the LIFE of a Military (now) WiFe... the JOYS, TEARS, AND OVERWHELMING PRIDE: Moving Day

January 8th 2015 the movers arrived at my house in NC and started packing up the last 26 years of my life and my sons 5 years... It was a sad day and exciting day. I had 108348 different emotions and I had no idea how to act around my family. They knew we were leaving and it would not ever be the same... My husband signed up to serve his country and I signed up to follow him and support him whole heartedly, that even meant to pack my entire life up and move 4600 miles away...

My living room packed... Kolbey was keeping the movers entertained with his nerf gun...

Sigh... My room as a child and then it was turned into Kolbeys room once I moved back into the house as a Adult

Master bedroom

Kolbey the last time he was in his childhood room

The movers came and went and January 9th at a little after 5am we arrived at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport. I went back to that moment when i had 34358783 different emotions and had no idea what to say, or how to act around my family. My mom and dad drove us to the airport, we checked 13 total bags! (It was insane! And the unbelievable part is that they made it to Hawaii in one piece! haha) Our flight was canceled due to snow at a connecting airport up north, so they said my husband would have to go without us and we could follow the next day... i started holding my breathe, he automatically said NO that he would absolutely not leave his family behind. We were told if we could run and make it to a flight that was leaving NOW then we could go together but we couldn't sit together. We had to quickly hug my parents and run! Kolbey cried, I tried so hard, as i was running not to cry and to be strong for Kol; but as i tried so hard to keep a straight face, tears trickled down. At that moment I realized that unless you've experienced this, that no one knows how it feels to look at your family as you leave them for who knows how long...? And i cant imagine the feeling that they had watching their only child and only grandchild run down to security to find their terminal that would be taking them 4600 miles away from normal.
It was a really hard day for us... all of us. When we got on the plane i cried, i was exhausted and just wanted to bury myself in a pillow and scream! But I had to be strong for Kolbey who was terrified from watching 5 min of sharknado, he was certain that the sharks were going to kill us on the plane? I had to breathe... flying made me nervous, flying over the entire country we know and love and all that hard land made me nervous, flying over the ocean made me nervous, not getting to sit with my husband made me nervous... I was just completely nervous...

Our first flight was to Washington DC and we seen snow for the last time for a very long time... We connected quickly to LAX in California. We were exhausted! Still had not even had breakfast, we grabbed a soda and left LAX heading straight to Honolulu, Hawaii. Our flight was crazy, no one would let us sit together. The stewardess made a announcement that we were a military family flying to Hawaii on orders and no one budged. One lady eventually got up and said what will you do for us? The stewardess said absolutely nothing! She was so mad at how selfish the lady was. then my husband ask a couple but they were newlyweds and didnt want to separate. Finally this nice couple slid over and i sat on one side of the isle and Kolbey sat on the other. It was not ideal but at least we were together. Kol sat right beside the couple who wouldn't separate and he flipped and flopped for 6 hours on them. But hey, we were across the isle from each other, i couldnt do much (lol) and then the rude lady that asked what we would do for her, kol sit right behind her... So, ya know, when he was flipping and flopping he was hitting her seat as well... The stewardess was so nice, She would see Kol hitting the ladies seat and just smile and would tell him he was such a good boy :) she offered us free alcohol for all the trouble as well and to the couple who slid over. I didnt get any, but the couple did :)
I will never forget seeing that bright blue ocean for the first time in the air... The sweet couple i sat with talked to me the entire time, they went to Hawaii a lot with business so they knew a lot about it. I will also never forget the smell and humidity change when we walked off the plane into the open airport... Remember we were flying in early January where it was about 15 degrees the morning we left and we flew into 70 degree weather.
We got all 13 bags, got the hubby checked in with the Army, and grabbed our shuttle to our hotel. We stayed really close to the airport at the Best Western Plaza Hotel. We got to the hotel and was settled by 9:30pm Hawaii time which was 2:30am the next day NC time! We were Exhausted!
The next day we got our rental car, some friends from my high school who were stationed at the same post dropped us off and we started exploring... I think the beauty of Hawaii healed our hearts a little...