Long Re-Cap of OK.

Hey look, I'm here!

Alot has happened. I finished Speech Camp and as I type this I am officially off the hook for Make It/Take It until the fall. Looks like I'll have a nice little break for about 10 days until tennis starts on July 9th. I'm a little excited about tennis in Sum2. I'm hoping it'll whip me into shape. Being to school by 7:00am every morning will, however, be interesting. At least I don't have to look my best - cotton shorts and a t-shirt sound good!

Ok, to the exciting stuff: I GOT TO SEE BRIAN!

I had Speech Camp stuff to do on Wednesday (June 20th) so I was up at school at 9. Jenna had been staying with me since Monday night which was really fun, but also another thing to deal with. I had completely packed the night before except for some last minute things so I had time to grab lunch with mom after I finished at school. Then I rushed home to throw the last minute things in my bag. I packed everything up, including Tiny's food & bed, and headed out to deposit a check, mail a couple bills, and return a movie to Blockbuster. I had to do all that in about 30 minutes. I was cutting it a bit close. Well, I finally got over there and we set out - in separate cars. Mom and I were in the VW and dad was in his truck.

The drive was uneventful. We hit some rain once we got to OK. It cleaned the bugs off the windshield, but OK's roads basically suck. Hydroplaning was a true possibility, but Mom kept the car on the road. We arrived at the Hampton Inn and took the elevator up the 4th floor and discovered our room was unusually large. It was the nicest $85 room I've ever seen. They told Dad when he checked in that there was free pizza and beer downstairs so we headed back down to partake. We thought the Ivy's were a good few hours behind us so I was surprised when Crystal called soon after we sat down with our pizza. They were in OK and I gave them directions to the hotel. They arrived soon after and we showed them their room (which was much smaller than ours - sorry!) and then we all took off across the parking lot for the trough (aka Golden Corral). It was ridiculously crowded and I wasn't even hungry. I ate one plate of desserts after I got off the phone with Brian who called when we were getting our drinks. Of course I couldn't eat and talk to him because it was hard enough hearing him in there. We walked back to the HI and discussed when we were leaving the next morning. Then we all went to bed. Exciting!

So, Thursday morning. I woke up and couldn't believe it had finally arrived. I hadn't slept very well the night before and was getting more anxious every second. I took a shower and got dressed in my fantastic yellow shirt. We left at precisely 9 am and arrived at Brian's Battalion at about 9:20. I think my freak out began when we pulled into the parking lot and my parents decided we should go in and not sit in the car for 20 more minutes. (Had I mentioned it was raining?) We walked in and Mom walked out of her flip flop in front of strangers. It was humorous. Oh and I was walking in under an enormous VW umbrella that was free with the Passat. We followed the signs to "Classroom 1" and went in. We bought t-shirts with "Ivy, Brian William" on the back among many others. I soon realized I got pretty much zero signal in that dungeon-ous classroom. I had been texting Brian back and forth all morning and found I had to hold my arm at a peculiar angle near my mom to get a decent enough signal to receive and/or send texts. I told Brian we were downstairs and he said he was really nervous. That didn't help my nerves at all.

We sat through about 35 minutes of torturous nonsense. I'm not even sure what was said. Theeen we went outside and were split up based on what platoon our "loved one" was in. Brian was 3rd platoon. Then some guy just said "follow me" and off we went. This would be the time that my freak out accelerated exponentially. By the time I climbed those 2 flights of stairs, I was shaking in my heels. *side note: they should warn people that climbing stairs is a requirement so that the fat couple might wait to be last up the stairs so they won't stop everyone. Kinda sad, Kinda funny.* We walk into this room with ugly green beds and guys standing next to their respective bed. There were 4 rows of beds with 2 walkways. Everyone just naturally turned right when we walked in and walked down among a bunch of guys I didn't know. It took me a few beds down to realize there was another side with more guys standing there. I had no idea where Brian was. In hindsight, maybe that would have been a good thing to ask Brian the night before. So I'm walking down this first walkway, scared out of my mind, when a guy out of nowhere says "he's on the other side". I look at him with probably the most confused face ever and he says "you're looking for Ivy, right?". I think I nodded, but I'm really not sure. Either way I now knew where my Brian was. After I got past this guy who I later found out was O'Reilly, I had a little freak out that this guy knew who I was just from pictures. It was one of the oddest moments of my life.

Ok, so we walk around the other side and I see him. I really start shaking. I saw him see me too. I didn't even know how to act and I was really shaking. I have never shaken that much about anything. I don't even know what to say about those 45 minutes we spend up in Brian's "bay". By the time we left I would like to think I was a little bit back to normal. While we were up there my mom took the best picture of Brian and I that has ever been taken. I love it. He looks soooo handsome and my eyes are fierce blue. OH and there was this girl in his amazingly hideous white dress who apparently was going out with the smallest guy in Brian's whole battery. I should have taken a picture.

We left there and went to the (something) club on the regular side of the post. Dad was leading and managed to get us to take about 29376 u-turns. We got there and had to watch the guys stand in formation and get briefed on what they could and couldn't do on pass. After lunch they were on pass until about 9 that night so they needed to remember that they (1) couldn't take off anymore than their jacket, (2) couldn't drink, (3) no tobacco, and (4) no adult establishments. So we finally go in and eat a surprisingly good buffet. I think I was back to normal by this point. Brian sat next to me and we bumped knees alot. That's basically the extent of the PDA you can get away with in front of all kinds of family. Then we left, walked awkwardly around the Px and looked around the t-shirt place. Mom bought me some really cute Army shorts. (Thanks Mom!)

We went back to the hotel and Brian changed into his cowboy civilian clothes. Both families all hung out for awhile. Brian and I snuck away for awhile so we could just chill and calm down and be near each other. We hadn't so much as touched in over 2 months. It was nice...more than nice. We spend a big chunk of the afternoon trying to figure out the alternative way onto the training side. We found it and Dad drove us around in a few more circles before we ended up back at Brian's building. Luckily we got there early cause the drill sargeants were being gay and were apparently having formation at 8:45 in their PTs instead of 9:00 like originally thought. So we say goodbye and head back to the hotel.

The next day was the actual graduation. We got up and got ready again and were heading out at 9. We got to the theatre after only 1 u-turn and bought some more t-shirts with Brian's name on the back. We stood around in the sprinkles waiting for them to open the doors. They finally did about 15 minutes before 10. Since we got there early, we got pretty good seats on the aisle on the side near the guys. The graduation was impressive aside from the faulty microphone. (everything in the military is always "just a little bit off".) Afterwards we had to drive back to Brian's Battery to pick him up. He was ours again until 9. We went to lunch at Applebee's which only required 1 u-turn to find. After that we went back to the hotel and my parents left to come back home.

Basically I spend the next 48 hours with Brian, thinking about Brian, eating with Brian, or driving home. It was so nice to see him and it was sad to leave. It wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be because I was anticipating things would get easier with more communication. Well, I've been home for 3 days now and, yes, he has his cell phone so he can call me and text me sometimes, but the communication isn't really that much better. And I miss him. As I sit here, I'm hoping he can call me. I know he is allowed to use his phone after 5 but that, coincidentally, is the same time they go to chow. So here I am waiting for my phone to go off, hoping my phone goes off because I miss him and I want to talk to him. Ugh.

Alright, this is ridiculously long. I think I might walk Tiny. I need some fresh air I think.

S.