First comes love.

On February 16th 2010 I joined the United States Army. I went to basic training in Fort Sill, OK and AIT (training school) in Fort Jackson, SC. Basic training was two long, hard months and AIT was two longer, tiring months. By the beginning of July 2010 I was able to go back "home" to Texas and visit family before being sent to my first real duty station, which was in Fort Eustis, VA. I was nervous, excited, and anxious to be on my own and working and creating a life for myself. By the end of July I was in Virginia and was wandering around Fort Eustis. I was placed in my first unit and was told that I would be going TDY within the next week. Most of my unit was already gone, and I would be in the 2nd group to fly out to Fort Hood, TX for field training. I was so nervous, and scared. I had no idea what to expect!

A week later with my bags packed I headed to the airport with a few people from my unit. It was my first ever TDY and I had no idea what to expect. Were we going to be sleeping in tents? Living off MREs (Meals ready to eat)? To my surprise, no. We actually stayed in a hotel and ate at restaurants! I couldn't believe it, but I wasn't complaining. 

The day we actually landed in Fort Hood, we went straight out to the field. That was the day I met the rest of the people I would be working closely with over the next few years. When we got out there everyone was setting up the "TOC", basically a HUGE ass tent where we would be working for the next week. It took a whole day to put that big thing up. That was the very first time I saw Nicholas. He was crawling under the tent to set up the poles inside. I noticed him right away. His vibrant sleeve of tattoos caught my eye. It wasn't "love at first site", but I was definitely interested to know more about him.

I didn't actually talk to him the whole trip. I was to scared to talk to anyone! I did notice though that he smoked like a chimney, which was a HUGE turn off. Every time I turned around he seemed to be smoking another cigarette. 

I didn't actually talk to Nicholas until our 2nd TDY, which was only a few weeks later. This time we were in Fort Bragg, NC. I got his phone number off a piece of paper that he wrote on (sneaky me) and texted him later that night while we were at the hotel. The first few weeks it was just texting and "get to know you" talk. At the beginning of October we went on our first date.  A death metal concert. It was crazy. I'm definitely not a death metal fan, but it was actually fun. He was very protective to make sure I didn't get sucked into the mosh pit. It was a great, and memorable first date.

By December we were more "steady" with our relationship. I decided I would take him home to meet my family. I was nervous, but very excited for them to meet him. I knew they would just love him as much as I did. The one thing Nicholas and I talked about before we head to Texas was his smoking habit. I told him how I felt about it, and how my parents felt about it. I didn't have to say anything further. He quit the next day, cold turkey. I was surprised and shocked that he would do that for me. He is such a strong guy to be able to quit just like that. 

When we finally got home to Texas and he met my mom, dad, sister and grandma I felt a lot better. They really seemed to like him. But, what isn't to like? He is very intelligent, funny and easy to talk to. We did a lot of things together, like going to see the Alamo where we got our very first picture together.

Fast forward to March 2011 when we both found out we were deploying to Kuwait. It was going to be a rough year for sure, but at least we would be together. We kept our relationship on the DL at work just to keep things professional. It was definitely a long year out there, but being near him made it a little better. We had a chance to see how our relationship would do over the year, which I feel really helped us get closer together. He also really helped me grow as a person. He was always encouraging me to do my best and always there to pick me up when I thought I couldn't go any further. Without him I would have never got promoted and would have never made it though the stressful work days.

Around Christmas time in Kuwait, I got the greatest Christmas present ever! Nicholas popped the big question. He asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes! I was so excited, even more excited to get home and get my life started with him. I started planning our wedding right away with the help of my mom! You think its hard planning a wedding while you are in the USA. Try planning one while deployed in a foreign country and only have internet! It was quiet the challenge, but we were going to make it work. First comes love... then comes marriage.