Part Three. Let boot camp begin!

The first couple weeks were the absolute hardest for me. I could barely sleep at night. I found myself staring off into space majority of the day. I became empty, lost, just a spirit inside of a body wandering around. I had no appetite. And when I did eat, the only thing I wanted was chocolate icecream with peanut butter shell on it. So random right?

This was not only boot camp for him, but relationship boot camp, seriously.

I started writing him the day he left. Each letter- hand written, date at the top, letter#, and signed with "always, and forever- erin." It became a daily routine. I don't think I ever missed a day.

To pass time, I worked. I worked three jobs. Rarely a day off, rarely any free time. I let work eat up ALL my time. It kept my mind off things. If I had any time to just sit at home, I was writing to him. I started a scrap book to work on while I was at home. I shopped online for Marine Corps things. I waited every single day for the mail man. I remember when I got my first letter. I fell asleep late that night, and my grandma was in, but she went out with my parents early that morning. She always would park right next to the mailbox, and when she did that, our mailman couldn't get to our mailbox. I woke up that morning at six am. I sat by the front door, and waited, and waited. I could not let the mailman skip our house. I ate breakfast on the front steps, and waited some more. Finally, it was about 11:30 and I was sitting ouside eating lunch and the mailman pulled up and I ran down the driveway, ramen noodles in hand and all. And there it was, right on top- my very first letter! I jumped up and down, screamed at the top of my lungs, and laughed. I was so happy.

Mail man stalking became a regular thing for me. If I was at work, I would drive all the way home just to get the mail. I got a letter about twice a week, sometimes more. Every single time, I was beyond ecstatic. I'd do my little heel kick outside by the mailbox, run back into the house, announce to everyone I got a letter, and then instantly write back. 

This part of the story is hard for me to write because so much was going on, and I was changing so much as a person. I'll probably write the bootcamp journey in a few parts just because there are so many things I want to share. (Like I said, I'm blogging for myself, and for whoever comes across this).  I met so many amazing women on a support site. These women became my biggest support group, and they still are to this very day. I couldn't imagine my life without them, crazy huh?

I found myself getting stronger and stronger every single day. Every word he wrote in his letters gave me hope. I found myself speaking out to other Marine Girlfriends and sharing my story. I found myself motivated. I found myself becoming a role model to other girls whose boyfriends were just starting bootcamp

But most importantly, I found myself falling even more in love with him.