Happy Valentine’s Day! The LOVE holiday! It’s 10pm and I’m sitting in the NICU at NNMC with all of my babies… I really wish I was with Michael right now, but babies are really the next best thing :)
Since today is the day we celebrate love-- I thought I’d share with the blog “our story”… as mushy and cheesy as that sounds. Honestly, I’ve never been much of a romantic, but I’m still in awe when I think about the way Michael and I met and fell in love. So here goes… all of you that don’t like being lovey-dovey (Mom!), avert your eyes and exit the page immediately!
Rewind to the summer of 2010, I, Karen, am 21 years old and am about to commission into the Navy AND graduate from Old Dominon University’s Nursing school. I’ve just completed 4 very tough years and I’m excited, single, and ready to dive head first into my first big-girl job—a Navy Nurse!
It’s now May, and my good friend Tommy, an NROTC friend who is commissioning into the Marine Corps, has an older brother visiting him for the weekend. The brother, Michael, is in the Army and he is finishing up a 10 month deployment in Iraq. He got to have mid-tour leave right during our graduation weekend! Insert Michael Cryer into my life.
Tommy on the left and Michael on the right... who doesn't love a man in uniform?
Now, I had known Tommy for 4 years, and I never remember seeing a picture or really hearing about his brother at all in the past. When Michael got into town that weekend, he met Tommy and all of his friends (including me, eek!) at Va beach where we were all spending the day. This sounds so cheesey and cliché and I almost hate myself for saying it, but I totally got butterflies in my stomach when I met Michael for the first time! In my head, he was Tommy’s cooler, older brother... and he just seemed to have this quiet confidence and sincerity that attracted me to him. I felt like I had to get to know him.
That weekend was a blur of hanging out with friends, going to parties, and staying up all night. We all did our fair share of celebratory drinking—I was 21 okay!? Michael and I ended up connecting and clicking much more than I expected. I couldn’t eat, I was giddy and smiling all of the time, and he was definitely on my mind most of the weekend during and after graduation.
When he had to leave ODU, he asked for my number. The next day, he used it. I distinctly remember being home and jumping up and down when he called me. We went on 2 dates before he had to go back to Iraq. The dates obviously went really well.
We emailed and chatted on the phone for the rest of the summer. He came back from Iraq in July of that year and we continued our little relationship (we hadn’t labeled anything at this time) from across the country. Me in Bethesda Maryland and him in Tacoma Washington. He came back to Virginia later during the summer to spend time with his family. I ended up tagging along on the Cryer family day trip to go tubing down the river.
We both knew that we would eventually have to have the talk about where this was all going. We had spent a lot of time together (relatively) over the course of the summer, and it had been really great. But we had to face the facts: We were both about to start working a lot more, and we lived on opposite sides of the country. Also, we had only known each other a few months, and realistically, what kind of relationship like this actually ends up working out?
Well, we both decided to go for it. Dating from across the country. Being exclusive. Making the commitment—these were all very new concepts to me. Believe me, it was a challenge, but one that I’m extremely glad that I took on!
Each time we got to see each other (about once a month), I dreaded the plane ride back home. We grew even closer with every visit and developed a very deep and caring relationship. There were lots of flights.
However, we really got to know each other while we were not physically together. There were lots of skype dates.
Lots of phone calls.
And even some letters.
It's been such an amazing experience, meeting Michael and falling in love. He's the best thing that's happened to me. About a year after we started "officially" dating from across the country, Michael proposed! We're now happily married! We have never lived in the same state, but in a few months, we will be moving to Hawaii! I still can't believe it... but that's another blog post :)
