport. Ryan stayed with him last night until he checked in today. During my lunch break I got to call him and talk. Ryan was pretty shocked to see a real live roadrunner so he enjoyed telling me that. They made him check one of his carry ons, Phoenix sucked because they booked three flights at one time at one gate, there was lightening.... but he made it.

I haven't cried today. Talking to him makes it easier. Hell my phone is buzzing now as he is telling me it sucks, he does not have a room yet and is in a temporary room. And his classes start tomorrow so he has no time to situate when he does get a room. Seriously?? Like they didn't know he wasn't coming? It makes no sense, which Ryan said makes perfect sense as it is the USMC!

Work was rough, I was sent to our other office to help out and it is such a different environment. It was just for the afternoon but it was like agony for me. Then Carmen, who I worked with at camp last year, invited me to Theology on Tap at an Irish Pub in Old Town. I really enjoyed it and it was something I needed! The speaker was a man who ran across America. Ran. Check out his website here. He used prayer to motivate himself. Jeff ran with no music, no ipod, he just prayed and communicated with God. He was such a funny speaker and very motivating.

Day one down. A lot more to go. No tears yet today... I am hoping I can get into bed and fall asleep without them.

Thanks for reading so much if you did. It is a little lonely here at the moment so I definitely rambled.