Home Sweet Tutwiler. My freshman year I lived on the 13th floor, aka the 14th floor. My junior and senior years I lived on the 6th floor.

For previous posts on our young military marriage, click here. This is part of the series I’m writing called The Real Army Wives.

As I mentioned before, Alan was away at training the first 4 months of our marriage, while I finished up my degree at the University of Alabama.

I lived in Tutwiler Hall. The funny thing about Tutwiler Hall, which is the freshman girls’ dormitory, is that there were actually 2 different buildings in the state of Alabama named Tutwiler.  The other Tutwiler is the women’s prison.

As you can imagine, everyone had jokes about that, especially Alan. He prided himself, once we got married, on coming to town to stay with me for my “conjugal visit.” Ha!

Tutwiler Hall still stands today, right across the street from the University of Alabama’s famous football stadium.

Even though we lived apart, we took turns visiting one another.

I loved it when Alan would visit and handle all of my Excel homework. 15 years later, I wish I had taken the time to learn how to use Excel. It’s probably the only computer system that is still mostly the same, and I’m still clueless as to how to use it.

When Alan came to town, we slept on an air bed in the floor of my living room at Tutwiler. As the 6th floor Resident Assistant, I had my own living room, bedroom, and bathroom.

It wasn’t much better when I’d go to visit Alan in Oklahoma. I only visited for one extended weekend. It was Thanksgiving. Alan was training to be a field artillery officer. In layman’s terms, that’s the Army’s big guns (cannons), which Alan insists I call “howitzers.”

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Golden Corral that year because Alan called every place in town to see where we could get the most affordable steak.

I will never forget that Thanksgiving because of the crazy person who stole from me. I was staying at the Batchelor Officers’ Quarters with Alan, sharing a bed that could only be described as a 3/4 bed. It wasn’t even quite as big as a full size bed.

Down the hall from our room was the community laundry room. No big deal. I was used to that. We had community laundry at Tutwiler. I wasn’t the kind to sit with my clothes either. I left my clothes in the dryer and returned to my room. On the way out of the laundry room, Alan introduced me to a guy who seemed a little strange in a creepy way, but whatever. I didn’t think too much of it.

You can imagine my dismay when I took my clothes out of the dryer and discovered that all 5 pairs of my panties were missing from the load!!! The rest of my clothes were all there.

Only my underwear was missing!

I’d been stolen from before, but this was weird weird weird. Icky.

I looked at every man in the building with a healthy dose of skepticism after that.

Beautiful bluffs near where Alan lived in Lawton, Oklahoma. Geronimo is buried near there. We visited his grave once.

Strange incidents aside, it was a semester of sacrifices. So much separation is hard on a marriage.

We worked hard. Alan was steadily training to lead soldiers to war, and I was squeezing my senior year of college into one semester.

That’s why we decided to do something way exciting and outside the box for fun that October. Remember how we had that free plane ticket left over from the mishap where we missed the military ball? We decided to cash in that ticket and have a 2nd honeymoon in a place neither of us had ever been before but where we’d always wanted to go.

We are both frugal people, but when it comes to relationships, we always fork over the money.

That’s why we fly in to visit our families every summer and Christmas, no matter how many tickets that costs us.

And that’s why we spared no expense going to see each other when we were living separately for a while.

People regret many things, but people never regret spending time with loved ones. No one on their death-bed ever said, “Man, I wish I hadn’t spent so much time with my family.” Nope. Doesn’t happen.

Relationships are always worth the money.

We decided to meet somewhere new and exciting. Alan would fly out from Oklahoma, and I’d fly up from Alabama.

So do you want to know where we went?  I’ll tell ya all about it on the next post.

SaveSave

The post Our Young Military Marriage: Training, Tutwiler, and Thievery appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

roommate reunion: Jason, Heather, Asher, and me

On day four of our vacation, we went to the San Diego Zoo.

I even managed to arrange to meet my college roommate and her family there. I was so excited and nervous to see them! I haven’t seen Jason and Heather since 2002! They don’t know Alan! Weird, huh?

Many of you know that I met Alan in college, where we began dating. Most of you don’t know too much about my life before Alan, and digging up all of these photos of my roomie Heather really took me back in time!

We had this fantastic group that we formed my freshman year of college. I don’t even know how it really came to be, but it was always the seven of us. First, I met Nikki.

We had Spanish together. We became friends, and I began having lunch with Nikki and her boyfriend Derrick at Burke Cafeteria. I met Heather through Nikki. I don’t remember how I met Ginny. But we all just knew each other. When the four of us girls became friends, we were all college freshmen, on the 14th floor of our residence hall. We used to call our larger group (there were tons of us) the 14th floor girls.

Jason entered the scene in January of our freshman year. It had to be January because I remember that it was basketball season, and Heather invited Jason to go to a basketball game with a group of her friends. Enter always single, never- has- a -date April. She’s a perfect addition to a group date. Haaa!

Actually, as I looked back through these pictures, I began to remember that I was ALWAYS the 3rd or 5th wheel to Derrick and Nikki and Heather and Jason.

This is another reason it isn’t healthy to look back. This all sounds sad for me, doesn’t it?

Don’t feel sorry for me. I occasionally did get invited to things by other people, and I had plenty of friends. I had my crushes, but I was happy being single.

We had lots of girly fun too. This was Heather, getting ready for a real date with Jason, a date on which, I promise I did not tag along. 😉 When we took this picture, Heather never suspected that April would go on to be a blogger (because blogs didn’t exist in 1999) who would post a photo of her with her hair in curlers on the interwebbin’.

Don’t worry, ya’ll. If I thought Heather would mind, I wouldn’t post it, but see that’s what I love about this group. This is why I would subject myself to third and fifth wheel-dom.

They were FUN.

We had so much fun. Jason and Brett were hilarious. Ginny and Derrick were laid back. Nikki was always saying something you didn’t expect. Heather had no filter at all, and I just remember laughing until my face hurt. I loved every single one of them. They were my little college family, the first two years.

the Mona Lisa and ol’ Leonardo da Vinci

See! These two are FUN!

Big Al Try-outs!

Jason was from San Diego, and he came to Alabama with a plan to be Big Al. When Big Al try-outs came around, we joined in the fun. I don’t know what all he had to do to try out, but our part was to participate in a skit, which he wrote and choreographed. I was Auburn in the skit. That was such a big deal. For the skit, Jason wore the Big Al costume, there was dancing, and I don’t remember what all, and then he knocked Auburn (me) down and struck a pose.

And how could he not win, with a team like us behind him?

Jason as Big Al, along with Nikki, Gretchen, me, and Heather

It’s fun to look back. I have been so lucky to have such wonderful friends. College days are long behind us now. Jason has his own marketing and design firm, and he works all over the country. Actually, he and his friend Casey started that when we were still at the university. He and Heather also had their first baby last year. Yes, I said first. There will be more. I just know it. Heather is a program coordinator for a church in San Diego. She has also written a book and worked in the news business for 10 or so years.

Heather, Asher, and me. I have found that most babies love to play with water bottles.

So now, more years than I’d like to admit later…….here we are, both living in California. Who would have ever thought?

But I’m not a third wheel now. 🙂 I have these guys.

Alan and I got a sad chuckle out of the contrast between our pictures now, as opposed to our fresh, young college photos.

I loved that Jason and Heather took time out of their schedules to see the zoo–which they’ve seen countless times–again with us.

We have lived in a couple of tourist destinations now, and we’ve always heard our friends say things like, “I don’t care what we do. I just want to see ya’ll.” I never realized how much they meant that until I got to be the visitor instead of the visited. It really wasn’t about the zoo for me. It was about catching up with people that are important to me, friends that were there for me when I needed them, friends that know where I’m from.

But don’t worry. I know. You actually did come here for the zoo photos. We will try not to disappoint:

The flamingos are so cute when they all run together.

It seemed like there were lots of birds.

an Alan and April photo! We never get these!!

learning about spider exoskeletons

This biologist works with San Diego Zoo’s insects, and he was so friendly. We were really impressed with how much he loves his work. This man is excited about some bugs. I truly appreciated the time that he spent talking to the boys about his work.

Naked mole rats!

Joshua was ALLL about this Skyfari. He rode it three times.

Actually, we all enjoyed it.

Daniel and the lion’s den…….baaaahahahaha

Cheetah!

They keep a dog in the cheetah cage, which the cheetah was raised with. The presence of the dog keeps the cheetah calm. Isn’t that interesting?

really humongous rodent thing: like a capybara

Caleb loved this.

I literally glanced at this photo and thought these were all my children. Then I looked more closely. The boys were so excited to get to hold Asher!

so happy

After the zoo, we headed over to the Corvette Diner. We had so much fun that my face hurt again, so that’s big time success.

First, there was a magician, and that was so funny. I can’t explain it, but magicians + children = hilarious.

See my laughing face? The magician was trying to keep from busting up himself.

Jason is very personable, and Daniel took right to him.

While I wasn’t even noticing, Daniel poured ketchup on his spaghetti. He thought it was delicious. Jason helped him with those long noodles. Thank you, Jason!

It was so funny. I can’t even explain it.

Preciousness!

Even John David was fascinated with baby Asher. He “helped” Jason carry him out.

I love catching up with friends. Please know that you always have a place to stay in Northern Cal, Jason and Heather! We’re here until next summer!

And that wraps up this vacation series…..back to real life!

The post Day #4: San Diego Zoo and a Throwback to the Capstone appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

We are well into our very first cross country road trip tonight, currently staying in Amarillo.

“Amarillo by Morning” is now stuck in my head.

It’s 12 am central time, and we are pretty sleepy. Unfortunately, we put clothes in the hotel washing machine downstairs. That means we have another hour and fifteen minutes, at best, before we can go to bed. Now I wish we’d packed ourselves more clothing. Drat.

It was a long day of driving, driving, and more driving. Not that much stuff happened. We did eat at Cracker Barrel. That was awesome. We didn’t have a Cracker Barrel in D.C., and I bet there won’t be one where we’re going either. Such a bummer.

So let’s talk about something that WASN’T a bummer.

On Thursday, we drove through Tuscaloosa and visited our Alma Mater: the University of Alabama.

Naturally, I took pictures. These might only be fun to other Alabama fans like myself…..

This is the President’s Mansion. I’ll never forget this one night when Jennings, Ryan, and I climbed those trees in the President’s Mansion yard.

Bryant Denny Stadium!! Roll Tide!

Toumey Hall. It’s one of the historical buildings. It was being renovated when I was a junior, and I can remember climbing up into the rafters, like they were balance beams, with Ryan and Jennings.  I know. It was a weird and stupid thing to do. Fun, though.

College of Arts and Sciences

Paty Hall:  Alan’s old dorm. I can’t believe they haven’t torn it down yet.

There were tons and tons of buildings that were not there when we were students.

I guess 12 years gave them plenty of time to build. There were whole areas of campus that I did not recognize.  Alan liked this one because it’s the “National Water Center,” and Alan loves studying water.

The old Bryce Mental Hospital building. This was an abandoned eye sore even 12 years ago, so I was surprised to see it still standing.

There were really only a few buildings that held a ton of memories for me. This Biology building is one of them.

I was pre-physical therapy, so I spent a lot of time there, doing fun things like listening to lectures and dissecting cats.

My degree is in Psychology, so I also spent a whole lot of time in Gordon Palmer: the Psychology and Math building.

I hated Calculus so much. Bleh. Jennings, do you remember how we studied for our Calculus final–watching The Nanny and Golden Girls, and studying during commercial breaks. We are lucky we passed!

I was also happy to find Tutwiler Hall still standing. My old residence hall!!  Oh, the memories!!

It felt sort of surreal to be back on campus.

Alan thought it felt great. I was so happy there, as a student, but I remember being nervous a lot too!!  There was always so many tests and so many boys. I know it sounds silly, but I was pretty stressed most of the time. Alan has this theory that I’m not really happy unless I’m stressed. I’m not sure, but in college it just seemed like there was always a cute boy that I was talking to, or walking with, or avoiding, or dating, so I had that butterfly stomach feeling an awful lot–fun–but exhausting!

It sure is nice to be married and done with that phase of life.

It was a fun time to look back on, but the past is best left as the past. Raising kids–that’s where it’s at!! 🙂

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