Crazy Times
Things have been pretty hectic lately. Al graduated and got commissioned last week, and his whole family came out for the ceremony. His parents finally met my parents, and it went really well. They seem to get along fine.
Al's commissioning ceremony was really neat. I was up there with him, presenting him with a folded flag. His dad read his oath, and his mom and grandpa put his rank on him. After the ceremony there was a reception and then later that night was the wetdown. As predicted, I didn't get to talk to him much that day since he was all over the place celebrating with his fellow newly-commissioned ensigns and friends. But I understood, I knew that this was extremely important to him and he wanted to share the celebration with people who had been through everything with him.
Now the bad news. He approached me at one point during the reception and told me he'd finally received his orders. He is to leave August 4th, fifteen days before our wedding. I was devastated, but I didn't want to show it because I was at the reception. I don't even remember if I said anything to him, I think I just walked away. He went back to all his friends and I hung out with my family and his family and it slowly got around to people that he was ordered to leave before the wedding and now we didn't know what was going to happen. I put it out of my mind and tried to enjoy the rest of the day. But after the reception was over, I went back to his house with him and when we got back I laid down on the bed and started crying. I couldn't help it, him leaving before the wedding was our worst-case scenario. He'll miss my 21st birthday, we were pretty sure we'd have to nix the honeymoon and possibly postpone the wedding, and we will have no chance to live together until I graduate and join him in Florida. He tried to comfort me. He said he'd gotten his orders before the commissioning ceremony, but decided to wait to tell me until after because he didn't want me to be upset.
That day was pretty rough. I didn't particularly like being mostly left out of the festivities. He partied and celebrated with his friends, and I hung out with his dad's friends (not that I'm complaining about the company I had, his dad's friends are great guys and I liked them a lot, I just wished I was hanging out with Al too), and every once in awhile he'd remember I was there, see where I was, and then go back to whatever he was doing. I also had plenty of time to worry about our future, about how we were going to make this wedding happen.
On Monday, we went and talked to his XO about our situation because she thought she could help us out. When we got there, she told us she talked to the detailer and she said he figured Al could just take leave for the wedding, and that's what Al would have to do. He will still leave Aug 4th, he will still miss my birthday, but at least he's guaranteed leave to come back for the wedding and honeymoon. The thing that really sucks the most is we will be immediately separated during our first year of marriage. As soon as the honeymoon's over, he goes back to Florida, and I go back to Colorado.
So it's looking like I'll be living alone at least next semester, if not Spring semester as well. Al's looking at buying a German shepherd puppy to train as a guard dog to keep with me so that I won't be entirely alone. I plan on spending my whole Christmas vacation in Florida with him, and I think my parents and sisters want to use that as an excuse to go to Disney World for Christmas.
I realize that the Navy is going to screw up a lot of plans for us, I'll just have to learn to be flexible and not set my heart on too much.
Al's commissioning ceremony was really neat. I was up there with him, presenting him with a folded flag. His dad read his oath, and his mom and grandpa put his rank on him. After the ceremony there was a reception and then later that night was the wetdown. As predicted, I didn't get to talk to him much that day since he was all over the place celebrating with his fellow newly-commissioned ensigns and friends. But I understood, I knew that this was extremely important to him and he wanted to share the celebration with people who had been through everything with him.
Now the bad news. He approached me at one point during the reception and told me he'd finally received his orders. He is to leave August 4th, fifteen days before our wedding. I was devastated, but I didn't want to show it because I was at the reception. I don't even remember if I said anything to him, I think I just walked away. He went back to all his friends and I hung out with my family and his family and it slowly got around to people that he was ordered to leave before the wedding and now we didn't know what was going to happen. I put it out of my mind and tried to enjoy the rest of the day. But after the reception was over, I went back to his house with him and when we got back I laid down on the bed and started crying. I couldn't help it, him leaving before the wedding was our worst-case scenario. He'll miss my 21st birthday, we were pretty sure we'd have to nix the honeymoon and possibly postpone the wedding, and we will have no chance to live together until I graduate and join him in Florida. He tried to comfort me. He said he'd gotten his orders before the commissioning ceremony, but decided to wait to tell me until after because he didn't want me to be upset.
That day was pretty rough. I didn't particularly like being mostly left out of the festivities. He partied and celebrated with his friends, and I hung out with his dad's friends (not that I'm complaining about the company I had, his dad's friends are great guys and I liked them a lot, I just wished I was hanging out with Al too), and every once in awhile he'd remember I was there, see where I was, and then go back to whatever he was doing. I also had plenty of time to worry about our future, about how we were going to make this wedding happen.
On Monday, we went and talked to his XO about our situation because she thought she could help us out. When we got there, she told us she talked to the detailer and she said he figured Al could just take leave for the wedding, and that's what Al would have to do. He will still leave Aug 4th, he will still miss my birthday, but at least he's guaranteed leave to come back for the wedding and honeymoon. The thing that really sucks the most is we will be immediately separated during our first year of marriage. As soon as the honeymoon's over, he goes back to Florida, and I go back to Colorado.
So it's looking like I'll be living alone at least next semester, if not Spring semester as well. Al's looking at buying a German shepherd puppy to train as a guard dog to keep with me so that I won't be entirely alone. I plan on spending my whole Christmas vacation in Florida with him, and I think my parents and sisters want to use that as an excuse to go to Disney World for Christmas.
I realize that the Navy is going to screw up a lot of plans for us, I'll just have to learn to be flexible and not set my heart on too much.