Dementia- The long goodbye.

My granny was diagnosed with Dementia a few years ago and I have been in denial about it for the longest time. Tonight for the first time since her diagnosis I have accepted the fact that she will never again be the same granny I grew up with. This is my letter, my way of coping with my anger and sadness. I know this isn't navy or military related but oh well. 

Dear Granny, 
I am not sure what my intention is in writing this letter or how/if I will choose to communicate this with you, but it is something I have been thinking about for a long time. I now understand why they call it the "long goodbye." It feels like every time I visit, it is not only another day that I get to spend precious time with you but also a bitter reminder of how much you have faded since the last visit. I know I don't visit near as much as I should,  but it is extremely hard to watch you slip away and not be able to do a single thing to stop it. 
 I know you will never remember me reading this letter to you or the conversation we had on Halloween about Connor being a pirate. You will never remember our many sailing trips that we took or the "Hot dog stands and Dairy Queens" While these memories slip away from you I find myself clinching tighter and tighter to each of them and trying to think of more to write down for you.
 I really don't know how to deal with losing the only grandparent I was ever close to. I could tell you ANYTHING! We used to laugh for hours over the silliest things. I used to sit in front of you and you would rub my hair while we watched lifetime movies. And man oh man could you make a ham sandwhich!
It is the small things that you remember when  you are losing the one of few people that mean the world to you. When I was little I used to wake up crying after a dream of you passing away, I feel that dream is becoming a reality at a slow yet terrifyingly fast pace.
I can't begin to tell you how heart broken I am, I miss you. I know you are still there physically but YOU are slipping right through my fingers. I just hope you always know how much you are loved and how much I will ALWAYS cherish the time we have spent and will spend together. I will NEVER forget the love you showed me. 
I love you!!!! 

Second Month Down!

We did it, we made it another month being away from each other. We have spent 63 days (including today) without seeing each other. Now some would think their world has started crashing down, but this is the life we are used to. We are used to not talking on the phone daily, not kissing each other goodnight and used to waiting months on end to wrap our arms around each other.



Between me going back to school for my Medical Assisting, being super mom to a very wild two year old, and taking care of everything on the home front it seems like the time is just flying by! We are finally settling into a deployment routine. This wont be a long post today but I am just so glad we have made it two months! Some days it seems like they just left and some days it feels like it has been forever. I just have to remember that while he is gone he is still thinking about us everyday. Just like we think of him.

Chin up ladies... another month down means another month closer to kissing your sailor!

Passionate about Fall

There is nothing like the feeling of cold crisp air blowing across your face or being bundled up in the warmest sweater you own. If you can't tell already I am a little crazy about Fall! It is by far my favorite season and it is the season I feel is the most lovey. I know this post is a little random but it is my passion right now, my happy drug so to say :)

Here are the many reasons I love Fall:
1. I am always HOT so the cool weather is wonderful!
2. I love having the windows open at night and being chilly enough to hide under a blanket.
3. When outside (and my husband is actually home) I enjoy being bundled in a warm sweater while snuggling in my husbands arms.
4. BON FIRES...enough said.
5. The nail colors become darker and more nudes are getting worn.
6. Boots!! I love my boots :)
7. Its not too hot to go out side and also not to cold either.
8. Reading a book on the deck while under a blanket.
10. The leaf color changes, I love driving to my moms during fall because there is this road with the trees covering it and it looks like a big tree tunnel. It is absolutely stunning!

Just a few of my reasons. If nothing else this deployment can make my heart happy at least these few months of nice weather will!

While deployments suck and its easy to get sucked in to being miserable everyday, try to remember the little things in life that make you happy.

Our story

Hey Y'all (yes I said y'all) My name is Kellie and I am new at this blogging thing. I figured I would take a stab at it so I can document some of the care packages, recipe ideas, and the daily life of a Navy Wife. I hope you all enjoy the posts and if you have any tips or advice on how to personalize the blog a little bit more please feel free to comment with those tips!

This is my Husband and I. He has been in the military for the past 4.5 years and lets just say he has a love/hate relationship with the Navy. I am a stay at home mommy to our wonderful two year old son. I currently attend school full time to obtain my certification in Medical Assisting. We have been married for 5 years on January 14th, it has been an adventure to say the least. Here is a little bit of a back story to give you a little peek on what our life has been like for the last 5 years.

Backing up to 2005: I was the new kid in a new school in the middle of the school year (talk about scary) I walked into my first period class which happened to be band. My instructor was introducing me to my section when all of a sudden this nerdy kid stands up and says "Hi my name is Jonathan."
In my head I'm thinking "yeah nerd that's great, the teacher wasn't talking to you." Little did I know this kid would be in all of my classes but three.
We ended up hitting it off and becoming the best of friends, even when I had to move to another city we still managed to talk at least twice a week. He was there for me through two other relationships and never stopped being a friend. It wasn't until the summer of my Junior year that we started dating and boy was that weird at first. I was dating this guy I considered my brother for the longest time.

Now we were no fairy tale relationship, we had our ups and downs but we made it through. He proposed to me before band camp my senior year and I said yes of course! Everyone thought we were crazy but we were crazy.. for each other. He was and still is the love of my life.


We tied the knot January 14th 2009

We got married six months after graduation at the Justice of the Peace. We didn't have the money for a big wedding but we knew that he would be shipping off for boot camp very soon for the Navy.

Now to speed it up since I am sure you don't want to read every single boring detail of our life! He left for boot camp February 17th (or 18th) and graduated in April. It was a tough few months with him gone since we relied so much on communicating with each other. I flew up there with the In laws to see him graduate and got to spend the weekend with him except at night. We flew back home and he got his orders to A-School in Fla. We were so used to having a long distance relationship that it wasn't as hard as most couples had to deal with. He called and skyped as much as he could with the busy school schedule.

While he was gone I was busy planning our actual wedding with family and friends. We decided on November 14th 2009 (we couldn't go wrong with the same date in a different month, I made it easy on his so he couldn't forget). He finally graduated his A-school and was on his way home, we had maybe a week to get all the final touches together on the wedding since he only had about two weeks before he had to report to his command. Needless to say it was hectic, but well worth every second. The day came and went and while it wasn't my dream wedding it didn't matter because I married (again) my dream guy. *cheesy right*

He reported to his ship the beginning of December and deployed a month later. We were not able to spend our first anniversary together as well as many more first holidays as a married couple. He as deployed 3 times including this one and not only has he missed anniversaries, birthdays, and holidays but he has also missed the birth of our first child.

That is a small recap of our life over the past five years, we are currently dealing with our third deployment and I figured what better way to pass time and stay busy than to document special things through a blog. I hope you enjoy :)