this one is for us.

This day has finally come. I really can't believe I'm saying it, but really, it's finally here. Tomorrow we will go to the airport, chase Will on to an airplane, fly to Phoenix, have an hour layover, and then land in Ontario, CA. We'll have a day with family and then we're off on a 7 day cruise. Up until this point, I've forced myself to not think about the fact that Will won't be with us for 6 days, but its settling in and I'm nervous. I just hope he knows who we are when we get back and nobody better tell me that he was wondering around Grandma's house saying, "Momma? Momma?" That would be awful.

But really, this is a good thing. A really good thing. Something we've worked towards for a long time and now it's finally here! We have come to the conclusion recently that the past 12 months have been very difficult for us. Allow me to give you a brief summary:

1 year ago, it was the dead of winter and Cortney was going to interview after interview with no job offers in sight. The market was just starting to tank and even if we did get a job offer, the chances that it would be rescinded were pretty high. To say we were stressed would be the understatement of the century. Cortney was trying to be the provider, and I was trying to be the glue and we were both failing miserably from no fault of our own.

In the spring, Cortney got a job offer from the OSU medical center and we jumped up and down. Most MBAs get a signing bonus and have about a month off after school starts to when their job begins. We had neither. Our lives were set at mach 1 speed. In the same week that Cortney graduated, we moved, he started his job, and became the Elder's Quorum President. Talk about a full week! We didn't have any time to even sit down, or even relish in our accomplishment of finishing school.

That summer we spent mourning the loss of our school life and friends. I went from knowing every single one of my neighbors and going to visit Cortney on campus regularly to living in the suburbs, not knowing anyone in my neighborhood. Cortney went from being the "white Chinese guy" and talking to friends, and working on projects, to sitting at a desk for 9 hours a day doing something he never thought he'd be doing. And all of our school friends were gone. It sounds strange, but it was a really hard adjustment for us.

By the time we were feeling more normal, I got really sick and put everything into a tailspin. Cortney became a single parent and I was just trying to stay alive. We played that game for 3 months until I was able to take care of myself and Will, and that was when Cortney started working 12 hours a day, which brings us to today.

It just never stopped. And I think we both kept sweeping all the emotions and stress under the rug betting the next day would be better and we could sit down and unwind. But the next day was never better, more just got added to it. It wasn't until a few days ago that we sat down and realized what a crazy year its been and how badly we need a break!

So I really don't feel guilty about spending the money to do this, nor taking a healthy week away from my daily duties. We have earned every second of this vacation. The sunshine, the warm air, blue skies, moonlit strolls, candle light dinners, book reading, lots of sleep, breakfast in bed, all of it-we deserve it. And in fact, I kind of feel like having this planned so far in advance saved us. We both needed at least something to look forward to.

I'm signing off for a while and when I come back, we'll have lots of pictures, memories, and hopefully a tan. But we're not holding out for that third one.