A New Start

I was recently married to the man of my dreams, and could not be happier. We traveled across the country two days after our marriage-a total travel time of 5 days. Living in North Carolina now, my life is completely different than it was last month and last year. A few years ago, if someone told me I would be married to a Marine and living in North Carolina near a military base I would have laughed. Hard. And now, well here I am!

My life has changed so drastically in the past couple months, but with faith in God, good friends, supportive family, and a wonderful husband, I have made the transition fairly well. President Monson said "Nothing is as constant as change." How true a statement that is. With that knowledge in mind, I embraced this new change as best I could. 

Getting married was incredible. Getting married in the temple was so indescribable and beautiful words could never do it justice. This was the beginning of my life change. An LDS temple marriage is more than a "til death do you part." It's a literal "happily ever after." We have given ourselves to one another for eternity. The angels have written it in their books. We are a family forever. Realizing this is so wonderful and comforting. No matter what happens, we are together. 

Final packing and goodbyes were very difficult. Due to my awesome talent of procrastination, I had less time than I wanted for packing, and had to leave a lot behind; material things are easier to leave. Family, friends, pets, my home...leaving them and that change is one I am still dealing with. I practically ran out of the house with only enough time for a back glance as we drove away. That was hard, and it still is. What has saved me in this regard? Memories. Revisiting memories from my home, with my family, pets, friends...I will always have those memories. 

Traveling across the country, that wasn't much of a change. I've traveled by car before, granted this was a much longer journey than I've ever had before, but it was merely that. Riding in a car. We stopped when we needed gas or were hungry and found hotels each night. Everyone told me that being married was weird. Sleeping with someone else in the bed was awkward. It has never seemed that way for me though. From day one it has seemed natural, normal. I love my husband, and all I could think was "Why should it be weird?" No, traveling was nothing strange or new for me. Just a fun road trip with my best friend.

Arriving at my new home was the next shock. It doesn't look like much on the outside. It seems small and maybe a little broken, like most trailer homes do. The drive back to it has a camp-like feel. The home is completely surrounded by trees, and aside from the neighbor trailers, all you can see is trees. Once inside, it seems so much bigger! I was greeted by beautiful furniture, a nice clean welcoming atmosphere, and a feeling of home. After a long, five day car ride, it was a wonderful feeling. 

Once we were unpacked and settled, all shopping done and items put away, it was time to get me introduced to the Marine Corps. I was so nervous for this. Driving on base we were greeted by great big Marines dressed in Cami's with great big guns in their hands. Super intimidating! AH! We took all our paper work to our first building and got me a military ID, which was actually really easy and put me at ease. The people here were so kind and helpful, and not at all hard like I expected. Enrolling for healthcare was the complete opposite. People were hard and snappy, and asked a lot of questions I couldn't answer. Things were confusing and stressful, and I am so happy its over and I am enrolled! As stressful as it was, all I can think now is "YAY for free military healthcare!" Next was BAH, which covers housing costs, and we are all set. 

I drove on base with my new ID two days later. I was so so nervous! My first time driving in a bigger city, thousands of miles away from my little Tremonton, quickly approaching big Marines with guns... thank goodness it was not as bad as I thought! Simply show the man your ID and your good to go! Rhett had taken me on base that I halfway knew my way around base, but overall I was still pretty lost and Rhett ended up driving us home-it gets much darker much faster here than it does in Utah!

Once Rhett returned to work, getting into a schedule was a little difficult, and still is. Our water is a septic-tank system, and our landlord told me I was only allowed to do one load of laundry a day, which made me really sad at first, but has turned out to be a good thing. Laundry is something that is always there, like dishes, so I always have a load of laundry I can wash, dry, fold, and put away. Same goes for dishes. Our water is completely pure aside from calcium, which is actually very healthy for the body, but not so much for the sink or dishes, so everything needs to be dried right away, including the sink. Its not too bad, pretty similar to college really. Now that we've been here awhile I've been able to start cleaning things too. Like today, I was able to clean the kitchen and bathroom. The family room needs some picking up every morning too, because once Rhett comes home things get messy fast. We cook, play games, get things out, and do as much as we can together. Since he gets up so early for work, we go to bed early too, so there is no time for cleaning once Rhett gets home. 

Today has been a better day. I've gotten a little more used to Rhett's absence and how to do things around here, and hopefully now I can get used to this blog thing! Maybe its something I can remember to do each day or close to and give me just one more thing to do!

Wish me luck!