Is There a Bah Humbug for New Year's?

Admittedly I haven't been in any kind of holiday cheerful moods the last couple of weeks.  I didn't send out Christmas cards or holiday texts.  I don't mean to be grumpy, but I'm just not feeling it this year. It really just feels like another day. I was getting quite pissed today that all the stores I needed to go to were closed.
So when I look back at 2010 I can honestly say I didn't see myself where I am now.  If you would have told me last January that in 1 year I would be pregnant, living in 29 Palms, California and my husband would be deployed I would tell you to shut up. This time last year my husband and I were pretty poor and barely scraping by in an apartment in Memphis while I was in nursing school. We were anxiously awaiting word about William's re-enlistment. At that point it had been almost 2 years that we had been waiting to get a verdict on my husband's future. Meanwhile I was spending all my time studying and studying and going to class and waking up early for clinical and studying and stressing about tests.  William was trying to fill his days with a part time job he hated (UPS), CrossFit, hunting for a full time job, and waiting and waiting and waiting to hear back from the Marine Corps.  They were trying times for us to say the least. We would buy a box of hamburger helper for dinner and divide it up in portions. Not because we were trying to be healthy and not eat too much, but so we would have enough to last at least one more meal so we could save money.
After all that time that just seemed to drag on...things suddenly picked up, and fast.  We got word in March that William's package had gone through and he could finally have his dream job back, U.S. Marine. He swore in at MEPS the next day. The following weekend he checked in to R.S. Nashville for recruiter's assistance in Memphis until his orders came. We were told that his orders shouldn't be in until mid June or later.  So with that in mind we planned our wedding for June 5th.  With invitations printed and ready to be mailed, just 3 weeks after swearing in his orders came in. And I was given a nice warm Marine Corps welcome sprinkled with a little "this is how your life is now" on top. William was to check in to Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center 29 Palms in California by May 1, 2010.  So naturally we were forced to change things up concerning our wedding. We were married on April 1st, 2010. He moved me into a new apartment in Memphis about a week later because we had planned for me to stay in TN since we knew the unit he was being assigned to was deploying soon. Then about 4 days before he needed to check in, he started the long drive to California.  Watching him leave that day was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.  It was harder than watching him get on that white bus for Afghanistan in October. For an entire month I stayed in Memphis while he worked in 29. Then one day he begged me to move out there. I immediately said yes. Perhaps on the outside it looked like a dumb move.  I would have to transfer right in the middle of nursing school without any promise that I could get in to the few school around 29 Palms. But we needed to spend that time together.  I knew that he was going to be deploying soon and I needed to be there to help support him while he was preparing for this.  Besides, if there is anything I have learned as a Marine Wife, it is that the Marine Corps comes first. So on June 9th (my birthday) I spent my first night in 29. And I wouldn't change it for a second.  As many of you know I have not had good luck with transferring into Copper Mountain College's nursing program.  But I look back, and had I not come out here, I would have missed some of the best times with my husband those 4 months before he left and we wouldn't be expecting our first baby.
Its hard to believe that sums up my year. Truthfully the last few months have been uneventful.  The husband is deployed, or on his business trip, so not much has been going on except more waiting.  Waiting for him to come home, waiting for my next OB appt, waiting for some good news about transferring into nursing school. But if I'm going to take last year as any warning, then I should expect everything to start off slow and then pick up fast. I am anxiously looking forward to my husband coming home, and then soon after that we will welcome our baby home. Everything after those two events is trivial. The two most important things in my life and in my 2011 future are William and our baby.  I happily await the surprises the Marine Corps and the year 2011 have for us.

 (us this summer outside our house in 29)