We're getting married!

I was in the middle of my first deployment when I heard about the new sailors that will be meeting us at one of our port calls in Guam. Interested in the next generation, I would read report of names of the ones that would be working with us. My close friend, Bradley Rosenberg, had mentioned that he was friends with one of them from their last command. Her name was Allison Martín, but I only new her by her last name. It wasn't long after she showed up that I noticed her and I wanted to meet her. In an attempt to get her attention, I made a plan to come up to Rosie and put out something that sounded important infront of her. I tried extra hard to talk faster than I usually do and left the area once I was done talking. I acted like I was in the middle of something that needed me elsewhere. I gave her a glance to see if she was watching, but was careful not to seem like I was there because of her even though that was the sole purpose the interaction with my friend. I left like I had better places to be in than the mess decks and continued my day wondering if the first impression I gave was enough to put me on her radar. It wasn't long after that day until I found myself running into her all the time. At first it was her who found me to get qualification signatures and advice on how to succeed in our work center. Once I knew that she would appreciate my time, I dedicated hours of my day to assisting with whatever she needed. I liked that I could be helpful to her, even though I usually kept to myself. She was the exception. There was something about her personality that made me feel warm and welcome to share anything and everything with her. We ended up hanging out everyday and eating every meal together. We we inseperible. We could spend hours talking about work or life and anything in between. I became so attached to her that I wouldn't eat without her with me. I even pulled strings to organize our watch standing rotations so that we could be on the same daily schedules together. Life on deployment wasn't so bad anymore with her by my side. Once we got back to home port, I feared that our friendship would fade since we wouldn't be stuck on a ship together and we wouldn't have as much time to hang out. I was surprised to learn that despite no longer being trapped on board, she still wanted to see me. After some time of relearning life on land, we started hanging out all the time at work and after. Ever since then, we have spent every minute together no matter what it is we were doing. I am so lucky to have met the woman of my dreams. She helps me achieve my goals, challenges me to improve and supports me in every possible. It was difficult to tell her how I really felt about her, since I didn't want to ruin the friendship we had built. But after coming clean about my feelings for her, I was overjoyed to hear that she had felt the same way. She's the best thing that ever happened to me and I will live happy for the rest of my life knowing that she will always be by my side.

I had just begun my first deployment with the Navy, and was suddenly thrown into a new, chaotic, and honestly a bit scary, life. Bradley Rosenberg was one of my closest friends on the ship. He showed me the ins and outs of boat life, of how to survive on deployment, and most importantly, he introduced me to Leo. (Rosie is the Best Man, by the way!) We were in the galley, and Rosie was telling me who to go to for checkouts in order to qualify. He mentioned "DuBois", and helped me study for my checkouts. Rosie then set up a checkout for me with Leo, and helped me get through the questions, diagrams, and drawings. From there, Rosie and Leo trained me. They were my Over-Instructs for my qualifications, and Leo and I began to spend more time together. Leo taught me how to adapt to this new phase in my career. He quickly became my best friend because he not only understood me on a professional level, but on a personal one. Anyone who knows me, knows that work ethic, determination, and follow through are important values to me. Leo exemplified all these values, and then some. He was (and still is) known for how hard he worked, how committed he is. He was the type of worker that I wanted to be. And Leo believed that I could be that, too. He believed in me. Later on, I went through a very difficult time in my life. Leo was the only person who was able to get me out of the house, put a smile on my face, and not only told me that everything was going to be alright, but he made me believe everything was going to be alright. We had a great summer full of fun memories with amazing people. When I got injured on the ship, I couldn't drive home for Thanksgiving. I felt so sad, and so lonely, and missed my family so much. So Leo asked his wonderful mom, Barbara, if I could come to her house for Thanksgiving. I spent that Thanksgiving surrounded by beautifully kind people who welcomed me with open arms. I am so blessed to be able to say his family has still made me feel that same warm feeling of welcomeness throughout our entire relationship. That Thanksgiving, unknown to me, Leo told his mother that he wanted to be with me. That Thanksgiving, I realized I wanted to be with him. Of course, us being best friends and all, we told each other everything, but somehow couldn't quite figure out how to tell each other how we felt about each other. I remember the day that he walked through the front door of my apartment at 3 in the morning. He woke me up, and told me how he felt. I thought I was dreaming. He said he had decided to tell me the night before, and had planned to come over in the morning at a reasonable hour. But, he couldn't sleep because of how excited he was to finally tell me. So he got up, drove over at 3 in the morning, and made my dreams come true. Everyone always says things happen for a reason. If I hadn't joined the Navy. If I hadn't agreed to ship out early. If I hadn't been switched to a different boat in Prototype (which I resented at the time). If I hadn't, at the very last minute, changed my top choice from "Norfolk" to "San Diego". If Rosie hadn't introduced us. If I had locked my apartment door!! (I lock it now). All of these deliberate choices, all of these happenstance events. It all came together to lead me to this wonderful man.