What a Week... (!!!)

I will never forget this last week. And I use the term "week" loosely, because everything really started last Wednesday night, but today is the first day I have had to really decompress and process everything. Last Wednesday afternoon, I left work on a gorgeous afternoon, giving my sore legs a break and actually not working out after a couple days of great running in preparation for the Prague Half Marathon on April 1st. I planned to get a good night's sleep and run an 8-miler after work the next day. I Skyped with Martin, and we talked about how excited I was to go to Dublin that weekend with a group of our friends, and then to go visit him in Madrid the next weekend.

At 10:13pm, my phone rang, waking me up after about an hour of sleep. It was my swing shift forecaster, telling me there was a recall of the Crisis Action Team (CAT), a group consisting mostly of base leadership, but which I am a part of to provide weather info as needed. Recalls are done occasionally for exercises and drills, so needless to say, I was not thrilled to get a call in the middle of the night. Hoping it was just a drill and I wouldn't need to report, I called the command post and asked if they had more information. The controller told me he could not give any more info, but it was a full CAT recall and the report time was 11:00pm. I looked at my phone for the time. 10:18pm. I live 35 minutes from the base, and I was in my pjs in bed, half asleep. You do the math. AHHH!!! Next came a flurry of activity as I scrambled for uniform pieces, hair elastics, car keys, etc., then sped like crazy to make it to the command post with about 90 seconds to spare.

I can't go into detail about everything that happened after that point, but if you have watched the news lately, you have some idea. The next several days passed in a blur of activity mixed with periods of waiting... and almost no sleeping. It didn't seem real. The moment I remember most clearly was the end of a conversation with our vice wing commander, when I expressed my amazement at everything that was going on. He just smiled at me and said "Yep... you'll remember this the rest of your life."

There's a lot more I wish I could write about, but there will be a time when this is all history that it will be appropriate. Needless to say, I didn't go to Ireland last weekend, and I am not in Madrid this weekend. Still hoping for Prague and Sintra... but now I'm getting ahead of myself. In the middle of all the craziness, Martin came home from Spain early. This was awesome, until he found out less than 24 hours later that he was leaving again, for an undetermined amount of time. He woke me up from a dead sleep after a long night shift to tell me he was deploying... but then said he wanted to leave me with something... and pulled out a diamond ring!!! He asked me if I would marry him, and I believe my response was something like "Is this a dream?!?" (Remember, I was OUT.) Once I convinced myself that I was actually awake, I squealed "YES!!!" and began a sort of happy dance that alternated between hugging him, bouncing around the room, and giggling as I stared in disbelief at the gorgeous sparkling ring on my finger.

So that's the big news, everyone... I'M ENGAGED!!! :-D It turns out that Martin's plan had been to propose at the finish line of our half marathon in Prague, but when he learned that he would be leaving so soon, he decided to pop the question before he left. He got my Dad's work number from my cell phone and called him that morning to ask if he could propose to me. (Probably the last thing Daddy was expecting to hear at work... but thanks for saying yes!!! :-) ) I have been asked a couple times already if we've set a date, and the answer is definitely not, haha. Martin left less than 24 hours after proposing, and we've only talked twice for a total of about 10 minutes since. Also, so much is up in the air right now about deployments for both him and for me, so it would be pointless to start talking timelines.

I'm SOOOOO excited and happy to be able to share this news with you! I'm not advertising it on Facebook yet, because I want to give Martin more time to get in touch with all of his family members (he talked to his parents right away, but didn't get much farther due to his deployment processing). However, I figured it was safe to tell you because I think I can count my blog readers on my fingers, hehe. :-) I wish more of you knew Martin already, but I can't wait to introduce him to you! Aaaand along those lines, I have already started thinking about a post to tell our story... there's a teaser for you! ;-)

Good List:
1. Martin. I love my fiance!!! :-D
2. The F-15E aircrew from Lakenheath who ejected over Libya are safe.
3. American Idol + DVR. (One is necessary for the other.) I got to catch up this morning, and though I nearly had a heart attack over the most recent results, I can honestly say I love this show. Go Scotty, Paul, James, and Pia!!!
4. Seeing my weather flight members take on challenges and new things and excel at them.
5. Uncle Ben's Brown and Wild Rice. Especially mixed with sauteed mushrooms, baby corn, and broccoli.
6. Finding a running buddy for tomorrow's 9-miler!
7. Great conversations over Proverbs 2:1-8 at OCF last night.
8. My bed. I appreciate it even more after trying to take a nap on my cold office floor one night last weekend.
9. Dreaming about weddings and dresses. :)
10. Hope.