Lu,
So I don't get the opportunity to post much on the blog. You have done a wonderful job of capturing the life of the Fisher family over the last several years. It is my turn now. To proclaim my love of you on the blogosphere. So here is a little story that I want to write about.
The moment I met Laura at a gym in Germany, I fell in love with her. I truly considered myself the luckiest man on the planet to have found my soulmate in a far away land and I try to tell her that as much as I can. You see, she was a student teacher on a "Teaching Abroad" program and I was on orders, stationed at Ramstein, Airbase. It would be highly unlikely that we would have ever met each other in the US since we grew up on opposite coasts. But there we were...her on the treadmill striding it out that last few miles and me on some sort of weight machine trying bulk up...trying. After only a few weeks passing, we were yet torn apart by the duties of the military not knowing if we would see each other again because she had to return home and graduate college. We would constantly email each other throughout our absence, and even try a few moral phone calls. In fact, there was one phone call that I remember very vividly. It was at the end of the phone call when we had to say goodbye, that I told her, "I love you". I can remember the scene. I was standing on the side of the road at a pay phone (yes...that long ago) in San Antonio, TX. It rolled off my tongue as if the words had already been sitting there, waiting for me to just open my mouth and exhale them out. It was effortless and yet so powerful. It was probably the most pivotal moment in my life...uttering 3 simple words in a harmonious string. Just a few more weeks later, I would be out the door again and gone for a longer in determinate amount of time and I was glad she knew how I felt. That feeling grew stronger and stronger over that deployment...for both us. She left Germany to graduate from college...then by her own decision, she decided to pack up once again and return to the foreign land she just left...to wait for my return. There then, is one of my favorite moments in my short history, returning to Ramstein where a small sea of anxious loved ones awaited our return. And for the first time, I had a loved one waiting for me.
Fast forward 12+ years and another deployment has taken me away from the ones I love...this time, multiply it by 4. I long for the warm embrace of my wife and kids. I count down the days until I can see them again. I believe in all my heart that our time spent apart is not for nothing. We will grow stronger and stronger as time passes and when we meet again, we will have an even stronger bond.
Laura, I love you with all my heart. You give me strength when I am weak. You give me joy when I am sad. You give me courage when I am afraid. You give me everything that I am today. I love you very much and hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day.
I love you always and forever...Amen,
Ry
