It is "Basic"ally over

So here I am again. I am terrible at this blog stuff. Just too busy. :)

Michael graduated from BCT (Basic Combat Training) a couple of weeks ago. Woohoo!! We are all so very proud of him. He is now in Virginia for AIT (Advanced Induvidual Training).

We had a blast at the long awaited graduation. I was able to meet some very good friends that I had only been able to talk to. It was so nice to be able to meet them in person. Thank you all for being there for me!!!

Being without him at home again is a bit much. We did a lot of traveling before and after graduation. That post will have to wait. :)

Until then I will be Army strong . . . .try to be Army strong . . . Army kinda-strong? Oh heck . . . I will just try to BE!!!

They break them down, so they can build them back up

If I had a penny for every time I heard that phrase, I would be rich by now. I know that is what they do to the soldiers, but I was oblivious to the fact that they do it to the loved ones also.

Until now.

I know, I know. I am going to hear stuff from lots of people over this post and I am ok with that. I totally understand why they do it to our soldiers. They have to change them. They have to make them different people so that they can act as a team and learn to work under pressure. It doesn't mean that I, or Michael, like this fact. BUT we knew all of that before starting this journey.

What I didn't know if how they would break me. The total lack of information given by the Army during boot camp, coupled with the fact that our soldiers don't get to contact us very often if at all, makes for a miserable boot camp experience. I will admit it, I am broken. They might have set a new record with how fast they broke this Army wife. I have been lost trying to learn what I can do, what I can't, what I can send to him, and what I can't. Learning how to treat him while he is in uniform and how I should act at graduation. How I should act really isn't any different than how I would usually act, but still I have to make sure.

The Co. that Michael is in has a Facebook page. An angel runs this page. She has been amazing at letting us know how things work and what to expect. If it wasn't for her, I swear I would lose my mind. Really, really go crazy. She is amazing. I will hug her at graduation if she allows me to, and I am sure I am not the only one with this request. :)

They break them down, so they can build them back up. That I understand. I can even, sort of, understand them breaking the loved ones down. BUT when, if I may ask, do they build us back up???

We get to see our soldier for a day at graduation. Is that when? I get to drive Michael to his AIT. Is that when?

There is a constant fear that after we are posted somewhere that he will be deployed. I know that isn't when I will be built back up.

I love the Army for helping Michael with a dream he has had for a very long time. Longer than we have been together. I am proud of Michael, and every other soldier out there, in training or not. I am thankful for the Drill Sergeants that are doing their best to train my husband and lots of other soldiers for the worst while hoping for the best. I am thankful for all of this. I really am, and I can't say with all certainty that I would change where we are right now.

I just want to know when I get built back up?

He is my lobster

I can't believe that it has only been almost three weeks since Michael left. I feel like it has been an eternity. The kids still tell me daily how much they miss him . . . . I am glad it isn't just me.

He has been my rock since I met him.

He is the one person that I could always count on to be on my side.

He has literally saved my life on a couple of occasions.

He was by my side throughout each pregnancy and there when I delivered all of our babies, in one form or another.

He has supported me, with some voicing of opinion, throughout all of my crazy ideas.

He is the most amazing father that I could have ever asked for with our kiddos. He is loving and attentive and just down right amazing.

He loves sweets, watching movies (especially scary ones), bowling, music of all kinds, playing with the kids, working out and all kinds of Wii. All the everyday things that I love and miss now that he is gone.

He is the amazing man, that a year ago, truly began following Christ and changed a lot in our lives because of this. He was always a believer but he has really become an amazing follower and is leading us, as a family, down the right path. He is an amazing leader like that.

I am truly lucky to be able to call Michael my husband. I am proud to carry his name, even if we always joke that being a "Qualls" leads to bad luck. He is my love.

So as I sit here, stalking the Facebook page that they have for his regiment to catch a glimpse of him, I wanted everyone else to know that I don't just miss him because he helps me with the kids.

I don't just miss him because he is usually just here.

I miss him because he is Michael . . . and Michael and I have a special relationship. He is my lobster.

If you don't get that line it was on a Friends episode. :)

An Army of Four

My wonderful husband left for Army Basic Training on September 12. Well he left us that day. He actually left Texas on Monday September 13. His boot camp is in South Carolina. He called last Saturday. Talking to him was harder than I had thought. We miss him lots.



Since he has been gone we have been trying to adjust to life without him. This has been harder than I thought it would be. Michael had been home for over a year since he was laid off from his last job. He had become an important part of our daily lives. I knew that he wouldn't be home forever, but I didn't originally think that when the days of him being home were over that he would be really, really gone. He is gone gone. Neither of us have any control over when we get to talk. This has never been an issue in our almost 7 year long relationship. We have been very close since we started dating.



I mean really close. I can count on one hand the number of days we haven't spoken since we met and the number of days we haven't seen each other on two hands. Well, until now. :) We work well together. We always have. We are made to compliment each other. I am not saying we are perfect, at all, but we do work . . . without much work. Is that clear as mud?

All of this to say that we miss him. I miss him. He is missed.