We're home. :)

Not a whole lot to report for yesterday on my end. Thankfully, AJ raced over to the hotel on his lunch break to grab my suitcase so I could leave the hotel lobby and walk over to Starbucks for the day. He was gone until about 5:30, poor guy. Since he left at 3:30 that morning, that's a 14-hour first day. When I saw him, though, it seemed as though I was much more tired than he was. He finally was able to get our housing voucher, so we drove to our apartment complex to check in. I held my breath as we climbed the stairs to the third floor and as I opened our front door. Wow! This place is so much nicer than what I would ever hope to have in my first year of marriage. Granite counter tops, en-suite laundry, a corner unit with a view of the tall VA trees, a dishwasher (I've never even used a dishwasher before!)...it's pretty amazing to me. There are little samples everywhere, from shampoo to laundry soap to granola bars. They even provided us with dish cloths and a laundry basket! I'll post pictures as soon as I put our stuff away because right now our belongings are scattered everywhere. One thing is for sure. We are completely surrounded by people in ACUs here. I wonder how many people living in these apartments are non-military. We're definitely not unique anymore, like we were in Illinois. Another thing--it seems as though almost every state is represented in the license plates here. Proud to add our Illinois plate to the group.


Even though I was exhausted, I started unpacking right away. The first thing I set up was our fancy new coffee maker that was a wedding gift from my brother and his girlfriend. You guys know me, but actually it was AJ's idea. We ordered Domino's for dinner, which took AJ awhile to eat because he was busy emailing his squad and taking care of Army things. Eventually he took out all of his paperwork for me to see. I'd rather not try to understand some of it, such as all the financial stuff and his life insurance. However, I was shocked to see that we're going to get reimbursed a little over $400 for gas it took to drive out here! WHAT?! He also has to document the miles he drives to and from base because we get money for that. Holy cow. I also learned that the Army already considers me exceptional ;) I have to be enrolled in a program due to my illness so that we're always stationed in a place where I can get the care that I need, but I'm sure once they get to know me they'll learn how lucky they are to have Hannah Ullrich on board. We talked about Army Community Services, TRICARE (health insurance), why he shouldn't haze enlisted personnel, and the fact that AJ should get separation pay because we won't be living together for the next year on account of the Army. He seemed to have a lot of energy and I think he had a decent day overall, except for the part when his instructor threw a chair because some of the 2LTs (2nd Lieutenants, AJ's rank) were late. He said he saw uniforms from all over the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ghana. Once we went to bed I could tell he was a little stressed and tired, especially with his squad texting him in bed. I'm doing my best not to bother him with the things that I need too much and instead do what I can to make him at home and ease the stress. 


So, our stuff is scattered everywhere and our fridge is stocked with just Mike's and a Domino's box containing leftover pizza. Feels kind of like a frat house right now, so I'm going to start organizing. Can't do anything about the food situation without a car, but hopefully that will change tonight!