California Dreamin'

Later this week (Thursday to be exact), we will find out where we will be stationed next. Believe it or not during our 5 years of marriage, this will be our first real move. In fact, in his 8 years in the Marine Corps, my husband has always been stationed here. Pretty crazy for the military right? We are excited and hopeful that we will be moving closer to home, but for me, living in California has truly been a dream come true.

When I was in high school, I had many dreams: I wanted to be a published writer. I wanted to fall in love, have a family, etc. I wanted to model (Dream big, right?) Among those dreams one of the greatest was that I wanted to move to California. I don't know if it was because of the Hollywood glamour, or the many wonderful stories my Great Great Uncle Theodore had told me of his time stationed out here or maybe even my extreme phobia of the storms we were constantly seeing back home, but somehow I'd gotten it into my head that California was the dream place to live. I would get letters from Pepperdine, USC, etc inviting me to apply to their writing programs, and I would just wish I could afford to actually go to such great schools. But being from a small town in Indiana, it was a dream that seemed out of reach....

That is until a great friend, who knew of my love of California, informed me that her older brother lived there, and had said that we could visit him... after he came home from Iraq that is. Can anyone guess where this story is going yet? If you guessed that her brother was the man I would soon marry, you are absolutely right! Soon after, he saw my picture on Myspace, we started talking and fell in love. He returned from Iraq in October. we got engaged soon after, and in November I flew with my prince to California for the Marine Corps Ball (complete with 'glass' slippers) with only a small suitcase for what was supposed to be a short visit. Over 5 years later, and I'm still here and it has truly been amazing. We have been blessed with such wonderful experiences here and as we prepare for what are likely our last few months here, it is truly bittersweet to be leaving, but we are so excited to see where this new adventure takes us and what new dreams will come true there.