Welcome home boys

  Yesturday, sitting in the Hyundai waiting room for 2 hours while getting our oil change and tires rotated, an older gentleman was in the room with us waiting for his car to get washed. When the service sales man came into the room to show us how dirty our filter was, I heard the older man smirk to himself as Zack sat back down next to him, and continued playing on his phone. The older man looked over at Zack and proceeded to say a comment which sounded like it was going to be on eof those "You know in my day...." converstaions *insert eye roll and awkward smiles*.  The man begun to tell us about when he was younger how he had "one of them pickup trucks" and said it was so funny that one day, he took it in to get it looked at and the repair guy said his filter was so bad that he had to take a vacuum to itand behind it just remove all the dust and junk that had built up. Zack and I just nodded and said the usual "oh really? wow!" Then somehow he started talking about WWI, WWII and Vietnam, like most of them do. After a long pause he says "From one veteran to another, Thank you.... I think that's why the older veterans are so focused on giving you all such a wonderful welcome home; Ya know?...they never got one...." That right there hit me!

 

  When we were in Alaska last month, we went to a movie called Honor Flight, its about sending hundreds WWII vets to DC on one flight, to see the memorial before they pass away. When they fly back to the airport, they walk into the terminal and see a few people with signs saying welcome home we thank you; As the walk further into the airport, they see more and more people all around. All these strangers begin hugging them, smiling at them, shaking their hands, until they walk into the middle of the airport where they are bombarded with smiles, tears of happiness, a loud band playing, confetti everywhere and their families; Its a real welcome home that they deserve. If any one wants to see an amazing movie, I would hands down recommend this movie by far! There wasn't one person in the hole theater with dry eyes! This is the Website telling you all about the organization.

 

 I decided to dedicate this blog post to all the men and women who came home from over seas; You all did a job well done!

 

 I know Zack got home over 2 months ago and this post is long over due but I think we had a great welcome home and I would like to share it with you.

My friend Kate and I did these one afternoon. I'm happy

 how they came out. My friend Denise and I put them up on my

garage with Justin Bieber duct tape lol



 

With window Chalk I wrote "Welcome home Sgt. Scribner.

I recommend using the window markers rather than chalk because

the chalk washes off with even the littlest rain (and it poured)

 

Welcome home event it was beautiful

 

The band was amazing and kept us busy because Lord knows

I was anxious as all heck :)

 

He's finally home! Excuse the hair... like I said, it POURED!

 

 

 

  My friend Denise came up a few days before they got home and she got to see her (soon to be) Husband come home from the same deployment. This was her first welcome home she ever went to so I came as support and as her "photographer"

 



This was the best experience that I've seen. I was so happy that

I was invited along to take pics.

  I believe that now a day we are truly blessed when our significant others deploy. Back in the day they had to write letter, yea I still ask for Zack to write me letters once in a while because its more personable, but I usually get them in like a weeks time frame; back then it would take longer. That's all you had to know your loved one was alive, a letter; No emails, phone calls, no pictures or even Facebook. I got worried when Zack took a few hours to respond to me, let alone if I had to wait weeks. I was just talking to Zack about that the other day, being a military spouse is hard, but I give props to anyone who had to do that without the technology.

One of my best friends greeting her husband in the Army coming home to HI

  Lets continue to help out or fellow military men and women; lets give them the best welcome home we can because not everyone gets one!

WELCOME HOME BOYS!

 

 

Love you all,

The few inbetween

It's getting closer and closer till Zack comes home. Oh boy am I ready. In the beginning I felt excited because that's money to pay off our credit card (which is only for emergencies or plane tickets) our TV,  mattress and my student loan (which we did... cue the happy dance) but there is a lot of anxiety, what if's and the unknowns (HATE the unknowns) that you feel before they leave. I know for Zack and I, the past 2 deployments we would kind of distance ourselves a month before he left, and we would get into fights about silly things. This deployment I had to pack up the house pretty much by myself. He work 12 on 12 off (12 hrs of working straight, sometimes 13hrs) which meant when I got off work of my part time job I had to go straight into packing up our 2 story house, which was a fight all its own. On the weekends him and his friend would fix up his truck so he could sell it, which seemed like a month of them taking it apart, cleaning everything and rhino lining the bed of the truck. I was getting very annoyed, sometimes I even caught myself saying "will you just deploy already?", then leave to go to the gym or work. That sounds horrible but the hole situation was very stressful and this was his 3rd deployment; I was over him leaving me for 10+ months at a time... I just wanted HIM! The last week was emotional on another level... kind of felt like a break up. I was packing my stuff, he was hauling it all away, and we were hardly talking. My heart ached. After he left I was at the house cleaning up everything... again I was stressed out because not everything got done the night before and I felt like he left me with EVERYTHING, I just broke down and started crying while cleaning. It wasn't fair I felt, I had to clean the hole house, I had to make the last minute storage unit runs, I had to sign back over the house, I had to take care of the animals now by myself, and I had to move to another state that I've never been too (I was moving to NJ with my dad). I felt alone and miserable and no one in the world could ever possibly know how I was feeling.

*Let me tell you, everything you feel is perfectly normal even if you feel alone, there are thousands of spouses and significant others who are going through the same thing as you.

After I got on the road I was doing ok, I got to see my family and I was ready for this new adventure! As the months progressed I got a job, made a friend or two and hung out with all my family up here in NJ. I was having a good time, hated my job, but having a good time. I got on a new schedule day to day, visited my sister in CT a few times, and met up with a few military friends who were in NYC, so, we got to hang out all day and have dinner. I went on a train for the first time, went on the subway, took a million pictures, met a few celebrities, went to a live showing of a tv show, and saw time square... life was good

Such a beautiful city

Kelly Ripa

Michael Straham

 1st subway ride 

 Grand Central Station

 Christmas tree

 Time square

 My friends I met up with

 Fathers girlfriend and I on the FAO piano floor

Family friend works as the manager so we got to try all sorts of goodies :D

 

*Sometimes I felt guilty that I was having fun and couldn't email Zack right off the bat but that's perfectly normal too. They want you to have a life while they aren't there, they love hearing stories from you... they are living through you!

 I felt a few times I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs... I tried to pay the bills and one time I needed to talk to the company and they refuse to talk to me because I'm not on all the accounts just yet, So I couldn't get anything done that I need to because its a hassle driving 20 minutes to the library or staples to fax over my POA in a busy town. His 2nd deployment I was trying to buy a car and I faxed over the wrong POA (I faxed the housing POA first) and I got red flagged, so even when I faxed over the correct POA they wouldn't help me. When calling navy federal, your POA only last 24 hours so I had to constantly send them the POA. Finally, after yelling and screaming and calling them a thousand times I gave up and just drove with my sister in law to Miami (3 hrs away was the nearest navy fed from my house in FL) walked in, showed them my ID and POA and then got the loan right then and there.... I wish I would have done that first. That was a ruff week and my husband wasn't able to call because he was on a boat with 3,000 people and 2 working phones.

Coming up to the last couple of months of deployment is ruff again. I miss him like crazy and we only have a few months standing in our way. Today was my last day of work. My mom and sister are coming up from FL to help me move back to NC. Im so excited... the quicker we move back the quicker he comes home. I am so irritable right now; Everything makes me mad or upset. I am such a happy person so this isn't in my character to act like this. I just want to sleep all day and never get out of my bed.

Sister and I in central park

 

On the way home to NC we stopped at Washing DC for a few days. It was A LOT of fun!!

 



 

 

 Easter egg hunt at the White House

 Science museum

 Hope Diamond

 My beautiful mom

Pretty church with all the Cherry blossoms

 



*It is crucial to keep your self busy; the busier you are the less time you have to think about your situation. that's the key... ALWAYS stay busy, time will go by fast and you'll spend less time thinking about him. Its ok to not think about him every two seconds, I promise!

*Don't ever feel guilty for any of these feelings. This is all the process of deployment. When he comes back, its normal to say things like MY stuff, MY house, MY kids etc. you spend the last X amount of months fending for yourself, making a new schedule/routine, and doing things by yourself. Just remember that it will pass and you'll have a new routine INCLUDING your significant other. Remember he will be stressed and not the same when he comes back, just as you wont be the same to him either. It will take some time but everything will be ok! Keep your chin up and there are numerous way to fix that and people who are willing to help you and talk to you after deployments. Talk to your FRO (family readiness officer) and they will help you with any feeling that your feeling or any thought that you have. They've heard everything, don't be afraid to express your thoughts and feelings, they will help! Also, if possible try and surround yourself by family and friends during this time, even though they might not know what you are feeling, they will listen and that's what you need to do, talk about it, be open with yourself!


I found this online and it breaks it down for you

If you have any question, comments, or a story please let me know :)

Love you all,

Vacations where I wanna be....

Vacation is suppose to be relaxing and rejuvenating right? well not in this house hold. My husband and I got back from a week long vaca last Saturday. We went to the Outer banks in NC, Gatlinburg TN, Nashville TN then Clarksville TN, all in a week. We met up with family friends in the outer banks, my family in Gatlinburg, and stopped by Nashville and drove around on the way to Clarksville to see my best friend. Every day was packed full of fun. We were definitely exhausted by the time we came home, but it was well worth it.

Highlights:

 The Taylors, and us going for a jeep ride

 We took the Jeep onto the beach...

...where we saw wild horses

We got super close, it was amazing! 

We drove 27 miles to the VA boarder.

I'm in 2 places at once :) 

Sunday we saw the Taylor's Dad become a Pastor

of his church. It was very touching!

After church we took the boat out and went tubing.

It was our 1st time. I think we did pretty good :) 

Monday early morning we drove 9hrs to Gatlinburg, TN

for my family reunion

 Beautiful Gatlinburg

We rode on the ski lifts and rode on these cart

things down the cement slide. Surprisingly it went fast 

We went to "Dicks" for lunch one of the days.

Pretty much you pay for the waitress to be rude and make a fool out of you,

then you have to tip them lol. it was pretty funny. Zacks hat said

"She calls me speedy". 

Mine says "I'm like a turtle flip me on my back and im screwed" 

Went hiking. It was stunning!!!

Friday morning we drove to Nashville. It was completely packed... little did

we know it was CMA week and there was a ton of free concerts

all over the streets, so we quickly got back on the highway to head 45min

to Clarksville

Last night, Brit put together a BBQ and we got to meet a few of their close friends.

Overall we had the best time you could possibly have. It was nice to see my family. My husband finally got to meet my uncle and cousins, which was cool. We took loads of pictures and had even more fun! I recommend going to Gatlinburg for a vaca, there is shopping, putt putt, food, free testing of moonshine...which was a highlight of our night :) its very family oriented, something for everyone :)

Love you all,

Where'd you go? I missed you so....

    I'm going to start this off as a brand new blog. I haven’t been on in what looks to be 2 years.... almost exactly. I’m going to try and make this a weekly thing since I quit my job and I’m a stay at home wife with nothing to do except chase a puppy around all day.

    My husband Zack was deployed again for another year. He just got back Feb 3, 2012. He was on a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) which pretty much means he was on a ship. He was in the Mediterranean sea on what seemed to be a yearlong cruise. He got to visit Spain, Dubai, Portugal, among other really cool places (lucky). This deployment was the hardest because we lived together for a year after he got home from Afghanistan, and then he left for what was supposed to be 7 months and it turned into a 10 month deployment. He got to email me almost every day but we only got to talk on the phone for maybe 10 times the hole time he was gone (maybe once a month). I got to Skype him for 3 days in a row during one of his ports and that’s it. That was a struggle because it’s hard to put into word every, little, thing that happens to you in one day. There is no summing up like you do in your diary, blog, or Facebook. When they are deployed they want to know everything because they “live through you” as he always tells me.

    For Christmas he bought me a car. We needed a reliable one for when he came home due to our wonderful luck with cars. He bought me a 2010 Chevy Equinox. Getting it was the real struggle. I fought with Navy Fed for a hole week. Literally, every day for a week. They thought we were fake and it was a scam all because I faxed over the wrong POA (power of attorney). They told me it was the wrong one so I set over the correct one and they for some reason put a red flag on us and they wouldn’t give me the loan. Zack called them twice proving that we were real but they had to see me in person. So, I had to drive 2 hours to Miami to show them that I was real…. Really!?! But 2 weeks later I got my car :) That’s the hard part about deployment, I was so stressed (which I hardly ever am) I was so mad (Which is never) and felt so alone and my husband couldn’t even call me to comfort me. Yea, I had my family but sometimes you need your significant other to be there for you, especially when he’s the only one in the world who can fix it. I never realized how strong you have to be for a deployment, not only for the other person but for yourself, to make it another month. That is why the number one thing you need is to surround yourself with family and friends… people who truly care about you. That is the only way I made it.


    My husband is home now, possibly not much longer, he might have to deploy again in November for 6 months (so they say). He really wants to go recruiting and to be stationed in AK, which we will be there for 3 years. Sounds good to me because he constantly talks about how he misses it and he wants to move back and blah blah blah. My thing is we live there for 3 years and then we can retire somewhere in the middle between FL and AK. Which seems fair to me :) . We will find out Thursday what he has to do to go recruiting. Hopefully it all works out because I do not want him to deploy again.


    Let’s see how long I can keep this blog thing up for. I really want to stay on top of this, it’s nice to go back and look at everything that happened to me over the past 2 years ( my hole 4 post earlier lol) Life has been ok. When my husband deployed I moved to AK again but I was only there for 6 months. I had 3 jobs (subway, Rogues garden coffee shop and health food store, and Northwind floral and gift shop) and I also baby sat a bunch of kids in town. I met some amazing people and made a lot of really cool friends. This time was different, I felt last time people were just hanging out with me because of my husband (I hung out with all of his old friends) this time I made my own friends people who didn’t know my husband and that didn’t grow up in that town. I felt as if I actually made my own friends and didn’t just get “grand fathered in” to my husband’s friends… my friends hung out with me for me not because I was new in town and Zack’s wife. I miss them a lot, it was definitely a good trip, kind of wished it lasted longer. I moved back to FL in the beginning of November due to a family emergency (I will explain in another post soon).  I got hired back at my old job working with a kids camp in the four seasons of Palm beach (my absolute favorite job), hung out with old friends, it was great, but I’m so glad to be in NC now with my husband though. This place is…. Ok I guess… just a normal military town, nothing to do, but my husband is here and that’s all that I care about :)


    I got a job working at the front desk at a Quality Inn. They hired me as the 6-2pm shift so I could still pick up my husband from work, low and behold they kept scheduling me for the 2-10pm which I never got to see Zack except for driving him to work at 6am and saying goodnight to him when I finally got home at 10:30 pm. I did that for about a month and we just couldn't take it. We are still like newly weds, we only actually saw each other for a year and the hole time he was state side ,we had roommates so we never got to do the normal newly wed things. When I cooked I cooked for all and cleaned for all too... it was never just us two, so I had to quit my job so I can see him and spend time with him. Now between the new puppy and my crazy cat all I want to do is get out of the house :) I literally can't even go to the bathroom by myself. Kiski (Siberian husky puppy) has separation problems with me, I cant get up for anything without her following me. If she cant see me she will start barking... same with Taylor (Bombay cat), he follows me every where too... bathroom and all. Guess this is what it feels like to be a mom :D I've got my hands full now


Until next time...

Love you all,

Home Sweet North Carolina

     Im in NC with my husband now, afer a long time coming. When I 1st got here I had alot if trouble getting a rental car. They wouldnt let me rent one because I didnt have a credit card, only debit, and I had nothing to attach me NC because my husband wasnt home yet. So when my husband finally called he got ahold of a few friends from his shop on base and they helpped me out. FINALLY people who care bout us. I've always heard of "Military familys" and how they always have your back, well, this really proved it to me. they asked around the shop to see if anyone had an extra car that I could use and some one did! They let me use it for a week till my husband got home. They didnt even know me but htey were friends with Zack, my husband, so, anything to help out a fellow marine, they jump on it!

   Zack and I didnt have a place to live as soon as he came home because we were waiting for base housing to open up. BASE HOUSING: a house that is on base and only military person can live in that specific communtity. Usually Marines that are married. depending on the base there is well over 2-6+ month waiting list to get a house on base. A few guys from Zacks shop cam together and pulled some strings and got us into CO & NCO (commission/non-commission officer, which is really high up ranks then my husband)  we are very lucky that we got the strings pulled for us bc normal LCpl (Lance Corpal, which Zack is) get a apartment to live in, they are nice but we got an actual house... a 3 bed room house to be exact! WOOP!

     Zack met a guy by the name of Miles out in Afghanistan, and he is going through a RUFF devorce, so Zack offered him to stay with us till his devorce is final and untill he can get his own place. A month later we have 2 roommates and it feels like every weekend we have the hole shop passing out at our house. I wake up on the weekend and we have atleast 4 people on the couches and floor. I dont really mind because they are all super cool and super super funny! Im glad I met them!

   Also, We drove my car up to NC from FL the other day with all my stuff I left in FL,and about 2 hours in (orlando) i got a flat tire. it took stupid Wal-mart 3 hours to give us a new tire because they were "short handed". A customer who got there just before us threw a fit to the manager and 5 mins later we were on our way. As soon as we got here we had to get just a 12 hour pass to get on base because it was 3a and the next morning we had to get a real pass. Well march is my birthday and thats when my registration needed to get renewed so they wouldnt let my car on base. so for the past week our friends had to ddrive us around... once again I love the "military family" life style.

   I was always told that I shouldnt be friends with the military wives because they are all stay at home wives/mothers and all they do all day is sit around coming up with ways to panic about the our husbands deployment. but thats a very very few amount of wives that are like that, and I know to stay clear of that kind of drama! But overall everyone has been super nice and I have 2 friends that are wives, one of which is my husbands best friend and we all get along great and we all help eachother out as much as we can!

If your a military wife/girlfriend, tell me a story of when the military came together to help you on your time of need!!

Love you all,