How exciting that she and Mike are getting MARRIED in 20 days!! Please wish this lovely couple a lovely wedding and a long and beautiful marriage! Congratulations!!
Congratulations on your wedding in 20 days! WOO-HOO!
Tell us a little about you: Hmmm, where do I start? Well, I'm a recent college graduate of Marquette University moving to North Carolina after I get married on August 1st to the love of my life. I love to play and watch sports, spend time with my family, traveling (pretty much everywhere), and I plan on becoming a medical interpreter with the degree I have (Spanish for the Professions) so I'm pretty excited about that! I'm a roller-coaster FREAK and I love to ride them, I love theme parks, and I'm definitely the party type but I also enjoy chill nights of cuddling and movie-watching. =)
The branch of service: Marine Corps
How long have you been together/married? 5 years and some odd months
How did you meet your man? Was it before he decided to sign his life away?: I met him in high school and let me tell you, it was definitely not love at first sight. We HATED each other (and hate is being nice...) and we played tricks on each other all the time. Not nice ones either. However, our attitudes turned around our junior year and we started to talk and actually be nice to each other and we started officially dating on February 1st, 2005. He didn't sign his life away to the military until 2006 so we were together for about a year and a half before he left for boot camp.
Is he career military? Yes and no. It's difficult to explain. As of right now, he's getting out in 2011 to go to college and then return to go to OCS once he graduates with his degree. It's slightly complicated but I guess you could say he's a "lifer!"
How did you initially feel about him being in the military?: I supported him 100%. I wasn't ready for him to leave me at all but if this is what he wanted to do then I would always support him. Of course, the military has its ups and downs but as long as I'm with him, I don't think it really matters. I'm proud of what he does for me and for our country. =)
What attracted you to him? Was it the uniform?: I would definitely have to say that his sense of humor attracted me. I don't know why, but I love people who are funny. I tend to click with them very quickly but I also love how caring he is. He will always care for me as if I was a fragile piece of glass. Unfortunately, he worked for Jewel at the time I met him so the uniform definitely was not a factor then!
How does/did your family feel about him being in the military?: My adopted family supports him 100% and is very proud of him being in the military. My biological family, however, is somewhat wishy washy. Sometimes they are proud of him, other times they aren't. It's really complicated, ha ha.
Does the sexy uniform (or the sense of pride you feel) make up for the sacrifices you have to make?: Nothing will ever make up for the sacrifices you make as a military significant other. Not only do you have to sacrifice your time with him to do his job but you have to completely revolve your life around the military (which, believe it or not, is very hard for me to accept... but I'm getting there!) but I do have a great sense of pride that he is making sacrifices as well just to do his job. I can never get the time back that I didn't have with him but hopefully once we are married it will make up for it.
Have your plans been messed up thanks to the military?: OH YES. Quite a few times actually. During my freshman year of college Mike and I were supposed to fly to Spain to visit my family over there and we were one week away from leaving when he tells me that his leave got denied and we couldn't go. My dad had a FIT (since he paid for our tickets) and he was pretty much forcing me to go. I told him that I wouldn't go without Mike and that I wasn't going to spend Christmas without him so we both ended up staying at home for Christmas and we used our tickets at a later time to go elsewhere.
The other time that it got messed up was when he wasn't scheduled to deploy and we had set aside time and go on a vacation since we hadn't gone in almost 2 years and we were about to book the vacation when they told him he was deploying.... IN TWO WEEKS! They gave him pretty much no notice at all and when he asked for pre-deployment leave, he only got 4 days. I'm glad that he got those 4 days, but I expected at least a week or two when guys are deploying to come home and spend time with family. Let me tell you, those 4 days were a roller-coaster of emotions.
Does it motivate you as a couple to get married sooner if he is slated to get orders to leave you (go off to training/school, move to a new duty station –PCS, deploy)? Did you elope?: I would say so. When Mike was getting deployed in those 4 days we contemplated getting married on paper but we weren't sure yet. We thought about eloping and/or getting married on paper without telling anyone but in the end we decided to wait and I'm glad we did.
What is one piece of advice you had received PRIOR to getting married or while dating?:
Always support him no matter what. Being in a partnership is supporting one another and being there. Even though they might not show it, the guys need you more than you can imagine and they need the support to get through things like deployments, boot camp, etc.
If you don't mind, I want to offer a piece of advice for those of you who are new to the military life. Don't expect everything to go your way. I've been disappointed quite a few times in the 4 years he's been in and you just can't rely on the military to do the things you want them to. They might change plans around 50 times before they make up their minds. It's a hard lifestyle to get used to but as many of you know, the waiting, crying, hoping, praying is all worth it when you see their smiling faces again. =)
Thanks Carmen! You have some wonderful advice.
And once again, Congratulations!!
I hope your wedding is as amazing as you dreamed it to be!!
And I want pictures!!
Ladies, if you're a MilGirl and want to share some advice or encouragement, please contact me!
date.a.marine [at] gmail.com
Love,
R
