Why? And how...

Rusty, you've never had a blog before, why start one now? And can you keep it up? Good question.

I have historically had lots of difficulty keeping something like this going. I'll usually get really excited, start something up, make a "Hello world!" post, and never look back at it again. There's a key difference this time though, and something that makes me believe I'll write in this blog as often as I can: Yain wants me to. And it's important, if you think about it. Our situation is pretty unique. Well, unique for us at least. She and I were married less than a week before the Army took her away from me, and sent her off to Texas, leaving me in Monterey without my Nana. So from now until November, she and I will have next to no opportunities to even see each other in person. It's important that we record our feelings and what happens in our lives so we don't become disconnected from each other. So this is the record of our life together. Apart, but very much together.

So how did it happen? Honesty -- This is for posterity, right? We didn't expect it to go the way it did. At all, actually. We were originally planing on a December wedding. December?? Too far away! In the couple of days we were together over my school's week-long break, we decided to bump it up to July. Cool. But the more we thought about it, the more we felt uneasy about it. Not sure why, but we both woke up on the morning of Monday, April 1st feeling like it was just a bad idea. After talking about it, we weren't able to shake the feeling. We took the best course we could think of: take it to our Father in Heaven. We prayed about it. I had the funniest feeling ever during that prayer. So funny that I suggested we pray about it separately so I could investigate. While praying alone I got a distinct answer in confirmation of what I'd felt earlier. We shouldn't get married in July - We should get married now. I was baffled. It didn't make any sense; would God really be encouraging us to elope? Hesitantly, I took my answer to Yain. I made sure that she felt she'd received an answer before giving her my thoughts because I didn't want to sway her in that direction. The look on her face matched the immense relief in her voice when I told her what I'd felt as she said, "I'm so glad you went first. I feel exactly the same thing, but was embarrassed to say it because I thought you'd think I was crazy." Not as crazy as I felt, knowing that we'd both received an answer that was so absolutely preposterous. But the fact is, we felt good about it, and that's all that mattered.

I called my wonderfully patient and understanding mother to break the news. The only real question she had, after fifteen minutes of conversation was, "Can I come?" Dumbfounded for the second time that day, I assured her she most definitely could. Roughly eight hours later, I found myself crowded into a tiny room in one of the Washoe County administrative buildings in Reno, Nevada together with my favorite girl in the whole world, with her sister and my parents as witnesses. We were married there in that place, in what Yain and I both agree were the most unlikely of circumstances. To quote her, "Never did I ever think I would be eloping in a courthouse in Reno." I didn't either. It was so unexpected that it even took the two of us by surprise.

Of all things our wedding was, normal is not one of them. But in a way, it suits us perfectly. Rusty and Yain, Nana and Kite... So far from normal. We've had quite the adventure so far. Why stop now?