The Anniversary Blog

Well, the day has finally come! Well, in my time zone, it is still only June 4, 2010. However, wherever my loving hubby is, it is officially our one year anniversary.

June 5th, 2009, I woke up in the morning, knowing that that very afternoon I would become Mrs. Voigt. I dressed nervously, met with my bridesmaids, stopped at Sonic, and headed to Lockhart State Park to tie the knot. Absolutely the most wonderful day of my life.

This is Hubbers and I the evening of our first date.

Needless to say, it's been an amazing, crazy, scary, and wonderful year.

In June, we celebrated my 19th birthday, realized as a married couple we needed our own home, and started looking.

In July, we planned a move, and executed it in one day. We now had our very own apartment and all the responsibility that came with.

In August, the military finally caught up with us and awarded us some BAH, and we got our first puppy, Willow Marie.

In September, we had to deal with a new stressor of paying rent on an old lease. We moved from a two bedroom to a one bedroom apartment, and loved it...for a few weeks.

In October, Hubbers began week long underways. With the exception of three seperate weeks, he would now be gone every weekday, and home only on weekends, until mid April. We missed our first Halloween together, and I experienced my first true fear as a military wife when there was a jet collision over the waters Hubbers was doing his training in. He was out for three extra days, leading a search crew trying to recover bodies. This was also the first time I felt such an intense pride for what he did.

In November, I cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner. We had ham, potatos, devilled eggs, scalloped corn, regular corn, green beans and pumpkin pie. We also decided we'd take our first road trip and started saving for the holiday vacation. I sprained my ankle a day before one of hubby's underways and hobbled around on crutches. The following underway, I contracted what I swore was swine flu. Hubby came home to find me in bed, sicker than i'd been in almost a year. He was home for two nights. That first night was his birthday. He spent his birthday in the ER making sure I was okay rather than party with his friends.

In December, we got to actually spend our holidays together, rather than living across the country. We packed up the truck, and drove 19 hours, Willow in tow, to Texas and had an amazing holiday with our families. We met my nephew for the first time, and really bonded with our new in-laws.

January brought more time apart, but a closeness when we were together.

February marked one year from the day Hubbers proposed to me. It was also the first time I hadn't been "alone" on Valentines day. He brought me tiger lillies, roses, the most perfect stuffed giraffe and Carlos, the huge stuffed bear that I snuggle with now that he's deployed.

In March, we added Bailey Rae to the family. Bailey was infested with fleas and had worms, but Willow welcomed her to the family as warmly as she could.

April was finally the end of underways, and the begining of the deployment countdown. Hubby started a special school and was home every night with me. We got tattoos together and got to lotion eachother's new ink. We also finally had the means to move into a two bedroom apartment again.

In May the real stress began. We relished in our final weeks together, becoming closer than I thought possible. We made final arrangments, and when Hubbers was on leave, he spent the days with me and the baby girl I watch, making me eager more for the days that he'll be with our own child, years down the line. He's going to be an amazing father.

Eventually, hubby got on that big grey boat and left. The remainder of our first year together has been lived together via emails and facebook. Now hubby's dog-tags hang around my neck, and that is how I kiss him goodnight before I turn to sleep every night.

I put a lot of work into this post. Actually more so in the video to follow this paragraph. This is because to me, this post is my celebration of the past year. I haven't decided yet if I'll spend the day quietly lounging around watching movies and ignoring what it is, or if I'll try my best to make it an amazing day, go out to the beach, celebrate with friends, and rejoice in my anniversary. But what I do know is that inevitably, these photos will be playing in my head, as will every little conversation, every night we fell asleep in eachother's arms, every time he wiped my tears away, and every single memory we will make when he returns to me. So I want to share these beautiful memories with all of you, and I hope that you all have the happiness that I have in my life, with this man, in this world.