Love Story: Appendix

Thanks for humoring me. I promise this is the last installment.

Now that the Captain and I are married, I feel like I answer the question, "how did you meet" quite frequently. And lately, people seem interested in the how-I-got-to-Virginia part. Which, after telling the short version of the story again last night, I realized I totally left out. We were both very against dating long distance, and the Captain about 100% more against the idea than I am. At the beginning of our non-dating, long distance "friendship" he started making comments like, "It's too bad that you live in Utah. Just a shame that we won't be able to see where this could go." He considers the first hang out on the Mall to be our first date, but it's still like pulling teeth to get him to admit that we were "dating" before he came back from Iraq and we were actually living in the same city.

I'd have to search back through emails and chats to find when the tune of the conversation switched and I started talking about the possibility of relocation. Maybe September, maybe August. But this conversation happened September 23rd. I had started sending my resume out to job postings online, but I think I was more than testing the waters here. Please excuse the bad grammar, it was a gchat and very late.


T: i just want to make sure that this move pays off for you, not only romantically, but financially too!

me: babe

i make like 14000 a year here

right?!

T: hahaha!!!!

me: anything is going to pay off

T: point well taken, but you know, you'll have more expenses there...

haha

me: yes

T: at this point - i want you to come no matter what!!!!

me:you do??

T: oh yes babe!!!!!

me: it was my coverletter, huh? [meaning my resume cover letter]

it won you over?

T: even after just a few weeks of imagining you there, i don't think it would be the same if you didn't move out

i would be bummed out for sure

me: i would be too

T: yeah, your cover letter was pretty amazing i have to admit!

me: haha

thanks!

reallly?

T: hhee

T: nah - how can i sum up my feelings for you from just one point in time?

me: what a team we make!

It's fun to look back and see how far we've come since then, but also how far we had already come in just a few short months--sustained by verbal and written communication alone.

November 11, 2009 I flew back into Dulles International Airport with as much as I could fit in two checked bags, a carry on, and a personal item such as a briefcase, purse or backpack. The Captain still had about two months left in his deployment, but coming out before his return was a good move. Not because I reached my goal of finding a job before he got back. I didn't. But, I felt more settled in my new location. I had begun to make DC my own, and we picked up where we left off, except with a little more challenging time difference. In Utah, the 8 or 9 hour difference (depending if we were on or off daylight savings) made it perfect. I slept while he was at work and he slept while I was at work and we could talk for about an hour on either side of that cycle. As critical and wonderful as the forced communication was, I was definitely ready to elevate our "friendship" to a real relationship.

You can read about his homecoming here. The rest is, as they say, history.