Four

Wow, where did the time go? I didn't realize how long it's been since I updated my blog.

Part of the reason I haven't posted is because my blogs would've turned into a huge bitch fest. Things couldn't possibly be worse at MetLife, thanks to the upcoming training. My unit is being reviewed for outsourcing, and we will be teaching associates from India our jobs, starting in October. Everyone involved with the training has been complaining non-stop and miserable. I can't blame them, but we also have no control over what happens.

Whatever happens will be decided by the higher-up's in the company, who have their reasons for wanting to outsource in the first place. We may not agree with it, but it's not up to us.

Unfortunately, several of my co-workers have less than stellar home lives, so they are bringing stress into stress. Someone emailed my boss and said I talk to Mike on the phone all the time, and that I have permission to do it. Completely false- when he does call (I can't call him), it's on my lunch break. Noon for us is 6pm for him, and he's out of work by then.

I feel like people are so unhappy that they're doing whatever they can to make others unhappy. I didn't get in trouble with my boss- she was more annoyed that someone actually sent her an email about that.

Dealing with non-stop negativity during the week has left me pretty stressed. It's like all the good energy is completely sucked out of the room. I'm ready for this all to be over, so things can go back to normal.

Four months down, two to go. Deployment is flying by!

Euro Trip

I'm back! The trip was amazing, and seeing Mike was a positive boost that we both needed. I've got tons of pictures and stories from the trip, but I'll do my best to keep it blog-sized. First off, the plane ride wasn't half as bad as I thought. And how about the food? Lufthansa isn't just about a bag of pretzels:

The next picture is from a town in Germany called Heidelberg. It's about an hour away from base, and has tons of shopping and sight-seeing. Pretty much every city in Germany has a castle, and this is one that we actually hiked to the top of:

One of the many pictures I took from the top. Gorgeous!

We took the train into Paris- this is one of us goofing off, waiting:

One of my favorite pictures from Paris- love it!

Me, posing in front of the tower. As you can see, we had wonderful weather throughout the trip:

I also got to go where Mike works, and check out an outbound mission. "Outbound" means that injured troops are going to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C., and ultimately, home. I saw a variety of injuries, from the minor to the catastrophic. Out of respect for anyone reading this who knows someone in harm's way, I will not discuss the injuries in detail.

All I will say is that I have even more respect for Mike and his fellow soldiers. I truly don't know how they do what they do. One of them pulled me off to the side, after the last critical soldier had been put on the plane, and said this: "we love our job, but it's emotionally draining. Sometimes the only thing that keeps us going is support from home."

It was an extremely humbling experience. I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to visit Mike, see parts of Europe, and get a first-hand look at why exactly he is deployed.

Oh, and no proposal, for any that were curious! He said he has a date in mind when he wants to ask me to marry him.

So, for now, I will keep on keepin' on. I love him more than ever, and I'm ready to finish up this deployment strong and with a positive attitude!

Ring Thing

All of the engagement rumblings are now a roar, thanks to an email I received yesterday. Quick background: before Mike left, we went to a travel agency to book a trip for after he comes home. The woman asked if this was a honeymoon trip . . . definitely a legit question, but we told her it was just a post-deployment getaway for the two of us.

Fast-forward to yesterday, where Nancy (our agent) sends me an email with some resort information in Cancun (we're doing an all-inclusive trip). She titles the email, "It's time to book the land portion of your honeymoon trip!"

Mike thought this was hysterical. He's been asking me every day if people still think I'm getting engaged in Germany . . . when I say yes, he says, "okay!"

Then the clincher. "Well, it won't be a honeymoon trip, but it'll be an engagement trip . . . maaaaybe!" Done. This girl is now ring-obsessed! Mike had asked me, about a month ago, to email him some ideas. Below are the ones I sent him:

One of my friends said that she had no input on her ring, and when her now-husband proposed, she hated it . . . and still does. Mike initially did not want any hints, but realized that he wants me to love whatever he picks out.

My best friend is ring-obsessed, and she makes it well-known to her boyfriend of 5 years. Her boyfriend is a good friend of mine, also (I met him before her), and he told me that the more she pushes, the less he wants to do it. I make it a point not to do that with Mike, and he's told me point-blank that it makes him want to propose more.

I blame deployment for these kind of talks. Being apart from each other has made us really realize how happy we make each other, and how great our relationship is. I was never the popular kid in school, and I didn't date much . . . I went through years of feeling insecure, but it was all worth it to feel the way I feel now.

11 days to go!

Walkin' on Sunshine

I've never been so happy to see the first of August! 1 more week of my summer class, and two weeks until I travel across the pond to see Mike in Germany.

Anyone reading this who knows me in real life knows I'm a very positive person. I have my moments, because I'm human, but I try to avoid being a Debbie Downer. A funny incident happened at work, that I thought I'd share.

A few weeks ago, I walk into work on a Friday morning around 8. I did my usual . . . smile, and say "good morning" to whoever is already there. Not like, "good morning, Patty," and "good morning, Sue," but just a collective greeting for the few fellow early birds like myself. I get to my seat, start up the computer, and walk to the fridge to put my lunch away.

As I'm heading towards the fridge, I hear the woman next to me say, "she's always like this in the morning. She ruins my day by coming in so cheerful. When I was her age, I was happy all the time, too."

Say it with me . . . really?! You were serious? Okay, just checking.

I take what this woman says with a grain of salt. My unit is under review for possible outsourcing, so at the age of 65, she is basically training people in India to take her job. She also lost her husband in May, so I understand that life isn't fantastic for her right now.

However . . . big however . . . we all have things in our life that aren't perfect. No one's life is perfect. Don't take it out on me. She's the kind of person that will, throughout the course of the entire day, huff and puff, moan and groan, until someone asks her what the problem is. Then she complains about whatever task she has at the moment. D-r-a-m-a.

One of my co-workers calls her the "topper"- whatever story you have, she's got one to match it. Like when my sister's baby passed away? Well, she was supposed to have an older sister, but she also died . . . 67 years ago. This is what I'm working with . . . see what I mean now?

She tried coming up to my desk a few minutes later, to talk about some random work project, but I didn't even look at her. I'm not fake . . . if I don't like someone, I just avoid them. Hasn't happened since, thank goodness.

Time to focus on the positives. Germany in 16 days!

Texas

Texas was amazing! I didn't want to leave. It was amazing to see my sister, and we had a great couple of days. We drove down to Austin to do some shopping and sight-seeing:

One world for driving in Texas: INSANE. See below.

Someone at the airport gave me wrong directions to my sister's street (who knew there would be two Cunningham Roads, each on one end of town?), but I managed to get back to the airport with no problems. The driving took a little getting used to!

Everything is bigger in Texas . . . except Ikea. Seriously. We were in and out in about half an hour . . . pretty much unheard of.

She insisted on taking me to local places to eat, so I had the priviledge of enjoying Sonic and Whataburger. Unfortunately, there are no Waffle Houses in Texas.

3 weeks until the next trip! Germany, here I come.

The Fence

This picture was taken by Mike in a nearby town to Ramstein . . . I would probably butcher the name and how to pronounce it, so we'll leave it as a pretty fence in Germany! He said the heart made him think of me, so I'm now on a mission to get to this fence when I see him next month.

When I started this blog, I made it less of a personal thing, and more of a fun, general, random thing. I think I may go back to my old roots of writing personal blogs, just because I like it.

If you follow me on Facebook, you'll notice I have a number before each status. I've been questioned on why it's there, so I'll just 'splain it here for you. The number represents how many days Mike has been deployed. Why count up, you ask? For starters, counting down from 179 days is ridiculous. Maybe his deployment is "only" six months, but it's still hard. Second, as that number gets higher, I feel encouraged. Mike and I have already been apart for 52 days, and that is definitely something to be proud of! We have both been working hard to maintain a positive attitude.

I hear often that this deployment is "easy." That may be so- he is in a safe location, doing a safe job. However . . . doing a long-distance relationship is not easy in the slightest. Granted, I was used to being alone at night due to his overnight work shift, and on drill weekends, I'd only be with him twice during a week. Honestly, the first two weeks of deployment were a breeze, because I felt like he was just working, so it felt normal. I really didn't feel any emotions until just after the first month had gone by.

But you don't realize how many little things you take for granted. Skype has now replaced date night, and emails have replaced texts. The thing I miss the most is cooking dinner together, before he'd go to work and I'd go to class.

Our biggest rule during this deployment is not to end a conversation on a bad note. We each have our bad days, but taking things out on each other is not going to help the situation. Some people say I have it worse . . . I beg to differ. I won't say exactly what kinds of things he's seen at work, but he's a critical care nurse working on injured troops from both war zones . . . use your imagination. Then picture it 100 times worse. He's been opening up to me much more than I thought he would about what he's seen, which is a big relief.

The only aggravation I've experienced with deployment has come up fairly recently, with the news that I will be visiting him next month. I'm not kidding when I say that all of my family, his family, and our co-workers are expecting a proposal . . . if it doesn't happen, I may be the only one who is not disappointed. Even my Nana said, "Katie better come home with a ring!" I would be lying if I said I wouldn't be thrilled if it happened, but I also don't want to get my hopes up. The last thing I want to feel is disappointment when I leave, because I know an engagement is on its way at some point in the near future.

We're planning an overnight stay in Paris while I'm there, and I told him not to pull a Tom Cruise. He laughed nervously, then asked me what I meant. When I told him that Tom proposed to Katie Holmes on top of the Eiffel Tower, he said (without missing a beat): "Oh, I can't do that. My friend Chris that you met proposed to his wife Deanna there. I'm going to be original." That's amore!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

The summer of 2010 is now becoming the summer of travel! After taking a brief hiatus, I'm back to blogging, and I'm hitting the road (or, the sky).

My first trip is on July 19th, and will bring me to central Texas to visit my sister! She left about a week after Mike deployed. My brother-in-law is stationed at Fort Hood, and they live just outside base. She has been doing well, and I can't wait to see her.

My next trip will bring me a little further away . . . Germany! You heard right. Words can't express how excited I am to see Mike! I leave on August 17th, and return the 22nd. We will spend most of our time near base, but are planning an overnight trip down to Paris.

I love to travel, and I love them, so I couldn't be happier. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, there will be many pictures to come!