Death is an Interesting Thing....

Death is an interesting thing.Sometimes it takes death to put things into perspective, to make you truly think about how important family is. Tuesday night my Uncle, my Mom's oldest brother, was found face down in his home. An hour or so later his heart stopped at the hospital and he was unable to be  revived. My mom cried. Hard. I haven't heard her cry that hard since her Dad died over a decade ago. Her brother had died and she felt guilty for going so long without talking to him. They talked for the first and last time, last week over a long absence of communication. As my sister and I held her tight while she sobbed she said to me and my sister, "Never leave each other. Always remain together and apart of each others lives."

I have only seen my Uncle Rupert a handful of times, and those handful of times I barely remember. I am upset that I am not close to my family. I makes me sad to think Uncle Rupert probably had a faded memory of me too. I feel pain for my mom who lost her brother. I shed a tear for my Grandmother who had to loose a  husband and now a son to sudden death. But through this morbid situation I have come to realize how important it is to be close to family. I need to always remain tight with my sister, although we have our ups and downs. I need to always remain best friends with my parents because they won't be around forever (just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes). I need to start a journey to get to know my massive extended family (half of which I have never even met). Because of this tragic loss of my Uncle I was able to learn an invaluable lesson and I now see the importance of family, nuclear and extended.

Thank you Uncle Rupert for sharing one last lesson with me.
I'll see you on the other side one day.

Las Vegas and T's Birthday Surprise

I am so exhausted from traveling. I can't wait for this weekend where I get to sit, relax, and lounge in my underwear all day. Vegas was fun, definitely not as fun as it could be, but Sherrie (T's mom), Troy (T's dad) and I have discovered a new love. PAWN SHOPS!

Now before you think they are totally trashy, I agree, they are, but there is some good stuff to be found at great prices. We looked for diamonds, and had no real luck, but Sherrie found the ring of her dreams. It was pretty beautiful, almost 4 carats total weight for a good 70% off retail. Sadly, she had to walk away from the ring of her dreams. Since I didn't find the diamond I was looking for T is just going to get everything through Robbins Brothers. I am super exciteddd!

 (I love this picture. Who new such a beautiful fountain could be in a hotel lobby?)

While we were there we also did some hotel hopping, we saw Penn & Teller (they are so funny, the whole time the tell you magic is not real and then they do magic that blows your mind!) and Sherrie and Troy  went to see Cher's last Vegas Performance. Apparently she is as sexy and amazing as she was 40 years ago.

Since the weekend didn't go the way T really would have liked (his Uncle and Cousin left last minute, without telling any one in advance, and spent half Saturday, the only whole day we had to spend with each other, at the Temple. That was quite upsetting to T.) we are going back to "Do Vegas Right" during his Thanksgiving 96. I can't wait to see that is in store for this round in Sin City. (Even though we really do no sinning while we're there.)

(I love this photo of T and his dad. Such a loving moment.)

On another note, T just got his birthday present from me last night. Care to see what it is?

That's right. A 55 inch, Samsung, LED,  flat screen TV. I like to think of myself as the best girlfriend ever. (Humble huh?) He calls the TV our baby and I must say, I love this thing like a child, just as he does. I was planning ways to surprise him with it and every plan I had fell through. Finally I just had to take him to Best Buy myself (which I was slightly sad about) but he was super excited regardless. I love this man so much, (even though he can be a poopy head sometimes) he totally deserves it.

Epic Fail, 21st Birthday and Engagement Ring Bliss!

Epic Fail:

I am sitting in an empty classroom (well minus myself and some English guy to my right) wallowing in my epic fail moment. I thought I was getting to class an hour early today, so I could sit in silence and finish and assignment I know will not get done this weekend. As I finish the assignment about 45 minutes after I arrive I find it odd that my classmates are not here yet. Usually my obscenely huge Statistics class (with 100 students and 90 seats) fills up relatively early. As I REALLY start to ponder what the crap is going on here I realize, my class starts at 7 not 6! What is wrong with me? I had time to go and get dinner and maybe take a nap, but NOOO I had to have a major brain fart the day when I need food and a nap the most.

21st Birthday & Engagement Ring Bliss:

At least this'll give me some time to catch up on my bloggy friends on what's been going on in my neck of the woods (even though I am having this strange suspicion my blog is being boycotted... maybe I am just being paranoid?). This past weekend was very relaxing. I spent it all with T because it was his 21st birthday! He is so old, and in 2 weeks I will be 20, an even scarier thought. Anyway, we stayed local and on the day of His birthday we went to Robbins Brothers, where he let me pick the ring of my dreams ( I am serious, I asked what price range should I stay in and he said, "Price doesn't matter baby, pick the one you love." Oh my gosh, isn't that boy a keeper??) So I found this BEAUTIFUL Tacori ring. There are no words to even describe it, I put it on and my hands started to shake, it was the ONE. Now, the next steps are to look for the perfect diamond (this weekend we will be in Vegas so we will browse to find a good deal on a loose, princess cut, diamond of love), and then it will be official proposal time!! I am so freaking anxious. I want it around my finger NOW!

Then on Sunday we went to Universal Studios. Sadly I didn't bring my camera so I have no pictures (It actually turned out as a blessing, the first ride we went on we got soaked! And that is no exaggeration). We had fun there, the back lot tour is our absolute favorite. We left sort of early but we spent the rest of the day eating, cuddling and watching "Billy the Exterminator". Does it get any better than that?

Sadly, my plan for his birthday present slightly fell through. I was planning on buying him something extraordinary and surprising him with it a couple days before his actual birthday, but that didn't happen for a particular reason ( I cried and cried, I had everything all planned out, and I was crushed I couldn't make it happen) but I will be surprising him with it sometime soon and he will be amazed! 

I shall share more news as it comes in! I hope you all have an amazing rest of the week and weekend. I'll be sending my love from Las Vegas (seems like Vegas has become our second home lately)!

XOXOXO

Deployment Survivor!

I am a PROUD deployment survivor. Although T and I talked extensively about the hardships of deployment before he left, nothing could prepare me for the stresses, the trials, and the tribulations of deployment. The weeks prior to D-Day, as I like to call it, I was in denial. There was no way to convince myself that he was actually leaving. It definitely hit us the hardest the night before D-Day. As I sat with T, helped him pack his sea bags, and med bags it was impossible to hold back the tears. At the end of our last night together he crawled into bed with me he began to sob as he held me tight. (Shh, don't tell him I told you that, he'd kill me. Our little secret?) I knew at that moment this would be one of the hardest experiences to date and the ultimate test to our relationship.

Day one I was a wreck. Day two I was even worse. Day three I was mush, unable to concentrate at work or school. Day four I was a zombie from staying up all night and crying. (Don't worry, I wont go on a daily itemized list of how devastated I felt, you've all been there, you know.) One day I had am epiphany. This deployment is an OPPORTUNITY for us, a stressful opportunity, but an opportunity none the less.

For the duration if his deployment I learned how to be someone else's support system as well as my own. I learned that the saying reigns true, absence DOES makes the heart grow fonder. I fell more and more in love every day. I learned that this life would never be easy but love will always trump the hardships.  I learned to never take any moment for granted. Every minute on the phone and e-mail sent was cherished and every love letter was saved. I found a wonderful Mil spouse/ SO community that had supported me through every phase of deployment. I took the opportunity to get close to T's family. Talking all the time and flying out to see them twice during deployment bonded us tight and for that I am very thankful. To top it off, I grew tremendously as a person. I always viewed myself as a strong, independent, and dare I say flawless, woman, but during and after deployment I was that women times ten. My strength and faith in God to keep T safe grew exponentially. I also learned how to be the same in dependant women while DEPENDING on others to keep T safe and help me through the hard times.

Before I knew it, I was getting into a groove. I got used to writing letters every day, sending packages every month and waking up at 3am to a tired, haggard but loving voice on the other line. And then soon enough he was home! (Click the linky for the full homecoming story!) I can keep going on and on but for the sake of time (baby girl is napping, this time is precious to get some stuff done!) all I can say, is our first deployment was a true blessing. While I was waiting at the Motor Pool for the buses to roll in, the sense of accomplishment took over me. WE BOTH ARE DEPLOYMENT SURVIVORS. Our relationship stood the ultimate test, and WE PASSED! Now we know we can make it through any situation we may face in our life together.

9/11 Happend to All of Us (Wordless Wednesday)

9/11 Happened to Us All @ Yahoo! Video

Council on American-Islamic Relations