Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder!!

My flight to Germany is drawing near...11 days from this very moment, I will be on a plane (at last) to Germany. These past few weeks have been eventful and have kept me quite busy. Yet still it seems to me like every second is filled with wishes to be with Jerry. This time apart has been difficult for me, as I expected it would be. What I didn't expect was the incredible closeness that has developed between Jerry and me in our time apart. The distance has forced us to communicate more expressively and has allowed us to share everything more openly with each other than we had before. I had foolishly thought that we were as close as two people could be, only to discover a whole new level of closeness and a deeper love than I ever thought possible. Even cooler than all of that, is the fact that it seems to be mutual :) As much I hate this time apart, I think a part of me will always be grateful for these seven weeks because the strengthening and deepening of our love for each other is almost tangible.

A week and a half ago, I left my life in Asheville behind. It was hard to leave the apartment that was my haven for the past four years. Hard to say goodbye to the place where Jerry and I made our first home together. Hard to say goodbye to Jerry's family, who made me such a part of their family, especially in these last weeks and months.

Scooter and I have travelled successfully to Massachusetts, where we will spend the rest of our time in the US, with my family. I am so thankful for this time I'm spending with them. Being at home reminds me how lucky I am to be a part of my family... I love every one of my family members fiercely, for unique reasons. I know that it will be very painful for me to leave them in 11 days and don't think I could ever do it without having someone so special waiting for me at the end of my flight.

On Sunday, I was able to spend the day with my wonderful grandparents....something about spending time with them always makes me feel like a little kid. A little kid who is so excited to be spending time with grandma and grandpa. No matter how old I get, I'll always love approaching their house, spending time with them, admirng the amazing people that they are!! And I'm pretty sure that anyone who knows my grandparents would agree that they are amazing people!! Not only did I get to see them, but I saw my Auntie Paula and many of my cousins. I don't think I can properly express how grateful I am for all of my family.

I am hoping to see more of my dad's family before I leave the states and my wonderful friend Jason has informed me that he is going to visit me here before I leave. He lives in Ohio and is making a special trip just to see me....what a friend!!

I guess this entry is a little mushy and sentimental. But I am overwhelmed with emotion when I think of all of the wonderful people that I am so lucky to have in my life.

One week from today...

Our stuff will be on the way to Germany.

I will be very, very tired.

I will no longer be an employee of Best Buy (goodbye sweet, sweet discount).

I will be spending my last week in Asheville.

I will still be missing Jerry.

I will be one week closer to seeing Jerry.

This weekend...

...my car was broken into. By which I mean someone opened the unlocked car and stole stuff. About seven cars on my block were broken into in the wee hours of Saturday morning. As if I had known they were coming, I left my iPod in the car (something I normally don't do), as well as a couple of old digital cameras (that I had planned to sell myself later in the day) and my parking money for the week (also something I don't normally do). So he/she/they made out pretty well in my car. My neighbor also had an ipod stolen. As much as having stuff taken sucks, I feel worse that there are people who would do this kind of thing. Completely disregarding respect for other people and other people's belongings. It makes me sad.


On a lighter note, my mother-in-law and I went to see Leatherheads today. It was completely enjoyable and had me laughing out loud and grinning from ear to ear! I highly recommend it!


I'm currently building a new iTunes library to replace the one that was lost on my iPod. Unfortunately, I had erased it from my PC and was plannig on loading it from my iPod to my laptop. Again, not the best timing! But building the library is a great excuse to go through my CD collection and add things that had been missing from the old library. I have lots of great music!!


Overall, I've had a very productive weekend. I can now say that I have sorted through every last possession of ours in preparation for the move. I even faced and conquered the dreaded junk drawer! Woohoo! I also 'tackled' four episodes of Battlestar Galactica...and the weekend isn't over!!


As I enter into my final week at my apartment, I'm feeling pretty calm and satisfied with where I am in preparing for the move. Of course, there's always little things to be done, but I think that I'll have no trouble taking care of them. I am starting to feel nostalgic/sentimental as I get ready to leave Asheville. As I drove into town today, I was reminded of my first view of Asheville when I drove through the tunnel for the first time four and a half years ago. The decision to move to Asheville was one of the best I've ever made. Not only did I experience great personal growth, but I met the man with whom I plan to spend the rest of my life. I will always be grateful for the time I've spent here and know that I'm going to miss it. I hope that our journey will bring us back to Asheville in the future.

It's All Happening So Quickly...

...yet it seems like FOREVER until I see my JerryGiant again! Jerry left for Germany on Sunday, March 23. Two weeks from today, I will be completing my last day at work in Asheville! I can't even believe it's coming so quickly! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty organized and a planner. So it should come as no surprise that the house is pretty much ready for the movers, despite the fact that they won't be here for another 10 days!

Yesterday, the army booked my flight to Germany. After spending three weeks with my family in New England, I will be flying to Germany at the end of Mother's Day, May 11. My mom is happy that I'm going to stay through Dad's birthday and mother's day, but Jerry's a little disappointed that I won't be joining him in Germany sooner. And I feel torn, wanting to have it all, be with both my husband AND my family.

Jerry moved into our apartment today, which is very exciting. Initially, we expected to be living in temporary housing until our permanent military housing was available. But we lucked out and Jerry moved into our apartment and is getting everything set up for us. It's exciting because it will be the first place that is truly ours. In Asheville, Jerry moved into my place and we made it ours. But this is a place that we will set up together from the beginning. The place where, with luck, we'll start a family. So it's very exciting for us both! If only I could get there sooner!

I'd intended to be better about updating this blog, but I've been swamped with preparing for the movers, wrapping up everything in Asheville, and preparing for the move to Germany (including looking for and applying for jobs). I hope to get better though. In preparing for the move, I've been doing some (too much!) shopping, which has included buying a new camera! When I went to Jerry's graduation, I made the alarming discovery that my camera phone took better pictures than my camera! That's embarassing! So I replaced my Exilim with a Nikon 10MP cute camera! So hopefully the blog will soon be seeing the benefit of a better camera. Once I'm in Germany I expect to be frequently updating the blog and including pictures of the beautiful country I will soon call home!