By: Vanessa
The last thing James and I were expecting when we met, was each other. We definitely weren’t looking for each other, but we’re exactly what we needed. Both of us had recently gotten divorced, and neither of us wanted anything to do with relationships, just because we were afraid of getting hurt again. We met at our favorite bar on New Year’s Eve and it’s safe to say that after our kiss, we both knew we were going to fall, and fall hard. The next day, James told me he was leaving California for his new duty station in Georgia on January 8th, and I wondered if he’d want me enough to make it work. He was wondering the same thing. Three weeks later he bought me a flight out to GA for Valentine’s Day weekend, and I finally asked what was going on. “This is us babe, this is our relationship.”
James is a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines, and will be in for at least another 8 years, something I’m prepared to stand by him for, even if he decides to stay in longer. I’m graduating in a few months and trying to get a job to be with him. Deployments, duty stations, his Marines, family, friends… bring it on. He’s my happy ending and I’m keeping him.
Morning:
If it was a good night, and I actually wake up to my alarm clock, my day “starts” at 2:30 when I call James to try and wake him up to get ready for work. He’s in Georgia, and I’m in California, but both of us hate waking up early, so we try to give each other wake up calls.
This is usually James’ favorite part of the day, because I’m still half asleep and don’t remember what I say later on, but I always tell him how much I miss him and wish he was in bed with me stealing the covers, and tell him about whatever crazy dream I had that night. He loves it, since he doesn’t remember any of his dreams. I usually roll back over until 5 when James calls me to wake me up. We’ve named this the “gerbil 500.” He noticed that my voice kept changing on the phone, because as soon as he calls, I twist around and move around my bed like a gerbil trying to get comfortable, and so he always asks if I’m “gerbiling.” Sometimes we get in a 20 minute conversation, other times it’s just, “Hey babe, I gotta go PT but wake up, miss you, seriously babe, get in the shower.” Either way, it helps start my morning. As soon as I’m out of the shower, the texting begins and continues until I’m at my desk and we switch to email. We know how lucky we are that we can talk all day with our jobs, so we take advantage of it as often as possible. By now he’s usually got his picture for the day. I take a picture on my phone so he gets to “see” me that day, and he saves every one.
Afternoon:
Lunch time, I eat with my two girlfriends from work and hand over my cell phone. It’s 30 minutes of no-James-allowed contact, because they know I’m addicted. Except he has their numbers, so sometimes he’ll text them, or text my phone knowing they’ll read it. Lina’s boyfriend is a Marine too, so she gets it. They help me think of new ideas to be romantic with him, or ask for the update of the countdown until I fly out next. After lunch, it’s back to work for at least another three hours, and I usually call James for about thirty minutes, just to hear how his day went, and hear his voice. After work, I go to class. Always the most boring part of the day, but I’m glued to my phone and texting him under my desk the entire time. He tells me how he’s shooting at his dart league/practice/tournament, and I tell him whatever I’m daydreaming about.
Nighttime:
Driving home from school I usually rock out to my iPod or the radio, and send James a message whenever one of “our” songs comes on, or I text him the lyrics to a cheesy song. If he’s going to sleep soon, he’ll call and I’ll sing along to the radio for him. Breaking lots of cell-phone-driving-laws, but I don’t mind. Once I get home, I take out my “beso” for the day. Beso means kiss in Spanish, one of the few words I taught James. One week I came home and he had sent me a package, inside he had filled a jar with pieces of paper that say “beso” and a select few that are hand-written private messages or jokes. He told me they were kisses for a year, just one a day. After my beso, I jump on facebook to see if there’s a new cheesy bumper sticker I can send him, or if he did anything that day before I get in bed. Once I’m snuggled under the covers, I call James and we talk to each other until we’re sleepy enough, and we hang up, but it’s always the same. “Miss you’ miss you more’ dream about me’. Always’. Night baby’ Night.”
Then I repeat, every day, without fail, with love.
Vanessa
