A Year Ago Today.....

...he came home. That one fact has meant the world to me. If you add up all the time he spent deployed (not counting the time apart in different states) he was gone exactly 14 months. The majority of our relationship was based on a telephone and reinforced by the short wonderful trips to Utah he managed to squeeze in. I am so happy to have had him home this year.

The night/early morning JT came home was really.....interesting for me. I remember experiencing a myriad of emotions. I was so tense that I couldn't really talk about it. I remember standing on the parade deck with my arms crossed just staring straight ahead. It took FOREVER for him to show up. His platoon ran into problems with another and a fight almost started. When he finally showed up I was so scared that somehow something would go wrong that all I could do was stand there, stare, and call his name once in a while. When they finally got released he came over and gave me a hug. I couldn't even really enjoy the hug. To be honest, it had been so long since I'd last hugged him that I didn't really believe it was real. It all didn't begin to sink in until we were almost home. He was really there and he wouldn't be leaving me again.

We grow up watching fairytales and wishing that our lives will turn out to be a real-life romance. We want anything for our lives but normal--to be the princess in our own story. Had I been told that I would someday be desperately wishing for normal, I would never have believed it! I watched friends meet their spouse, get married, and have babies all before JT and I could even get engaged, much less married. I wanted normal soo badly. I guess when you get blessed enough to have someone in your life like Jonathan, normal isn't an option. If an out-of-the ordinary life is what I have to settle for to have JT, I will embrace it full-heartedly!

The Fall of 2005 JT came to visit me at school and wore his dress blues. I had not been able to go to military ball and he wanted to make it up to me. As we walked through campus taking pictures, we stopped off in the BYU bookstore. A little boy with his mom stopped dead in his tracks when he saw JT and pointing, said "look Mommy! It's a knight!!" That little boy was right. Jonathan is my knight in shining armor. He's rescued me more times than I can count. I hope to never take him for granted. I have a magnet up on my fridge as a daily reminder that reads "live everyday like he deploys tomorrow". One of the many facets of love is sacrifice. Another is joy. Now is our time for joy. I couldn't be happier!

JT: congratulations on being home for a year! We did it!