Flashback Friday -- Gracie's homecoming

Like a lot of high school students, I got my senior photos taken the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. While at the photographer's studio, I noticed he had a tub of kittens. Gray ones. Tans ones. White ones. I asked him if I could incorporate the kittens into one of my poses. They were so cute! He laughed, but obliged. He offered me a kitten to take home, but since I was going to school in Washington, I wouldn't really be able to take care of one.

Fast forward three years. I must have made an impact on the guy. I accompanied my little sister to the same studio to assist her with her photos. She wanted moral support.

The photographer immediately remembered me as the girl who wanted the kittens in her pictures. He said that if I had known you two were sisters, I would have brought more kittens. He lived on a farm, so he had cats in his barn and there were kittens born every summer.

He offered us kittens again. But this time, I had moved home for the rest of college and was going to be living with my sister. After talking with her (I think I talked to her about it...I'm not quite sure...haha), I called the photographer and told her I'd take one.

So I drove out to his farm and picked out the little gray kitten with green eyes. My own little girl. 

Read my previous Flashback Friday posts: Dave's homecoming | Otis' homecoming | The beginning of us | Our first Valentine's Day


J.B.

Flashback Friday -- Our first Valentine's Day

Warning to Dave: You might not like this story. You know it's true, but I also know you don't like to be reminded of this particular day in our lives. I'm so thankful that you stayed persistent until I said yes. Thank you for not letting me make this mistake.

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The first Valentine's Day that Dave and I knew each other was in 2003. We had known each other for a couple of months. We'd met only twice, since he was stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, and I was living here in Minnesota. But in those last couple of months, we'd gotten to know each other really well. We talked every day on the phone -- often late into the night. I was getting the vibe that he liked me. I liked him too. A lot. Valentine's Day was just a couple of weeks before he deployed to Iraq. His unit was really busy getting ready for their first deployment, so we hadn't been talking quite as much -- still a couple of times a day though. haha. If I remember correctly, his deployment could have happened at any time, so he wasn't allowed to be more than an hour away from Ft Campbell. I knew he wouldn't be surprising me with a visit.

I was actually a little nervous about the vibe I was getting from Dave leading up to Valentine's Day. I liked him too, but I didn't think we'd be able to do anything about those feelings. He was in Kentucky. I was in Minnesota. My personal opinion at the time was that I didn't think long distance relationships made any sense. What was the point of being with someone if you couldn't be physical with that person? I have no idea why I had that opinion -- it really wasn't like I ever really had any options to date people that lived close to me. I really wasn't an expert on relationships, since I never really had any, but for some reason I was anti-long distance. And I told that to Dave a time or two.

But still, Dave's vibe was getting me nervous. Along came Valentine's Day. I went about my typical day. In the afternoon, I got a call from a flower shop. They had tried to deliver some flowers but I wasn't home.

I had a pretty good idea who they were from. I wanted my flowers, so I drove to the shop to get them.


I had an idea who they were from. But I waited until I got home to open them up.

They were the most beautiful red roses I had ever seen in my life. Absolutely gorgeous.

And there it was. The Card. I was giddy, excited, nervous, anxious and scared as I opened the card.

"Would you be my girlfriend? Love, Dave"

Oh, crap, I thought. This is not good. I really didn't want anything to change between Dave and I. I liked that he liked me. I liked liking him. I like flirting with him on the phone. I was too scared to take things to the next step. I knew I wouldn't see him for a year, so I didn't want to lock myself down into a relationship. I was only 20 years old, I wasn't ready for the level of seriousness that our relationship would ultimately have because he would be deployed. But I didn't want to lose him. I wanted to kiss him before I agreed to be his girlfriend. I had never had a Valentine before. I wanted a Valentine, but why did it have to be under these complicated circumstances.

So what did I do?

I avoided Dave. I continued going about my day. I went to the grocery store to get a couple of roses to bring to my other single lady friends with whom I was celebrating the holiday. I got back into my car and my cell phone rang.

It was Dave.

I didn't answer.

He left me a voice mail.

I listened to the voice mail. He was singing, "Would you be my girlfriend" -- the *nsync song that I loved.

Crap. He's still asking me.

Valentine's Day. A day about love. An offer of love, complete with a love song and roses, was being given to me. I was scared and terrified. I felt like cupid had shot his arrow. His arrow hit me -- wounded me -- and I was bleeding. Dying. This was not how I dreamed of falling in love.

I knew I needed to call him. I couldn't ignore him forever. But first, I called a friend. Or two. I was freaking out and needed to make sure I was doing the right thing.

I called him back.

I said, "I'm sorry. I can't."

I explained all of my excuses. I don't remembering him saying too much, but I know he said we would still be friends.

I told that I needed to wait until he came back from Iraq. I said that if we're meant to be together, it will work out. I pleaded. He agreed to my conditions. I felt like he was okay with what I thought I wanted. 

Before he got off the phone, he asked me if I liked the bear.

I hadn't gotten any bear. They messed up my order. So the bear was delivered the next day. There was a card attached to the bear.

"Would you be my girlfriend? Love, Dave"

This was the third time he asked. I still couldn't do it. I teased Dave that he needed to stop asking. I'm sure it hurt his heart more than it hurt mine. But I stayed stubborn. Two weeks later he left for Iraq and we said good-bye.

I'm still sorry for 02-14-03.

But our story obviously didn't end there. It pretty much continues from this post, so keep reading to find out what happened. (It gets happier -- I promise).

Read my previous Flashback Friday posts: Dave's homecoming | Otis' homecoming | The beginning of us





J.B.

Flashback Friday -- Going way back. To the beginning.

The beginning of Dave and I that is. People often ask how I met Dave. After all, I am from the Twin Cities. He is from Duluth. He lived in Kentucky when I met him. His immediate family lives in North Carolina.

Well, we actually owe our meeting to one of my oldest friends, Heather. She lived just a couple houses away from me growing up. She ended up going to college in Duluth, while I moved out to Washington state for school. After two years, I moved home and Heather moved back to the cities too. We reconnected and started hanging out all the time. While she was in Duluth, she met Dave. Then Dave joined the Army and moved to Kentucky. One weekend in late October/early November 2002, Dave went home to visit his parents in Duluth. When he was driving back to Kentucky, he decided to visit Heather's house. On that Saturday night, that's exactly where I was -- at Heather's house.

Heather, her roommate and I had plans to go to Stargate, a local dance club. I was upstairs in Heather's bedroom talking to another friend, Megan, trying to convince her to join us when Dave arrived. I remember hearing him walk up the stairs to find Heather and I as I tell Megan that she better join us because Hot Dave is here. Funny thing is...I hadn't even seem him yet.

Then he walked in the room and we met. I remember thinking...yeah, he actually is pretty good looking. If Megan ended up joining us, Dave could totally pass off as Hot Dave. He was tall with broad shoulders. Beautiful blue eyes. Wore a Northwest Airlines t-shirt (a shirt I'll never let him get rid of. It's a collectors item now) and a Corona hat. But after I met Dave, I was no longer all that interested in Megan joining us. Quickly, I got off the phone with her, so I could get to know Dave better.

Here's what I knew about Dave before I met him: He was from Duluth. He was in the Army. He was home on leave and driving back to Kentucky. He was supposed to drive down to Rochester to visit his grandma, but was stopping by to say hi to Heather and might not go to Rochester as he originally planned.

My dad had been in the Army too. I was pretty sure my dad had been stationed in Kentucky as well. So that's what I first talked to Dave about. He was pretty quick to show me his dog tags. But as I talked to him, I quickly become surprised at how easy it was to talk to him. Generally, I'm pretty shy around people when I first meet them. But there was something comforting about Dave's demeanor where I felt I could talk to him. I felt like he was an old friend.

Soon it was decided that Dave would not be leaving to visit his grandma. Instead, he would be joining us three girls to go to the dance club.

We had a good time a Stargate. I loved that Dave was there and the fact that he was giving me attention. (Especially because there was a boy there that I had dated a couple of times that I wanted to make jealous...minor detail). I remember dancing with him to Justin Timberlake. I swear we danced to "Let's Get Married" by Jagged Edge or a similar song with a similar message -- but I'm probably making that up.

We left the club late. But the night was not over yet. We went back to Heather's house and watched a movie. I remember clearly at one point Dave was comparing our hands and pointing out that the lines are almost identical (I was skeptical and figured he probably used that line on every girl. Don't everyone's palms look similar?). He gave me a back rub too. I remember that vividly, because I was thinking, "Yes! A guy that likes to give back rubs." (But it ended up that wasn't really the case. It's all good, though. I still love Dave!)

Heather and I left for a while to go to a house of a friend of hers. (It's funny that I used to be able to stay up so late back then. I'm definitely not the same girl!) Dave stayed back at Heather's to sleep for a couple of hours before he got up really early to drive back to Kentucky.

I remember him waking me up when he left, asking to exchange numbers. Half asleep, I gave him my number and then he gave me mine. I couldn't remember his name, so I just put in some letters so that I could save the number. I figured I would figure it out later. All that matter was that I saved this boy's number, because I enjoyed my time and liked talking with him.

That was it. He was gone and it would be over a month until I saw him again. I'd only see him once more before he deployed to Iraq.

I had to wake up fairly early to go to work. I called him as I drove just to see how his drive was going. Thank goodness I remembered his name when I woke up! But I never changed his name in my phone. It was always Jab (ironically my initials now).

The best part of the day after I met Dave was that I had a message from him when I left work. I was so pretty pumped that this guy decided to call me.

And that is the story of how we met.

Read my previous Flashback Friday posts: Dave's homecoming | Otis' homecoming


J.B.

Flashback Friday -- Otis' homecoming

Another big homecoming for The Balow Bunch was the day we got Otis.

We Dave anticipated getting Otis for such a long time.

When Dave was in the army, he wanted to get a dog. I told him he should wait until he got out of the service.

When Dave and I lived in an apartment, he wanted to get a dog. I told him we should wait until we have more space.

When Dave and I bought a house, he wanted to get a dog. I told him we should wait until after our wedding and after the honeymoon.

So it was decided that a dog would be my wedding present to Dave.

Otis was actually born before our wedding. Dave picked him out, but Otis wasn't old enough to go home until about a month after the wedding.

Here's the first photo of Otis that we ever saw.

We loved him immediately.

During our honeymoon, Dave would check his email every day to see if the breeder had emailed us any new pictures. One day we got lucky and saw this:

Finally, on the last Saturday in July, it was time to go pick up Otis. We drove 4-5 hours down to a farm in Iowa. We loved getting a tour of the farm, meeting Otis' parents, seeing the other dogs and puppies.

 

 That's Otis' mama, Angel, and one of his sisters.

Angel loves attention, just like Otis!

We drove back home with two puppies. Another couple was buying the other pup and they lived by us. So we took their dog back with us so they didn't have to drive down to Iowa too. We didn't know what they were going to call her, so we called her Princess. We were so tempted to keep her!

Dave and the little Princess.

O-bear and I. We put his little collar on him right away!

 
Checking out his new toy.

Otis and Princess did a great job on the way home. They didn't cry at all. That was so unlike my experience with my first dog, Nels. He cried the whole way home and my mom and I cried too.


Anyway, we loved Otis straight from the get-go. He looked like a little bear cub and waddled around the grass. It's so funny to remember how slow he was as the grass was almost as tall as him, because now he's so speedy. He would lick us right on our chin, just like we always dreamed our puppy would.

Our family.

 

Checking out another new toy. Today he would destroy a toy like this in seconds!.

Dave finally got his puppy. He said it was worth the wait, because if we had gotten a pup any earlier, it wouldn't have been our Otis.

Sleepy pup!

Read my previous Flashback Friday post: Dave's homecoming.

J.B.

Flashback Friday -- Dave's homecoming

There's a lot more story to the Balow Bunch that what you've been reading in this blog since 2007. Actually, there are probably only a very few people who've been reading this blog since its inception. And as a matter of fact, there aren't all that many more people reading this blog now. But I thought it'd be fun write about a story from the past every once in a while so that you get to know me and my bunch a little bit better.

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February 9, 2004

One of the best days of my life was when Dave came home from Iraq. He spent a year there. A year that for me was filled with anxiety, worry and fear. Those feelings combined with the feelings that I had toward Dave were pretty overwhelming at times. So imagine my relief and excitement when the day finally arrived that Dave would be safe from war and safe in my arms once again.

My mom and I started the day by driving 13 hours to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, where Dave was stationed. The weather through southern Minnesota and into Wisconsin wasn't the greatest. It was foggy and kinda snowy/icy, if I remember correctly. But I wasn't going to let a little weather stop me from getting to see Dave come home.

Several hours into the trip, Dave called from Prague. I was in Jaynesville, Wis. It was just wierd that in the amount of time it was taking to drive from Wisconsin to Kentucky, Dave was flying all the way from Europe to Kentucky.

After several more hours, we finally arrived in Clarksville, Tenn. (right next to Fort Campbell). We met Dave's parents, sisters and nephew at their hotel. FINALLY, that night it was time to go to the army base. My mom and I followed Dave's family by car. Fort Campbell was ready for the families. They had soldiers directing us where to go.

I felt like I had been waiting all year for the day (which I had been), but the wait seemed to drag on and on. We were all directed into an airport hanger with all the other families.We waited. And waited. And waited.  I remember looking around at the families. Imagined what it must have been liked to be married with children and have a deployed husband. It'd be harder than my own experience for sure, and I thought my own experience was so hard. I looked at what the other women were wearing and compared to my own outfit. It had been so hard to pick out an outfit for that day! I wanted to look good. But I didn't want to look like I was trying too hard. It was cold and I wanted to be warm enough to stand outside.

Two planes finally arrived. It seemed like the planes had been there for a while before they called for families to go out to the barricade to watch the soldiers get off the plane. But Dave's unit was on the other plane, so we had to wait some more. And more. Finally it was our turn.

We hurried outside and went up to the barricade. We had little American flags to wave. Some people had posters. We were all squished up alongside the barricade. We waited some more. No one was getting off the plane.

Then my cell phone rang.

It was a number I didn't recognize, but I answered it anyway.

"Oh, my! It's Dave!" I exclaimed. EVERYONE turned and looked at me. He said they'd be out soon and he couldn't wait to see me.

We waited some more.

Finally the plane door opens and soldiers start walking down the stairs and across the tarmac. They all walk pass us and into another hanger where they are getting into formation.We're all cheering and jumping up and down.

Finally, I spot Dave. He looks so confident walking across the tarmac with his big black pack on his back. But you should have seen his smile when he saw his family and my mom and I waving at him. It was huge!

The moment I was waiting for so long was finally happening. Soon I would be in his arms.

After he went by, we moved into the hanger. There was an army band and a soldier singing, "Proud to be an American." This whole evening was the most patriotic day I'd ever experienced. We watched the soldiers go through their formation and finally they got dismissed.

We ran down to wear Dave is standing. He hugged his nephew, Anthony, first. Then, finally, my turn.

Dave was home. I was at  home in his arms. He was safe. I was safe. We were together.


J.B.