Being a military spouse does not carry with it many pro's, contrary to popular opinion. You put up with last minute late nights, 24 hours duties, random trainings that last far longer than expected, planned events that have to be canceled and moving to a new location with little to no information prior. When I married James last year, I knew all these things and more and I was certainly not blind to what I was walking into.
So when I agreed to marry James earlier than planned due to upcoming trainings and a deployment that made the timing of our planned wedding questionable, I asked for one thing. A honeymoon. I knew we didn't have time to take one then and I knew having one and paying for a wedding was near impossible, but I asked for a honeymoon. Something that was just for us. The wedding was for our families to see Jayden and my dad to walk me down the aisle, little else. I'm always surprised when I hear complaints from family members about the wedding, because it was largely for them. Anyways.
After the holidays finished, I put my foot down and told James, "I don't ask for much, but Ill be darned if we don't have a honeymoon before our anniversary. It doesn't have to be in another country, it doesn't need to be extravagant. But we need time together without having to worry about anyone or anything else."
James agreed, and began to search and plan for the honeymoon. He found a quaint cabin in the foothills of the Smokies and we put in time to be away long enough for a honeymoon and a visit to his family so we could meet the newest member of the Cheney clan, Elijah Russell, his sister's son.
While in Tennessee, I was able to drag James around to all the places my family had taken me and my middle sister while growing up. To the top of Old Smoky (which lived up to it's name the day we went, misting and fog so thick you couldn't see a thing beyond the tree line), Dollywood and Dixie Stampede. He got marble slab ice cream and I got frozen yogurt after a round of putt-putt (I epically lost). We did a few tours in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville and brought back a couple items we probably won't ever use again. What was most important, though, was that James and I got to be ourselves with each other for a full week- something I'm not sure we have been able to do in the year we've been married. Now, his family did call during this week, as did some friends, while I remained on radio silence for the majority of the trip, answering only via fb messenger when we waiting on food or driving.
We also decided that if we ever could, we would be quite happy living in the mountains and living (mostly) off the land, in a cabin built for two. It was beyond peaceful and we slept in every day that week, played pool nearly every night, and soaked in the jacuzzi and heart-shaped hot-tub every night. May our future cabin won't have those luxuries, but a cabin would be lovely.
Leaving Tennessee, we traveled up to flat-land and stayed in Joliet visiting family and friends. We spent two full days with his family, one out in Chicago to meet up with my bestie and her family, and then wandered around Joliet the last two days with friends and catching up on old times.
After two weeks away from home, walking into our house felt like heaven. We cooked together last night and played Rummikub, a mind-numbing numbers game that my dad got us addicted to. We went to Tybee Island on Sunday to relax with some friends (I napped), and we are back at the workflow now. I have a deadline at the end of the week, had a column to piece together, a last minute meeting yesterday and a dozen others to contact for various reasons. James is back in school and prepping for an upcoming training and we are trying to figure out out next cook-out at the house.
Upcoming, I'm prepping to go back to college and finish off my degree (finally), while also redecorating the house for summer, getting healthy and enjoying a new subscription box from Sips By, a monthly tea subscription box. So far, it's amazing and I'm excited to share it with my other tea-love friends.
As always, I love to hear back from my friends and readers and if there is something you'd like to see my share or write about, let me know!
Ever in love, xoxo
Ashley
