Things are going well for Travis and I. 23 more days until we are together again! I can hardly wait!! Lots has happened since I last posted so I'll fill you in!
Last weekend Travis was given a 36 hour pass from training. He was allowed to leave post and do anything except travel more than 50 miles, smoke, drink, or drive. Good thing two of those were not issues anyway.
My wonderful friend from high school, Jewelz, lives in Colombia, South Carolina. South Carolina is on the way to Georgia obviously, where Travis is, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to visit her. It is a 6 hour drive from where I live right now but due to some horrible storms all the way down it took about 8 hours to get there. I got to her apartment Wednesday night and stayed with her until Friday early afternoon. Jewelz moved away from Northern Virginia 5 years ago and I have only seen her 2-3 times since then. She is still the same great person I remember and I enjoyed spending time with her. I had never been to Colombia so it was nice of her to drive me around, see a lot of the sights, talk about the past, and go out to eat. Thanks for a fun few days Jewelz- it was great to see you :)
After I left Jewelz I headed off on the the 5 hour trip to Ft. Benning, Ga. I arrived about 6:30 pm and was literally shaking when I walked into the hotel to check in; I was so excited I would be seeing Travis the next morning! I dropped my luggage all over the parking lot, dropped a pen right out of my hand at the front desk, signed in with my old initials, listed a car I hadn't even driven there and basically made a fool of myself! After I had been settled in for a little while I got a phone call from Travis! The soldiers got their phones back that night in preparation for seeing their loved ones the next morning. It was so great to hear his voice. Usually the conversations are 5 minutes long and feel so rushed. This was a nice change. He stayed up super late texting me too. You don't realize how much those things mean to you until they're gone.
That evening I went out to Applebees with a couple other ladies who were in town for the pass. There was a DJ there trying to get himself known playing the music SO loud we had to scream to hear each other. You'd think we went to a club or something. It is so nice to have the support of other girls who have boyfriends/ fiances/ husbands in the same company as Travis and know exactly what it is like. I am so thankful that I have people like them, and of course my friends and family, to support me and be interested in what is going on daily at Ft. Benning.
I could not sleep for the life of me Friday night- I was way too excited!! I think I finally got about two hours of rest before getting up to meet with Travis. All the ladies who had stayed in my same hotel met in the lobby at 6 am and we caravaned to Sand Hill. I appreciate them- I never would have found it on my own. We had a "briefing" at 7 am which basically took 5 minutes and just reiterated what the soldiers couldn't do on the pass and when they needed to be back on Sunday. Then we had to wait in the REC center for 40 painstaking minutes until our soldiers were released. There is nothing more difficult than knowing that the man you haven't seen for 12 weeks is in the building right across the street and you can't see him for 40 more minutes! The conversation was minimal and people kept staring at their phones watch the minutes pass by. Finally people started jumping up from the couches in the lobby area where we were sitting and rushed towards the door. We walked outside in time to see all of A company marching together. I was to jitttery to even think to take a video or pictures of it!! They turned and faced away from us as their drill sargent talk-yelled at them. Then they were DISMISSED! Travis turned around and started looking around for me. It was so sweet, he was pushing out his chest to make his name badge more noticeable. He thought I wouldn't recognize him since he has lost so much weight since I'd last seen him. I had kept my eye on him- I could pick him out of any crowd- went up to him and without even saying anything hugged him so tight. It felt so good to be back in his arms. For those few seconds everything about the past few weeks disappeared, everyone around us vanished and it was just him and I together again at last.
The 36 hour pass turned out to be one of the best weekends of my life. We made sure to hit up lots of food places; Travis had hardly eaten in 12 weeks! He had a steak for lunch at O'Charleys... and a steak for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We swam in the pool at our hotel and drove around post and Columbus so he could show me the places where he lived, went to school, and played when his family was stationed there. Yes- he was in the 2nd grade when he lived there and he remembered how to get all around town. The man has an incredible memory. We spent a lot of time talking about all the things that have gone on while we have been apart this summer too. We even went to Alabama- just minutes away from Ft. Benning, had our own celebration in honor of his finishing the first 9 weeks of training, ate at IHOP, went to wal-mart... obviously, and mostly just enjoyed being together again. Things were even more perfect than I could have imagined. The weekend ended much too soon. The only positive thing about that is that it gets us closer to graduation and the day when Travis can come home for good.
Here are just a few pictures from the pass. Sorry- I didn't take any the first day.
Sunday night Trav had to be back by 8 pm. Saying goodbye after being together for 36 straight hours was so hard. I thought it would be easier than the first time... but it wasn't. Travis is very nervous for his last few weeks of training. They will be very difficult physically and ask you to keep him in your prayers. I stuck around and watched his company divide up into their platoons for contraband search. After a while, when my brain finally registered that he wouldn't be coming back to the car, I got in and drove away. I wasn't very focused and got lost for 40 minutes on some reservation area of Ft. Benning. At last I made it back to the hotel. Just what I needed- my room smelled horribly of cigarette smoke. We had a non-smoking room but it must have been coming through the vents! The front desk was completely unhelpful so I had to suffer through that all night long.
In the morning I slept in, packed up my things (so sad) and checked out. I dropped a letter with a postman and started the 6 hour drive to Daytona Beach, Florida where my family spent the week at Grandma's house. The first 3 hours of the drive were in the middle of nowhere in Georgia! Seriously- so far away from civilization. Once in Florida it was a lot of fun and a pretty full house. We celebrated my brother's 18th birthday while we were there, went to the beach, ate at a few great restaurants, spent a fun day at Silver Springs, rocked out with my brother and Uncle on their drums and guitar and enjoyed being together. There are WAY too many pictures from that trip to shuffle through. I'll get those on facebook eventually. Here are a few to tide you over:
We had a great time together. Grandma loved having us there and I think I speak for us all when I say I hope we can make it back soon.
Javi and I drove back from Florida to Virginia on Saturday, his actual birthday. We made good time and would have gotten home two hours earlier if we hadn't gotten stopped in traffic. One time, in Virginia, was lame! It was just pointless construction traffic we sat in for about 30 minutes. While we were still in South Carolina, earlier in the day, there was a HUGE accident on I-95. They had to bring in a helicopter, completely stop traffic, and medivac someone out. It seemed to be a family on a trip because there were a ton on their belongings strewn out across the highway and the car was UPSIDE DOWN. It's scary. It could happen to anyone. In an instant that family's life was changed. It was quite an experience for us too. Since we were completely stopped on i-95 people turned off their cars and got out to stretch their legs. Really, people got out for a smoke break and were walking up and down the shoulders to catch a glimpse of what happened. We were scared out of our minds because when we got back in the car it wouldn't start. Both of us were silently praying the car would start since we were sitting in the middle of a lane on the interstate. After a few more tries it started with just moments to spare before traffic was able to get moving around the accident. I'm not a fan of car trips but this one was bearable. We made it home Saturday night. It feels good to be back.
If you read to the end of this post you really are a saint. Soon I'll post more about Travis's daily "activities." For now- he is doing very well. I am so proud of him. He is a few qualifications away from being a US Army Infantryman.
Gotta love my life :)
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