Dear Santa

Today was an emotional day for me. Here's why.

I woke up this morning to a text from Devil, and since I'm not used to that at all I was very pleased... even though he decided that I would be awake at 0600. I'm even three hours behind him, and I was still tired -- but I'm not complaining! I can sleep when I don't have the chance to talk to Devil. He got to call me on and off for a while today, and it was good to finally be able to ask the questions that I've been wondering this past month while he's been off at MCT (Marine Combat Training).

First of all, I asked him if he thinks he's going to be able to come home anytime soon... or at least before I leave for boot camp in February. Being fresh out of MCT, Marines don't have any leave built up -- so there goes that option. So we decided that there's only two things that can happen. One, he could get Recruiter's Assistance and come home to work due to his MOS school being backed up (which is actually a good possibility) or he might be able to come home for about four days on Christmas if his MOS school allows it. I'm really doubting that either one will happen, just because I don't want to get my hopes up.

I asked Devil if he was going to tell me if he was going to be able to come home or not and he said no, and I think that's kind of bitter-sweet. It sucks because I won't know if he's coming home and I'll keep wondering about it, and if he can't -- it's going to suck. But it's nice at the same time because even if he can't come home, I'm still going to be walking around my house on Christmas day, all dressed up and waiting for my Marine to walk through my door to surprise me. There will at least be a possibility, in my mind, of him still being able to come home. It'll give me something to look forward to... which is better than having that thought shot down instantly and forcing me to look past the holidays for the next shot I have at seeing him.

Another thing I asked him about us not having the chance to get married before I leave. As you know, I leave in February, and things aren't looking too great right now. Devil's MOS school is 8-10 weeks long, and if it's backed up by 3 weeks (which there is a very good chance of) he won't be able to make it home in time to see me before I'm gone. And once I'm at boot camp, there's going to be very little communication between us. I'll be going through training for the next six months and that means no time to get married. My main concern was that if we weren't married, how would we be stationed together after I was finished training? Or what if he got deployed while I was still in training? There's so much more to think about when not only your husband is in the military, but you want to be in the military yourself. Of course, he had no answer to these questions and simply said "We're going to make it. We're a team. You and me. I know we can do this." And don't get me wrong, it was adorable and nice to hear, but I'd still love an actual answer to stop myself from worrying about it so much.

After we got that out of the way, we talked a lot about Marine stuff. We usually get pretty caught up in it most of the time. He said he can't wait to see me in some desert marpat cammies, he claims it'll be 'hot'. And we've decided that we need to take a picture of the two of us in our cammies, with our covers on, and our arms cross, back to back. That's going to be one awesome picture, that's for sure.

Unfortunately, the day went by all to fast when I was able to talk to Devil. There were a lot of adorable things said and it makes my eyes fill up with tears at just thinking about it. I think I'll be able to talk to him again within the next couple of days, or at least that's what I'm hoping. But for now, all I can do is hope that sometime in the near future, my Marine is going to show up unexpectedly, anytime or anywhere, and surprise me. Until then, I thought I'd write a little note to a certain someone to improve my chances of my wish coming true.

Dear Santa,

When I was little, I thought Christmas was all about getting presents. Now that I'm older, I just want to be able to spend it with the people that I love and care about, especially since I'm leaving for boot camp soon. I don't want anything this year, except that maybe, if it wasn't too much trouble, a certain Marine might be home for me to spend it with? I know it's a lot to ask for, but it's really all I want.
                                                                                                                                        Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                        One lonely girl