D-Day

At 2:55 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30th, mine and Skylar's lives are going to drastically change. We will board our plane and make our journey out of the United States. When I got our itinerary email this morning, I had a huge, massive reality check. We're leaving our home. Not just our family, but our beautiful Arizona state, and our country. We're leaving our country!!! I had a minor meltdown..which ended up requiring half a box of tissue. Don't get me wrong, I am soooo excited for our experiences that we will have. We're going to be able to see things and go places that we could probably wouldn't have been able to otherwise. My home is wherever Skylar is, but we both are slightly dreading leaving the only place we've ever known as our home, and going off into the unknown. I understand why everyone I talk to about it tells me that this is once in a lifetime and I should be so excited. I am excited. But, today it started to rain outside and I thought to myself, "I'm not going to smell Arizona rain for a long time..". We all know that Arizona has a unique rain scent. It's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I'm sure I'll get my share of rain while we're in the UK, but it won't be the same. Here, rain is treasured. It's prayed for and is as precious as gold. I think that's why it's so special to me. That little rain moment brought on the "I'm going to miss this, and that, and this.." list. I'm feeling better about everything than I did this morning, and I'm trying to stay positive. All I can say is that Skylar and I are going to miss our families so much. It hurts to even think about it. In our four years of marriage, we have never once had to miss our families for too long. We have been so blessed to be able to visit at our leisure. This will be the hardest part. But, Skylar and I have decided to really start trying for a baby, of course because we want children, but also I don't think mine or Skylar's mother could stand not being there afterwards. So they'll have to come!! Haha! Anyways, we are excited about what's to come. Definitely nervous, but excited. We love our family. We're so thankful for their support and love. If anyone needs a place to stay in Europe in the next three years, we'll be there!!

Everything might be a little bigger in Texas...but most definitely not better!

I cannot believe that almost a month ago, I drove to Texas to be with Skylar. I mean, where did all that time go?! Fastest month of my LIFE. Let me just start by saying that I developed a little resentment towards Texas when Skylar graduated from BMT. The weather was so weird, and I just did not find anything pretty about the landscape...plus Skylar had to leave me to go to Texas. That's a good enough reason to have a bone to pick with Texas right there! But, since I've been here for a month...I can honestly say that I will NOT miss Texas. Wichita Falls is like a small city. A little bigger than Flagstaff. The weather..I seriously cannot get over the weather here! It is so bizarre. There was one night that there was a craaaazy storm. It happened to be the same storm that brought those horrible tornadoes to the Dallas and Forth Worth areas. That was almost one of the scariest nights of my life. I am scared TO DEATH of tornadoes. I woke up to hail and wind and thunder that was setting off dozens of car alarms at once. I was literally planning an escape route. I was up for hours. And the images that crossed my terrified, irrational mind were like this....
And some were a little like this...


In other words, I was making myself crazy. It ended up all OK, but it was a really scary night. Weather reporters in states like Kansas and Oklahoma, and others in tornado alley, are beefing up the language they use when giving storm warnings. Because apparently, people don't run out their front door and drive away when a tornado is announced. They're going to start using descriptions, such as "unsurvivable"...or "catastrophic"..."mass casualties". If my weather man said "mass casualties"...I would be out the door before he finished his sentence. But that's just me. But, other than the horrible storm, Wichita Falls hasn't been so bad. It's actually very green, and I like green. They actually have a lot of historic sites and some really pretty architecture. I'm just glad I got this time with Skylar. He'll be in North Carolina for one more month, and we'll be off to jolly ole' England! Cheerio!