My husband still has "it"

There are many moments that will forever be held in my heart. 

The moment Josh asked me to be his girlfriend. 

The moment that I fell in love with him and knew I was going to marry him. 

The moment he asked me to be his wife in the backyard of my parents house. 

The moment when I became his wife in front of our friends and family on the cruise ship. 

The moment we got Archie. 

The moment Josh was diagnosed.  

And now, the moment I witnessed my husband getting hit on for the first time!

After finishing his March chemo session with flying colors, we were anxious for what April held. We had gone a little crazy and bought concert tickets for two different shows, two weeks apart. We are ambitious (or stupid) about making our life seem normal. When we were in Italy, we vowed each other that if a concert came up we both wanted to go to (or if we wanted to drag the other to), we would buy tickets and go. We love concerts, I dance around and sing at the top of my lungs and Josh acts like he doesn't know me. It's a great experience for us both. We asked his Neuro Oncologist and he said it was okay as long as I kept Josh out of the mosh pit (uh duh) and that if there were a ton of lights, Josh looked away. Easy peasy. Our first concert back in the states was to see New Found Glory in Silver Spring, Maryland. The line up was perfect, slow songs, acoustic sets, and all around a good vibe. By the third band, Josh was exhausted. His feet hurt. His back hurt. He just wanted to sit down. In a crowded club, that's hard to do. I took him over to the side of the bar, where he proceeded to sit down on the ground. I was standing off to the side when I see a girl approach Josh. Josh will tell you that "she wasn't bad looking" and I will agree. But she smelled like a walking bottle of Jack Daniels. She spotted Josh sitting on the floor and asked him if everything was okay. Assuming he was just as drunk as her, she sat next to him to start up a conversation. Still standing off to the side, I wanted to see how this played out. She inched closer and closer to my husband, getting a little more friendlier by the minute. I have never experienced my husband getting hit on. We are usually out with friends or together so much people just stay away. My poor husband was SO uncomfortable. I decided to relieve him of the situation and walked up, which he promptly introduced me as his wife. Immediately she shot up and shook my hand. Started some small talk and when I turned around, she was gone. We never saw her again after that, I assumed she got to drunk and passed out some where. We enjoyed the show. I danced and screamed at the top of my lungs...Josh pretended he didn't know me from the comfort of the floor. I lost my voice, my purse broke, and my ears were ringing for days but I was on cloud nine that I was able to experience a concert of my all time favorite band with my husband.

The second concert we went to was a band that we both like, Cartel. I have seen them once before, then we saw them together in Italy our first year of living there. They put on an great concert. This year is their first albums 10 year anniversary, so of course we were going. Like the last concert, the line up was good. This venue was in downtown Baltimore, hello city driving! After me having a panic attack getting through the city, we got to the place with 10 minutes to spare before the first act. The last concert we took bottles of water in, having absolutely no problems. This one, I thought would be the same. They took our tickets but didn't check my backpack. Oh well, right? Maybe they just don't care what we bring in. We got into the place and went to the bar so Josh could take his pills. After he took them, a security guard came up to us and told us we had to step outside. I thought to my self "Oh well, here we go.." Once outside he looked in my bag, took the three water bottles I brought and threw them away. I was pissed. I kept saying "He needs those. He has cancer. He has to take pills." Nothing changed this guys mind. Oh well, I told Josh to drink as much as he could and we went back inside. Within a few minutes, the same security guard came up to us and gave us three free bottles of water! I was floored! Here I thought he was just an asshole. Yes, he was doing his job. but once again..it's just water! Through out the entire night he kept checking in on us and kept offering us water. I guess I need to be not quick to just write someone off, they might surprise you. The concert kicked off. We were pretty close to the stage, behind these two girls that had started drinking well before the concert. They were already drunk. Based on his last experience (and his confidence boost) Josh turned to me and said "I bet you one of those girls is going to hit on me tonight." I shook my head, oh honey you are so humble! By the second band, Josh was exhausted. Did I mention he was on his second day of Chemo?! Oh yes, we are THAT crazy! Instead of sitting on the floor though, my husband would plant his happy butt in a brand new camping chair that we bought earlier that day. It folds up to two separate pieces that are small enough to fit in a back pack, how cool is that? We got a lot of looks. I kept telling Josh that those people were just jealous that they didn't think to bring their own chairs. So he sat down for a majority of the concert, which was fine by me..I danced and screamed my lungs out. Between the last band and Cartel, we were sitting by the bar and low and behold, guess who walks up to my husband?! Ms. Drunk girl herself! She introduced herself to the both of us and bent down to talk to Josh. I couldn't hear much of what they were talking about and honestly, I didn't really care. I know she asked him if he thought she could get back to see the band and for some reason, she asked him his age. She started touching his leg, getting more and more comfortable with him. I was about to say something, when just like the last girl, she disappeared! Josh almost died of laughter. I have no idea who she thought he was, I assumed a security guard..he was sitting down in front of a room that had curtains around it..little did she know he was doing nothing but sitting in front of room that had bar stools behind it! Needless to say, my humble husband's confidence has gone through the roof. He has been hit on twice in the past month. I will not steel his thunder by reiterating how incredibly drunk these girls were, but merely laugh whenever he brings it up (which since then has been brought up on a daily basis!). The concert was great, like I thought it would be. Josh and I had a great time!

Along with concerts, we also had a chance to meet some of the players from the Washington Nationals! It was apart of their USO tour and we received a text earlier that morning from our Navy Liaison telling us about it. We were able to get a free hat and walk around to meet some of the players. I'll be the first one to admit it, I don't really like baseball. I love going to the games, but I don't follow it and I definitely had no idea who any of these guys were. My dad gave me a few players to see if I could find, but instead I just walked around and asked for random autographs! They actually do their spring training in Viera, which is near my home town. I grew up going to the stadium they do their training at, so it was cool to talk to some of them about the area. They were all really nice guys, they all signed our hat and actually talked to us. I have done meet and greets in the past where they just sign things and pass you on to the next person. They act like they don't want to be there, or that we should feel grateful that they are taking time out of their busy day to meet with us. Not these guys, and not the people we get to meet through this base. Every single person we have met, from football players, to Bradley Cooper, have taken an interest in us. They never ask us why we are here, they don't need to know that. Instead the ask what branch he is in, how long he has served, where we grew up, how long we have been married etc etc etc. It makes me happy to see my husband light up when he meets someone famous! Now if any of you guys have any connections to Stan Lee, or Marvel in general, send it my way. I have a devoted fan who would literally shit a brick if he was to meet them!

Within our awesome month, Josh also started session number 5 of Chemotherapy of Tuesday. His blood work came back normal this time, so we are slightly back on schedule. He hasn't been sleeping much, but we have a consultation this week for a sleep study. Hopefully they can help us and figure out what to do next. He celebrated his 7 month smoke free as well, yay! Josh has also been going to a class that is to help improve his memory and life management skills. This has been going on for about a month. We have a hard time with Josh remembering what pills to take and when to take them, so I handle it. He has a hard time organizing appointment times, so I do it. The added stress of taking care of not only myself, but him as well has overwhelmed me more days than I can count. I was at my breaking point. His doctor enrolled him into this class. Is it a complete turn around? No. Is he back to his old self, remembering important things and taking control of things? No. But he is getting there. We have always had a 70/30 marriage, where he takes care of more things than I do. It's the military in him, he has always taken care of the banking account, insurance, and anything else important. Since diagnoses it's flipped, it's become a 90/10 with me taking care of everything. Now it's getting easier, I can get him to take care of his own pills, his own appointments, and he is able to have a complete conversation without forgetting what he was talking about. Slowly, everyday, I see my husband coming back to me. Slowly he is shedding the weight of the diagnoses and accepting what he life has become. Slowly we are becoming the couple I am proud to be apart of. It's a process, but we are making it.