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About Us

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Rob and I met in high school. We're from a really small area, and had tons of connections that we had never realized.  For example, his stepmother was my sister's kindergarten teacher, and his father, a physician, at one point worked with my mother, a nurse. 

Rob was in a band and was madly in love with a girl. Nobody knew who she was because he was very tight-lipped about it. He would write her these beautiful songs and sang them with his band (at this point people always think it was me--it wasn't.  We hadn't formally met yet). One day I went to go see the band play.  I met the band and long story short, I started dating the bassist. We were together for 2 months, but throughout that entire time Rob and I would talk for hours online, and would frequently talk about how we wanted to hang out without my bassist boyfriend around. He even confessed to me who "mystery girl" was after about 2 weeks of knowing each other. He was not an overly trusting person but knew that he could trust me.


One night in December we were talking online and he told me that though he could tell me everything, he had one secret he could not share. I kept asking what it was, and told him that I had a “secret” too. Eventually we played rock-paper-scissors over instant message (yes, this was as goofy as it sounds). I lost and confessed my feelings, which he clearly reciprocated. I broke up with my boyfriend the next day, talked to Rob for literally hours, and he told me that he loved me. The first time we ever held hands we cried together and I could literally see his heart beating through his shirt (whoaa teenagers).


A few weeks later was our first Valentine's Day. As a surprise Rob sang me a song he had written for me in front of our entire high school cafeteria. If you know Rob you know that he is extremely shy, and this was huge for him.  Of course I collapsed into dramatic tears amongst the jealous sighs of my classmates, and all I could see or hear was him.  It was lovely. 

We spent the next year and a half in young-love-bliss until he left for the Army, which I had known was his dream since childhood. I skipped school on April 13, 2004 and we had our last full, non-Army day together. On April 14, he went to Basic Training, and from then until July we only communicated through letters and two 3-minute phone calls. On the weekend of July 4, I traveled to Georgia to visit him for a 30 hour pass. 30 hours seemed like forever after being apart so long, but was gone in an instant. After Basic and Airborne School, he was then stationed in Anchorage, AK while I went to college in Wisconsin. 

As we were too young to get married, we stayed together without tying the knot for the next four years. I was in college so we only saw each other every 2-3 months or so. I think the longest amount of consecutive time we spent together at a time was 2 weeks. This went on until 2006, when he left for Iraq. He was there during one of the bloodiest times in the war, and he was on the front lines (MOS 11B - Infantry for you military folk). He was shot and was involved in several IED explosions, but miraculously survived. Rob was in quite a few dangerous situations but always made it out relatively unscathed, a fact that he owes to the existence of a tiny stuffed raccoon that I had given him early in the relationship. I had been given the raccoon when I was 4 and in the hospital with a tumor in my kidney. He carried her with him always and to this day swears that he'd be dead if he didn't have her (and, by proxy, me) with him always. He even got a tattoo of the raccoon, named Elizabeth.


I didn't see him for 8 months and we communicated infrequently by phone, at one point going 3 weeks without any communication whatsoever. His unit experienced numerous casualties, one of the occupational hazards of being an infantry unit, so he was not allowed a cell phone or personal internet use.  In January of 2007 I flew to Russia for a 4-month study abroad experience (read my Moscow blog here). Thankfully, Rob and I were able to talk about as much as we did previously and we were finally in the same time zone. I left Russia in May and he returned to Maine for two weeks in June. After that two weeks ended, we said the most horrific goodbye in our short history, and I didn't see him for another six months. I entered my senior year of college, trying to hold it together and get my degree. Though we often went weeks without talking, our love/communication/trust never wavered, and never did we even consider that we should not be together.


In May 2008 I graduated college and he got out of the army (hopefully) forever. We have lived together in happiness and love since. Rob began his postsecondary education, only a few years late, and studied Environmental Science.  On Valentine's Day 2009 he sang me a song in our living room (reminiscent of our first Valentine's Day) and proposed to me. I said yes, and we had the wedding of our dreams on July 10, 2010. 

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In February of 2012 Rob and I packed up and moved to New Mexico so he could pursue a childhood dream of being a wildland firefighter.  We can't wait to embark on this new chapter, finally together after all that we've been through.

I feel so extremely fortunate to have met and married my best friend. For Rob and I, staying together was never a question or a doubt. My relationship with my husband has always just come easily to me, the only thing I'm totally sure of in my life aside from my family. When I look back on what we've gone through and how it has strengthened us, I am filled with pride, love, and happiness.

I hope you have enjoyed reading our story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

12 comments:

  1. What a sweet story. A love that made it through some long distance difficulties. I'm sorry he lost buddies.

    Please tell him I said thank you for his service to our country, and for protecting our freedom.

    I'm so glad he made it home safe (sounds like God really protected him), and you have your happily ever after.

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  2. your wedding photo is adorable. i love your dress!

    i am glad that your man is safe. it must have been hard having him away for so long.

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  3. your are lucky! I am seperated from my love right now too! its hard and i am trying to remain positive and be strong and upbeat! I pray that I will see him soon!
    bless you and your husband and may life together be amazing always!

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  4. I loved, loved, LOVED reading this!!!! Your story is beautiful and inspiring. So glad I found you and I really look forward to keeping up with you through your blog.

    Reading about your sweet dog on your other page totally reminded me of how I felt about my dog, Cheyenne. She died last December, right after we relocated from MI to NC. She touched our lives in so many ways and my first blog post was a letter to her. Before we had our son, it was just Cheyenne, my hubby and I, frolicking and adventuring together. So many wonderful memories. I certainly understand how a canine companion can touch your life in inexplicable ways.

    Love your wedding picture and your dress! :)

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  5. What a sweet story! I love how dramatic everything is when you're a teenager...like how you remember seeing his heart beat. Sweet. :)

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  6. You guys have such an amazing and inspirational story!

    I cannot wait to follow your many adventures together via blog :)

    xoxohannah

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  7. Such a beautiful story! I am so happy that you guys made it through that tough storm!! I just married my best friend.. soul mate.. and so much more in June 2010 and I know that it just makes sense! thanks again for sharing...

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  8. This is such a great love story. I've come over to your blog via comments I saw in that amazing post that Danielle at Sometimes Sweet wrote re: being a non-believer. It's so great to discover a ton more blogs to read of amazing people out there with 1001 stories.

    I can't wait to read more, you sound like you've got a lovely life to write about!

    -Trina

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  9. What a lovely story! Congratulations on finding your happily ever after ;-)
    Andi

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  10. Wow, this story had me holding my breath in some parts. What an incredible love you two share!

    -Lindsey

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  11. An adorable love story! its beautiful how both of you have kept your relationship together no matter what was on its way..not many can hold up to that! you should be 'actually' proud for being the person you are...

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