We got married June 5, 2004, and immediately moved to Oklahoma. It was a huge adjustment moving from the mountains and forests of Idaho to the flat plains of the Sooner State. But no sooner than we got there (no pun intended), the Army decided to give us both a fresh start. I received orders to be a recruiter in Los Angeles County, California. So the three of us loaded up the truck and moved to Palmdale, California. Still in LA County, but far from the glitz and glamour of swimming pools and movie stars.
Sunset Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra shirt
Recruiting is a tough gig. Long hours, high pressure, six days a week, etc., but we were grateful because it wasn’t a deployment. The year was 2005 when we first got there, and while I wasn’t hiding from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, I wasn’t ready to leave my wife, my step-son Jordan, and now my daughter to be, since Kim got pregnant right before we left Oklahoma. When Courtney was born, she had colic. She cried all day long, I was gone from about 7 AM to around 9 PM every day, so there was little I could do to help. Kim shouldered that burden all alone. She didn’t have her family nearby. We were friendly with, but not that close to the other recruiter’s wives, and Jordan, now 11-years-old, was trying to figure out where he fits in. For three years she was basically a single parent removed from all of the support she desperately needed until we moved back to Oklahoma.
Mac Miller Keep Yours Memories Alive All Album Shirt
Again, keeping things in perspective, Kim didn’t get a chaplain at the door saying I wasn’t coming home, but it’s not a stretch to say she was waiting for the car to pull up. Things settled down for a little bit once I got home, and for the next year or two everyone was happy. Things were even pretty good when I went to Afghanistan, and Kim’s mom came to stay with her through that deployment. Then the Army moved us to Indiana. Then we heard about Kim’s mom. She had cancer, we lost her a month later. Kim was very close to her mother, and this rocked her to her core. It’s been a couple years since then and she still feels that stinging pain and emptiness that will never go away. But again, she handles everything with a beauty and grace that I admire so much. Kim and I have been through a lot, so much more than is even listed here. Having said that though, we weren’t prepared for the latest bit of news.
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