Looking Back

This post will be mostly composed of just a few pictures, but they speak volumes about my life right now. My husband's daughter just turned 4 recently. When I met her, she was about a year and a half old. Our son is 3 months old today. I can't believe how big they've both gotten and how fast the time has gone by. Mommies, cherish every single moment because as I'm sure you've noticed, they fly past you. One blink and a thousand moments have passed. It's truly inconceivable, but such a beautiful, crazy ride that I wouldn't trade for the world. I love them both dearly and can't wait to continue watching them grow and learn and become who they want to be in life.

Love. Love. Love.

A Somber Note

Today has been bittersweet from the beginning. Nothing of true significance has really happened, except what I discovered on Facebook this morning. I saw that a friend of mine from my hometown joined a group in memory of a soldier. The name didn't automatically stand out to me, but when I clicked on the link and saw the face, my heart stopped for a moment. Yet another young man that I went to high school with passed away while fighting overseas with the military. That makes three young men alone that have died that I went to high school with. The town that I grew up in isn't tiny, but it's not very large either ... especially not when I was growing up there. So to know three guys that have passed ... it tugs at my heart. It quite honestly brings tears to my eyes. I didn't know any of them especially well. We definitely weren't best friends or anything of the sort. But the fact that I knew their faces, their stories, I saw them daily walking down the hallways around me ... it hits home in a very real way. They're such brave men to go do what they did, and I hope the list ends with them, though I know there's a very real possibility that as time passes, I will add more names to the list and more "R.I.P." groups to my Facebook page. I know far too many left our town to serve their country, and not all of them will come home, though I can pray to the contrary. Until that time, I will continue to honor the ones who've died by remembering their names, their faces, and their ultimate sacrifices.

Mini M - With every post I make, I know I'll think of you, especially today. You come from a Navy family. Your Pop Pop and Nana both served, and so did your daddy. They all served proudly and believed so strongly in their duty to their country. They've all known sacrifice, though luckily it has never been the ultimate price they've had to pay. Someday you'll face the choice of joining the military or not. Regardless, I hope that you'll carry the pride with you that we all carry in our hearts and remember that your freedom has never come without a price. Take advantage of every opportunity you meet, simply because you have been afforded that luxury. I love you, Bubba.

In the beginning ...

... there was one boy and one girl. They met online on a Thursday evening over a conversation about music, as lame as it sounds, and then met in person the following day at the beach. Both looking for nothing more than a casual date and a new friend, they spent the next 5 or 6 hours talking, laughing, and unbeknownst to them at the time, falling completely in love with each other. 6 months later, boy proposed to girl over the phone all the way from Hong Kong. 2 months after that, an official proposal came, along with a beautiful diamond ring. One year later, a little surprise was conceived. 5 months later, boy and girl were married in an intimate and beautiful ceremony. And 4 months later still, a beautiful little baby boy was born into this world. All of this because two years ago, one boy and one girl met and changed every plan they'd ever had to spend a life together.

I'm sure this blog will be about a myriad of life's happenings, but mainly, it's for my son. I don't always have a pen and paper handy to write down his milestones or the many things I want to say to him, but if I can somehow record these things somewhere (even in an online blog), someday he can look back and know what his early days were like. My husband and I don't lead a normal life. Nothing is ever really easy for us, and we're still waiting for that "big break." We'll get there, I know we will. But until then, we'll continue loving each other and our baby boy like crazy and working hard every day to make sure that someday, Mini M knows a good life and not the struggles we face today.