“Despite the distance, love will live on.”

Meet Sam. This is another instance of the Marine Corps making my world a smaller place. Sam’s husband, Alex, is from my [very small] hometown of Fluvanna County in Virginia. This is originally how we met…I knew she was married to Alex and did hair, and Lord know my hair needed some help. Little did I know I was about to gain an amazing hair stylist and an even more amazing girlfriend!

When Alex and Sam moved to Camp Lejeune, they were newlyweds and purchased their first home together. She began to work at a locally owned hair salon before moving onto a new job at Silver Ceiling Beauty that specializes in wedding day hair and makeup. This is a truly unique company that operates throughout North Carolina and is currently working on expanding to other neighboring states (namely Virginia)! She and her best friend, Megan (who will be featured later this month), are a hair and makeup powerhouse that work multiple weddings per weekend during wedding season! Sam and Megan have both done hair and makeup for me for sessions as well. If you’re ever interested in that, just let me know! In addition to her “day job,” she is also taking classes and pursuing her dream to become an interior designer…how amazing is she?!

Megan and Sam’s husbands were deployed at the same time and they took the opportunity to acquire each other as roommates in their absences. Sam flawlessly navigated a seven-month deployment with minimal communication while he was on a MEU. She says she couldn’t have gotten through it without Megan, her dogs, and wine! Regardless of whether I speak to a spouse experiencing her first deployment or twelfth…we all agree, wine is necessary! Thankfully, Sam had Conor, their fun-loving Golden Retriever, while Alex was gone; shortly after he returned they decided Conor needed a friend, so they adopted Millie, a sweet and spunky black lab that keeps Conor young!

Sam and Alex are about to experience a change in lifestyle as Alex gets out of the Marine Corps and they transition to civilian life. He has accepted a job as an Arlington police officer, so we will be following them to northern Virginia (or NoVa, as we call it). She plans on starting her own interior, event, and wedding design business once they settle in. If you’re in the Quantico area and need some interior design work, Sam is your girl! She will continue to be a spouse to an American hero, just a different kind of American hero.