The Beginning

Hmmm.. where do I start? I've never really "blogged" before. Well, I created this blog as a way to keep all of our family, near and far, up to date on our lives. I guess I can start from the beginning.

TJ and I have been together since October 3, 2001. We began dating in middle school after becoming very close friends. We weren't always friends, though. TJ used to aggravate me to no end. When we were in 5th and 6th grade together, he'd follow me, try to talk to me, boy.. he'd love that I'm sharing this story. Anyway, he became a very close friend of mine when I went through some tough times in middle school. Soon after, we began dating. We dated through middle school and high school. We even got back together after a short break up in high school.
Fast forward to after graduation. TJ decided that he wanted to join the United States Coast Guard. He had always talked about it and was practically born and raised on a boat. I thought, "Okay. Cool- Coast Guard." I guess I was never expecting him to go. I assumed he'd go to a law enforcement academy and become a cop- his dream job since he was a kid. He enlisted in the beginning of 2005 and left for bootcamp in Cape May, NJ April 5, 2005.

The next 8 weeks were the toughest of my life. I truly knew nothing about the Coast Guard until he went in. I researched and read anything and everything I could about the Coast Guard. A few weeks before graduation, TJ called to tell us where he had been stationed- on CGC Ouachita in Chattanooga, TN. This was very hard for me to absorb. I had never been to Chattanooga before and didn't even know how far of a drive it was. But again, I researched anything and everything I could about Chattanooga, TN.

The time had come to go to TJ's graduation from bootcamp. I started looking at airline tickets and talking them over with TJ's dad, Tim. Tim quickly said, "Oh, we're not flying; we're driving." I thought, "Dear God, an 18 hour car ride with the same man who farts in the car and locks all the windows so you can't get a breath of fresh air. Okay.. I'll do it for TJ." Just kidding, Mr. Tim.. ;). So TJ's dad, his sister, his friend, my mom, and myself packed the truck full and set out to Cape May. That was an interesting trip. Finally, we arrived in Cape May at our hotel.

Later on that day (the night before TJ's graduation), we took a trip down to the Cape May Training Center to take a peek. We were a little disappointed when the guard at the gate insisted we could not go on base "just to look around" when really, we all wanted to go knocking on doors trying to find TJ. So we went back to the hotel to sleep and await daylight so we could finally see TJ graduate.

The morning we had all been waiting 8 long weeks for was finally here, May 27, 2005. We showered, got dressed and scooted out the door to be first in line for graduation. The hour we had before the graduation couldn't have gone by any faster. The ceremony finally started and before we knew it, it was over. We were all racing to TJ as soon as they announced we could. It was very emotional and quite a shock. This person I was hugging and kissing wasn't the same as the person who left, and still he was. He was much more mature and disciplined, but still very warm hearted and kind, not to mention incredibly handsome in his uniform. He walked very squared away and with every salute he gave to his superiors, with every hand that he shook, I was overcome with a wonderful feeling of pride. That was my boyfriend standing in that uniform and this was going to be our life. If I hadn't known before (which I secretly always had), I knew then- this was going to be the man I spent the rest of my life with.

Anyway, we all hopped back in the truck and after a nice long dinner with most of TJ's family, we headed back to Florida. While in Florida, TJ had 15 days until he had to report to Chattanooga, TN. In that time, TJ planned a nice quick trip to St. Augustine (one of my most FAVORITE places in the world) where he proposed in the gazebo in St. Augustine's Square. It was incredibly romantic and very much a surprise to me. Of course I said yes! 3 days later, he had to go to Chattanooga. I rode with him up there and his dad was behind us. We hung out with him for the day and headed out that night.

TJ came to Florida when he could over the next 2 months. He was working hard and still trying to get out of the negative with his leave. Finally, we decided we wanted to get married, soon. We set the wedding date while he was home one weekend and with the help of my mom and sister, we began the planning immediately. September 17, 2005 we were married in Yankeetown, FL in the Winding River Gardens Gazebo.
Well I think this is a pretty good first blog.. long but good. I'll write again later!