And this is why I stayed......

I have never been more happier than I am right now with my life. Ok well other than when my love is home. Making the decision to stay here in Hawaii during the deployment was a hard one. We went back and forth about it SOOOO many times. We knew if I moved back to Texas we could bank alot more than If I stayed, but then did we really wanna go through the hassle of moving and packing up the house and shipping stuff.

I had a good job here in Hawaii, and was making some awesome friends that I knew were going to last a lifetime. Now, why would I want to just give all that up and move to Texas just because Gabe was deploying for 12 months. There was going to be enough change with in our life just with him being gone. After many long nights of talking there was just no real good reason to add to the list of changes. So the decision was made and I was staying in Hawaii, in our house & keeping my job.

Since then I have managed very well on my own. This is the first time I have lived this long on my own before. When we got married I was still living at home since he was deploying a month after. I moved to Hawaii a month before he got home and other than being home while he was at NTC or in the field or at a school Gabe and I have always been here together.

This was going to be a big change and adjustment for me that would take some time to get use to. The first week after he left we had a couple staying here at the house with their daughter before they PCSed so again I really wasn't alone. I think it helped some with him leaving and getting use to living life with a deployed spouse again. After they left things were quiet and sad and very lonely around the house. Although C and I still talked (& still do) daily it wasn't the same with her gone. I felt like I had to start the process all over again of living with out my love and now my best friend.

As time went on my small circle of friends that I had made here on island only grew tighter and stronger. Building a bond like the ones we have made, is something that doesn't come easy but it is defiantly something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. These girls & guys have gotten me through so much the past few years living in the land of Aloha and even more so since Gabe has been gone.

We get together to celebrate each others Birthdays and Wedding Anniversary's, Holidays such as Thanksgiving, Easter and even Halloween. Weekly dinner's at each other's house through out the month makes for some fun evenings. I can't even begin to tell you the amount of shopping and people watching we have done. Laying out on the beach and chit chatting, jumping out of planes and crying on each others shoulders. This is just a slice of the wonderful life that I have the joy of living each and every day. The cherry on top is when my one and only is here with me to join in on the lovely festivities of everything. But even when he's not, I try my best not going to dwell on the crappy part or the sadness of it. Because in the end it's not going to make it any better or help him come home any sooner. I am going to make the most of my time here and with the people that I love to be around. We have been blessed with a circle of friends who are there for us when we need them through the good and bad times.

They don't judge us because we don't have the latest and greatest of everything or even when we aren't as perfect as they are in whatever it maybe. They love us for who we are and except that.

Don't get me wrong I have an amazing group of friends back in Texas whom I love dearly. Being around men and women, people my own age that are going through the same thing as I am or have makes it just a little bit easier. My family is very supportive of our decision to stay in Hawaii. However I'm sure they would have rather me been home closer to them. In the end we had to do what was best for us and our future together and staying in Hawaii while Gabe deployed to Iraq for another tour was just that.

I will never forget my time here and each and every person that has been apart of it in some way. They have all been a foot print in my life and helped make me the person that I am today. I have the best group of friends a girl could ever ask for.

This post is dedicated to my Army Spouse & Best Friend Sarah and my Best Friend Crystal, I love both of you girls so much and couldn't picture our life with out you and your family in it. No matter were the road takes us, weather it be in the army or not, a thousand miles across the ocean, a 24 hour time difference between us the friendship we have I hold close to my heart and will never let it fad away.