''we ate Chinese food the other night and my fortune said 'every long journey begins with one step' so I guess this is our first step!''
That's an excerpt from a letter I wrote to Zach on January 4th, 2011. We moved to Texas about three weeks ago and we hit the ground running! I know I'm not alone in being completely worn out from the holidays. Between Christmas, finding out we're having a girl, birthdays and the new year being upon us, it has been amazing and absolutely insane! Today we extended the celebrating for one more occasion. Four years ago my family and Zach's met at Mannys, a Mexican food place in uptown to have a goodbye dinner before he went to basic training. Over time memories tend to get hazy and details start to fade but that day is so painfully clear to me. I remember feeling sick while I was sitting there trying to eat and going to the bathroom to cry. Zach gave me these dog tags that said I love you and I remember feeling like my whole world was turning upside down. There was small talk at the table but I wasn't participating much. I just knew that we had a very long road to walk from that day forward and it was heavy on me. We sat in the hotel lobby where he was getting checked in to stay and then they would drive him to San Antonio the next day. Zach's dad came over, put his arm around me and told me that this would be hard but that we would get through it. And he was exactly right. I went home that night, put on Zachs pajamas and played gone with the wind on mute. I was perfectly content with listening to myself cry until my best friend walked in with a card that sang 'you've got a friend in me' whenever you opened it. Great song.
Today I went back to Mannys for the first time since that day and instead of being with my boyfriend, I was with my husband. I thought about what my fortune said four years ago and how every journey, small or big comes to an end. Zach and I being apart, ended on the day we got married and today our journey in the military has officially come to an end.
Sitting with my husband right next to me and our baby in my belly, my meal at Mannys was a lot different today and I am so thankful we are taking our first steps into this next chapter, our newest journey.
-haley
