Welcome to the Navy Ma'am

Does this come with an instruction manual?

Real Navy life has begun. Justin left yesterday to go to San Diego where he is meeting the boat for deployment. We had a really fun last night in Boston. We went out to dinner at Toro, a tapas restaurant around the corner from my apartment. It was so good! We had grilled corn, garlic shrimp, paella and, wait for it... raw buffalo heart. We had to throw one adventurous dish in there, and I'm glad we did. It was pretty good! The corn was my favorite-- it was smothered in alioli, lime, espelette pepper and aged cheese-- yum! After dinner we met up with our friends Becky & Justin to go see Act of Valor. Maybe not the best movie choice for someone about to deploy (tears guaranteed), but a good movie nonetheless. After that we got a couple of drinks at Beantown Pub.

"Maiz Asado con Alioli y Queso Cotija"

Saying goodbye yesterday morning was tough. I felt like I should go to San Diego to see Justin off as he actually leaves on the boat, but with the short notice and uncertainty of what would go on once he got to San Diego (not to mention missing school) I didn't go. Having his first deployment be from a homeport 3000 miles away is not easy, but as Justin put it, "If we can make it through this, we can make it through anything." If I were in San Diego during the deployment I would be able to meet with the other wives regularly to keep up to date with what's going on with the boat. Being across the country limits me to what can be said over e-mail or phone calls (submarine activity is super-secret!) I did get in touch with the FRG president, who said she would send me the monthly newsletters, which is nice. She and some of the other wives are going to visit the guys when they pull into port this summer and I would love to join them if the stars align. She also said she will keep me posted about homecoming information.

On this side of the world I do have the USS Pasadena wives, whom I met last weekend and have been extremely helpful. I have peppered them with all sorts of questions about what Justin should pack and how we will be able communicate. They really welcomed me into the Pasadena family. A lot of Justin's friends from school and their S.O.'s are down in Groton, which is a little over an hour drive away. I also have Becky, a fellow military wife (Air Force) close by. She has already been really helpful-- taking me for some retail therapy yesterday and then watching a bunch of funny movies.

new clothes can fix almost anything