Living in Barnes & Noble for a day.

We definitely took our time checking out of the hotel on Sunday morning, as we had nowhere else to go. We watched the election results in Egypt on CNN before driving to a shopping plaza closer to Richmond, where I pretty much spent the day. We occupied our time with trips to Best Buy, Target, and Chipotle before settling in at Barnes & Noble around 1:30 in the afternoon. AJ changed into his ACUs and left to report at Fort Lee just before 2:30, and from that point on I was on my own. Now, I love Barnes & Noble and will happily spend a few hours there reading or working on something. However, AJ did not return for me until just under six hours had passed. By that time, the computer had died and there were no outlets, and my back was getting really stiff from sitting so long in a wooden chair. I sure was happy to see him! 

Turns out AJ's day went really well. He said that everyone was very kind and helpful, and he met his entire BOLC class during a briefing. There are indeed a few people who have gotten married in the past few months, and some of their wives are here. I told him to be sure to make me some friends. He said that one woman gave him a pitying look and said that he missed his chance to move into his apartment tonight, so he would have to spend another night in a hotel. To which AJ replied that his wife would just be ecstatic to know that she was getting to live in an apartment. And I am! As it turns out, many BOLC students here are indeed stuck living in hotel rooms for four months with no kitchenette. So we are very, very fortunate. Of course, we have pretty much nothing to move into the apartment except our clothes, AJ's equipment, one pillow, and a coffeemaker, but all I care about is the fact that we have a space all to ourselves that I can make into a home for my husband. I am beyond overjoyed. We serve a generous and compassionate God. In the end, I'm thankful that we were told so many times that we would just be living in a hotel, even though it really hurt and frustrated me. Now I know to be grateful for the blessing we have.

We had some amazing sushi nearby before we drove to the next hotel, which is really, really nice. Turns out, the Best Western is in the not so nice part of town and the area we're in now is definitely better. There are a ton of Army people staying here; there were a couple men staring at us as we checked in and eventually they waved AJ over to tell them that they had just finished BOLC and were living here. Earlier in the day AJ teased me for kind of staring at someone at our Best Western who I thought was in the Army, but as it turns out I fit right in. AJ had to make some calls to his squad last night, and then we went to bed early because he left for Fort Lee at 3:30am. We had a really great evening together though; hearing AJ's good news and knowing his first day went so well definitely made my day. So far today I've been spending the day alone in our room, which is slightly lonely but thankfully I've been working on my FAFSA and my mom called for a little bit. I have to check out at noon, but once again I have no car, nowhere to live, and a suitcase with me so I can't even walk far. I think I'm just going to sit in the lobby and hope I hear from AJ soon! 

The Ullrichs drive to VA.

We're finally here! We left Manteno, IL at about 10am on Friday with the Echo (aka the marshmallow) completely crammed with some of the most important things we think we might need for the next two months in my case, and four in AJ's. We drove across Indiana and Ohio for about a bazillion hours. Not much to report there. I tried really hard to keep AJ company for awhile, but then my stiffness and sleepiness won over my guilt so I fell asleep for a little while. We listened to The Heavenly Man on AJ's iPod, which I'm really enjoying. It's perfect for a road trip. I usually keep asking to listen to it, and then AJ tells me not to listen to it all so quickly. We're different.


The drive really started to get interesting when we got to West Virginia. It truly is wild and wonderful, as it says on all their license plates. The mountains are gorgeous and there's hardly any towns there from what we could see, which made me really want to just take a random exit and see what tiny towns we could find. The drive got even prettier when the sun started to set and the mist came down among the mountains. So beautiful. I loved it and wish I could remember that forever. We stopped at a cheap hotel in Beckley at 9:30pm, which is good because we were getting a little delirious.

The drive to Virginia was just as pretty. We even stopped at a scenic overlook just because, and I'm glad we did. AJ was hard at work buying a car for me pretty much the entire time. I was okay that, but all that negotiating started to drive me crazy. Again, that's how we're different. Still proud of my husband for working so hard to make sure he was getting me the best car he could. He went in to sign the paperwork as soon as we got to our hotel in Hopewell. We don't waste any time.

So we've been in Hopewell, VA (right outside Fort Lee) since late this afternoon. We had dinner at a weird sushi place that wasn't our favorite, but not bad either. AJ thought historic downtown Petersburg was really sketchy, and after having driven around looking for a Target and Best Buy tonight, I agree. We are in a pretty sketchy area it seems, which makes me really thankful that we're getting me a GPS. The area is kind of run down and poor, and we've counted 3 adult video stores in our immediate vicinity. And apparently it's not conceal and carry here, just carry, from what I saw in Best Buy. But there's a Korean restaurant with karaoke! ;) Like everyone's been telling me for months now, it's an adventure. This is where the Army lives, and so now it's our home for awhile. Now we're kicking back with some Mike's hard lemonade and tv. AJ doesn't need to report till around three tomorrow, so we're grateful for the time to relax.

We're moving!

Packing for our first road trip to Fort Lee! Everything we need for the next two months needs to fit in AJ's tiny Toyota Echo. Needless to say, it's a bit of a challenge. Kinda like a puzzle :)

Married life.

Whenever I know a couple that gets married I always want to know...what do they do after all that wedding excitement? Although I've seen a few friends and family and have had a chance to catch them up on what we've been up to, my list of needed skype dates is very long and I've been kind of bad at keeping in touch with all of our newlywed busyness. Here's a super quick summary of what our little Ullrich family has been doing lately. :)


We've been living in AJ's aunt and uncle's basement since the night we returned from our honeymoon, which is even better than I thought it would be. At first I was a little sad about the idea of not returning to our own place after our honeymoon, but the basement apartment we've been blessed to live in is amazing. We have a bedroom, our own bathroom, a kitchen that's bigger than my mom's (not actually hard to do), and a pretty nice tv. We've also been blessed to spend lots of time getting to know my new aunt, uncle, and cousins just by living in their house. They are such gracious hosts and have made us feel right at home here. I'm going to miss this place, especially since we're supposedly living in a hotel room this summer.


So that's where we live, and here is what we've been doing. I was able to still coach a few softball games with my dad when we returned to Illinois, so we were busy with games for about a week. That is something I will definitely miss a lot, not only because I love the game but because it keeps me close to my father and sister. We've also spent time changing my name, seeing a couple friends before we leave, and eating meals at our parents' houses. Today is the first day we're actually cooking dinner! Like many newlyweds, we have plenty of thank you notes to write and wedding gifts to sort through. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our gifts are going into storage because we don't yet have a home. Basically, we've been super busy every day. I'm actually somewhat looking forward to some peace and quiet in Virginia.


Overall, newlywed life has been really good for us so far. We're so blessed to finally be together for awhile, because we're so used to being apart. That has smoothed over many misunderstandings and hardships for us. We love seeing our family so much and don't have to worry about working just yet. At the same time, this is one of the toughest times in my life so far. It's very challenging to have to move so far away so quickly just to see your husband, and even then I don't exactly know what I'll do to pass the time in Virginia. I'm happiest when I'm busy, so the thought of not working or going to school or having a church home is a little scary to me. I'll spare cyberspace the details, but I will say that so far being an Army wife has stretched me a lot. It 's unpredictable, it's painful, it's frustrating. It's hard, and I know that I'll continue to face challenges especially in the next year. Even so, I am finally married to the man that I love, and I would never dream of living apart from him as long as I have a choice. Come war or peace, Army life or civilian life, I love AJ and know that he is God's choice for me. We're in this together for life, and he's worth every sacrifice.

Last weekend at UIUC.

Seems like yesterday that we helped AJ move into Scott Hall and dropped him off at the Armory on his first day of college. Now...he graduates on Saturday. What the heck. Fastest four years of my life!

Mrs. Ullrich and I drove down together on Friday afternoon for AJ's last Army ball, more commonly known as Dining Out to Army folk. This was my fourth one, but his mom's first, so it was really fun to have her there. AJ got to see a new black dress of mine, and he got to wear his new dress uniform for the first time. It makes him look pretty good. Errr...the other way around. ;) There's a lot of ceremony involved in these things, so they always take longer than I remember. But I always love to get a glimpse of AJ's world and to see the people he spends so much time with. We really enjoyed the evening, and my man got another award! So proud, as always. We got to see a lot of pictures of AJ in the slideshow the cadets put together too. Such a fun night. By the time we got back to AJ's apartment we were exhausted, so we hugged Mrs. Ullrich good-bye and watched a little bit of TV before calling it a night.

The next morning AJ went for a run with a friend, so I just hung around until he came back and we made a couple delicious omlettes together. Yum. We didn't have much time before he left again to hang out with some Cru friends one last time. I spent the next four hours between Starbucks and the apartment writing a paper, napping, and studying for finals. It turned out to be a very productive afternoon. After AJ got back we didn't have long before our double date with two of his married friends. We attended their wedding last year, and this was the first time I had seen them since then. They were such a blessing to us that night. It was so great to be able to talk with them about the joys and challenges of our relationships and what married life is like. They both took an interest in our lives and listened while we talked about some tough stuff. I don't know them very well, but I know they care very much about AJ and have always been so warm towards me. It's rare that AJ and I have a chance to sit down with a couple our age and talk through our struggles. I only hope they know how much they blessed us, and spending time with them was definitely a highlight of my week. So glad they will be at our wedding! We will miss them very much, and I hope we can plan a visit whenever we return to Illinois.

Sunday morning we decided to take it easy as we had been up pretty late the night before and I was having a tough day emotionally. Eventually we had lunch one last time at our favorite sushi restaurant and then I treated us to frozen yogurt, which we enjoyed on the quad. Such a good time. After that we hopped into the Echo for the drive back to Peotone. Yep, my fiance drove me all the way home just for an extra hour and a half with me! It actually turned out to be a little bit longer due to some crazy weather. We took advantage of time spent sitting under an overpass due to a tornado warning by snuggling in the front seat and watching the storm with Josh Garrels playing on AJ's iPod. The people behind us probably thought we were weird, but that's okay. It was awesome.

It was definitely a bittersweet weekend. Leaving U of I today was yet another reminder that we are leaving all that is meaningful and familiar to us for life in the Army. It's hard, because I don't quite know what I'm trading all that is near and dear to me for. Our future is so uncertain, and it is so easy to focus on all that I'm losing lately. But this is sometimes what happens when you follow your loved one (or the Lord, not sure which it is right now) no matter what. I keep thinking this is how Abraham and Sarah must have felt when God told them to leave for Canaan.

OPUS.

Yesterday I went to what very well might be my last OPUS. For those of you scratching your heads and wondering what I'm talking about, I shall tell you. OPUS is Trinity's celebration of scholarship that takes place once every spring. This is the time for students to present anything they've been working on during the semester, whether it's research, a work of art, a poem...you get the idea. Students submit their work and compete for prizes. Many interim groups will also give presentations on what they did in January. Afternoon classes are cancelled and night classes are pushed back to seven, so everybody's free (except those of us who work). We get tickets to enter in a drawing for presenting or going to presentations, and the prizes include everything from free parking permits to a $500 tuition remission. It's cool stuff. Kinda like a big party centered around school.


This year I actually presented for the first time. I've been doing some independent research this semester for the honors program. I got to choose any topic I wanted as long as it had to do with my major, and I decided on social work with suicide survivors. Meaning, people who have lost a close loved one to suicide. This is a very personal topic for me, because I am a suicide survivor multiple times over. My first experience of death when I was six years old was the suicide of my grandfather, and my parents told my brother and I the truth about how he died. It's a lot for a six year old brain to handle, and unfortunately suicide has remained in my life since. I could say a whole lot more about what that experience has been like for me, but this is the Internet and that's besides the point of this post. Anyway, I've been working hard on this research for months, and according to the honors program I must present it. So I did.

Never in a million years would I have anticipated the number of people who came to hear me speak. The room was standing room only--people were standing along the walls, sitting in the aisle...It was crazy. I knew some people would come because we're friends (or friendly), but I didn't know many people in the audience. Hardly anyone came from social work. I was blown away and humbled by their interest in such a tough topic. At the beginning of my presentation, I self-disclosed a bit and said that I was one of the people I was about to talk about. The reactions I got were interesting--I saw several eyebrows go up. It's a scary thing to admit something so personal to so many people in the community where you live and study, but I'm glad I did. For the first time, I felt like I got to stand up and reveal a tiny piece of my story while trying to improve the world and how we relate to each other as Christians. 


Later that afternoon, I had a couple strangers thank me for my presentation while I was at work. To my shock, I was voted the best presentation out of psychology, social work, sociology...I forget what else. But wow. I was nervous about speaking on such a tough subject and revealing my personal experience with it, and wasn't sure if I would be well received. But I was. Again, so humbled by how supportive my peers were and so grateful for their willingness to show that they care by at least sitting through my speech. Little did they know, they were a part of a tremendous healing experience for me. We truly are wounded healers in social work, and when we get to use our pain to create change...that's truly something.

Saying good-bye to res life.

Although I (sorta sadly) still have a year left at Trinity, this semester is my last living on campus. Prior to this March I had no idea that I would be moving back in with my parents this fall. Needless to say, the thought of returning to the lime green/orange room complete with bunk beds that I share with my 12-year-old sister as a married woman is a little crazy. Let me tell you, I had absolutely zero intentions to become the boomerang child, especially while having a husband who is totally capable of supporting me!

Brief explanation: I'm getting married to a soldier in the US Army in June. We're living in Virginia this summer, and then I have to come back to Illinois to finish my BSW while my husband is wherever the Army tells him he needs to be, which will definitely not be in Illinois. I decided that it's best to live with my parents during that time and commute the 45 minutes to school.

So, I decided to come up with a couple lists to sum up my feelings about leaving res life so quickly and unexpectedly.

Things I'll Miss.

-Living with two of my best friends. I love sitting at the kitchen table doing homework and usually having someone else to strike up a conversation with. Words can't describe how awesome it is to have people to hang out with all the time.

-Grabbing lunch to-go and watching CSI against our better judgment.

-The fact that someone else cooks my meals.

-The ability to change into comfy clothes and nap in the middle of the day.

-The late night activities on campus, including Outcry, movies, etc.

-Never having to pay for gas because I don't have a car.

-Being able to take it for granted that the shower will have hot water.

-Sharing a bathroom with less people. Yep, that's right--the bathroom situation has always been much better for me at college than at home.

-Great memories from my first three years of living here.

Things I Won't Miss.

-Being stranded on campus most of the time because I don't have a car.

-Greasy food.

-Noisy pipes or whatever they are in Tibstra.

-Not feeling connected to my home church.

I think that's enough for now. Leaving is a weird feeling, but I'm ready. Ready to be a married woman, even if it's in a very unusual way. Definitely ready to start transitioning out of this place and figuring out the rest of my life.