Tim and I took a gamble in Vegas. And it was the best gamble ever.
Tim and I met by chance / luck / fate in Las Vegas (Koi Lounge in Planet Hollywood to be specific) on January 14, 2011. I was there with my cousin and her friend to celebrate my cousin’s 21st birthday. Tim was there with his brother – he was on leave following a 7-month
deployment out to sea. His and his brother’s flight was set to leave
Vegas the night we met … but we met and he thought I was someone he
couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get to know so … he rescheduled his
flight.
Now, I don’t believe in love at first sight (if I did, however, this would be the time for it!), but I do believe that when you know, you just know.
I can’t explain how I knew or how it felt as I’m sure noone can who’s
felt that way but it is exactly what happened in the moment we met. So that night we met, Tim
rescheduled his flight (unbeknownst to me), we hung out and spoke for a
while, and then each went back to our respective hotels. The next
morning, I woke up to a voicemail and text from him (apparently, we’d
made plans to all hang out after we changed out of our club clothes but
the girls and I passed out haha) and in acting completely out of
character, I texted him back. The rest is history…
Tim wound up postponing his flight 2 more times to hang out for a few more days. (In
retrospect, I am very grateful for his spontaneous decisions and those days together
because I now know how precious just a few days with one another are.) When
we each got back from Vegas, things were a bit hectic and Tim went underway for three weeks, which gave us time to really think about our respective lives and prospective relationship. During that time, we
communicated via email and just two phone calls. Shortly after he returned, he visited
me in NYC, my
hometown and where I am currently living and going to law school. That
weekend was amazing; it was like we’d known each other our whole lives
so we were excited to set our next visits up. At the time, he was
stationed in Norfolk, VA so we went between VA and NY every 2-4 weeks
until October 2011 …
NYC, March 2011
Because Tim reported to his new station in Hawaii in October 2011. He received his orders in June 2011 and I was devastated.
In August 2011, there was an issue and I prayed he would be kept in
VA but as God would have it, his orders were straightened out and he
was sent to sunny Hawaii. He made a brief proposition that I move and settle down there with him but I didn’t want
to rush anything and I had two years left of study at a good law school.
Deep down, we both knew I had to stay back on the East Coast.
Hawaii, January 2012 Hawaii, May 2012
we manage as best we could and we do a pretty darn good job at it, if I
may say so myself. We try our best to visit each other every
2-3 months – aside from when he was deployed June – December
2012. During that time apart, our longest stretch yet, there were rocky
moments. But there was also much bonding and strengthening of our
relationship. I looked forward to making care packages and receiving
little packages and presents in the mail myself.
Tim’s ETS is in the summer
of 2014 🙂 We hope to
live together (temporarily) in late summer to early fall of 2013 and
then to live permanently together when his military career is done. It’s
nerve-wracking making big decisions and thinking about his life without
the military but I think he is ready for the next chapter, as am I.
Don’t get me wrong, I love and support the military 100%. But it has
been difficult maintaining a long distance relationship and juggling the constant changes that come along with his active military career while I’m in law school.
For now, we’ll be traveling back and
forth over the 5,000 miles as the teammates we promised each other we’d be from the
beginning… and we’ll be very busy finding a job and settling down
somewhere (me), and preparing to get out of the military and joining me
(him). Our situation is difficult but I think we’re
walking proof that love prevails and that there is no such thing as mere
coincidence (to us, anyway). God brings people into our lives for a
purpose. I thank God often for bringing Tim into mine.
NYC, January 2013
This is us. People didn’t think our situation would work. And it probably wouldn’t for most. But where there is love, there is hope and so far, it’s worked just fine for Tim and me.