Johnnie & Me

It has been a good year over here for both of us. We both decided to come to Iraq for similar reasons. One of those reasons having to do with patriotism, and a response to 9-11. Not being in the military, the next best thing was to support them while they had to be here and make life as comfortable as possible for them. That has been a privilege and an honor to do. Life is never that simple though and making a decision like this involves deeply personal motives as well. We both were ready to draw a line in the sand between the past and the future. We wanted to redefine our indivdual lives. It's been almost a year of learning to let go of all that lies behind in terms of failures, losses and pain, and becoming hopeful for the future. Our relationship and friendship has grown strong and is an immeasurable gift to both of us. Real love is what life is and we plan to share that with each other as long as God gives us breath. As we get close to the end of our time here, it's hard not to count the days until we can be near our kids and our family again. Without a doubt, being away from them has been the hardest part of this experience; but we've accomplished what we came here to do and are ready for the next part of our lives to take shape.