Created on 15 August 1998
So, you've decided that you want to know the full story on me, huh? Aren't we the nosey one? That's ok, 'cause I' m a bit of a snoop myself. Well, this might take a bit, so I hope you're sitting in a comfortable chair, with your favorite libation. I will now begin the story of my existence on this beautiful planet.
It all started back in 1972, on September 5th, at about 4:20 am, in a little military hospital in Augsburg, Germany. My father, who was in the Army, was stationed in Ulm at the time, and my mom was a housewife with part time jobs here and there. They already had one child, my older sister, Tami, and were about to have another. Me. We lived in Ulm for about two more years, and were then transferred. I don't remember where, but I have lived in both North, and South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Germany (twice), Virginia, and then later on Florida, Mississippi, California, Diego Garcia, Guam, and finally Hawaii, but that's jumping ahead of myself.
I had a pretty normal childhood, for an army brat. We moved around a lot, so I got to "see the world". I was even blessed with a younger sister, Amanda, when we lived in Texas in 1978. Around 1980 my mom and father got divorced. We then moved to Blacksburg, VA, where my mom's parents are. I went through middle and high school there, and I'm actually pretty glad to have been in one place for that whole time.
I then decided to waste two more years of my life trying to go to college at VA Tech. I say trying, because I really didn't want to be in school anymore, and didn't know it at the time. When I finally came to this glorious conclusion, I looked at my options, and decided to join the Navy.
I left for boot camp on the 17th of March 1993. Yup, that's right. While my friends were partying it up on St. Patty's Day, I was entering the Navy. From boot camp I went to Mississippi to learn how to be a weather observer. I spent just over three months there learning how to go outside, look up, and say, "Yup, there are clouds up there."
Once my training there was done, I was sent to Diego Garcia, an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, owned by the British. Very interesting place. I met a lot of great people there, from Britain, Australia, the Philippines, and Mauritius. Boy, can those people party! What I didn't do in college, I proceeded to do on DGar. If I wasn't at work, I was at the club, or the beach. It was a great time, and I had a ton of fun there.
After a year, I was sent to another island. Guam, which is in the Pacific, sort of near the Philippines. Now this island was just a larger version of DGar, only with a lot more people, and cars. I enjoyed most of that tour, also. I made some really cool friends, and became a regular at a couple of clubs. The Navy allowed me to stay there for just over two years. Then it was back to school. And back to good old Mississippi. Biloxi, to be exact.
This time, I was to be going to forecaster school, and be there for about nine months. And this time, I didn't party much. I spent a lot of time studying. It wasn't easy learning how to forecast. The school is basically two to three years of college crammed into nine months. Pretty intense. I did, however, make me fair share of visits to New Orleans, which, as everyone knows, is a wonderful place to go and have fun!
It was also during this time that I basically met my husband. I say basically because we had missed each other by a couple of days when he flew through DGar, and I was working nights when he pulled in port at Guam, and got a tour of the building. Frank is also a forecaster in the Navy, and was going through school at the same time, but a couple of classes ahead of me.
We got together after I asked him out, and when he graduated, he stayed there for almost a month longer just to spend time with me. We went to New Orleans together for Halloween, and that was an experience not soon forgotten! I can just imagine what Mardi Gras is like, but I'm not sure I actually want to experience it. Halloween was experience enough for me.
When he left Biloxi, he was headed for WA state. Whidbey Island, to be exact. We planned on my visiting him after I graduated, but it was only for a week...or so he thought. I actually planned to be there for almost a month. I visited my family in VA first, had a small Christmas celebration with them, and then flew out to WA. We had a wonderful time together, and on January 1st, at about 12:15 am (funny how all the important things in my life happen in the early morning hours...), he asked me to marry him, and I said yes. Then about a week later, I flew to HI.
We set the wedding date, and got married on the 30th of May this year, and as yet, haven't lived together for more than a week. We're planning on being together by the end of the year, though, and then be able to start our "life together" as most other people, not in the military, have theirs. And that's it. Or at least, all I'm gonna put on the internet right now. I hope I haven't bored you too much. If I have, why didn't you just surf somewhere else? You wanted to see how the story ended, didn't you. Well, now you know, and you're still here. So go to one of the other pages, so I can quit typing. And have a nice day!