I think the last time I updated about anything was back in November when it snowed. So to recap the past few months (in more than one post):
We found out in January that we'll be moving back to Corpus Christi in July. I had a feeling the day would come when we'd be told we were moving back there, but I had still hoped that it wouldn't happen. Mr. V is scheduled to finish his tour here at a really bad time for orders. Basically, there are only orders available in Corpus, Oklahoma and California (which would have been great but its apparently a career killer job). I do like the XO of the squadron though. Mr. V told him that I'd probably throw an adult temper tantrum if we moved back to Corpus, and apparently the XOs wife basically flipped out when they moved to a city she hated once, so he sympathized :-). Before Mr. V talked to him, he was only offering the orders to Corpus or to California. Mr. V said no to the California orders immediately, which left only Corpus. But then the XO got in touch with the detailer and they both figured out that Mr. V could do the exact same job in Enid, Oklahoma. The only difference would be that its at an Air Force base instead of a Navy base. Flight school is a joint forces training thing so there are Air Force pilots training in Corpus and Navy pilots training in Enid. We seriously considered the idea of going to Enid, and the decision was left up to me. I spent 2 days researching everything I could about Enid and in the end it was me who chose Corpus. The decision was easy once I realized that there is NOTHING in Enid. And I mean nothing. The closest Target is about 2 hours away, and while I don't need Target to survive, I just can't handle the thought of literally living in the middle of nowhere for 3 years. I've gotten used to living out here, but it still drives me crazy that I have to drive even 45 minutes to get to Target. Aside from the fact that there is nothing in Enid, I was also convinced that it was a bad place to live when I started looking at houses for sale. The words "the storm shelter gives you peace of mind" on several listings made me hyper-aware of the fact that we'd be living in tornado alley. And while I know there are natural disasters everywhere, tornadoes terrify me. The fact that they really can't be predicted is something that I'm just not ok with. There was a storm in Jacksonville when we were there that actually had a few decent sized tornadoes touch down right down the road from us, and THAT was terrifying, but thats also rare in Jacksonville. Its not so rare in Oklahoma.
When Mr. V went and thanked the XO for finding different orders for him, but that we'd decided that we would rather live in Corpus Christi, the XO responded with "Did your wife look at a map?" in reference to my aversion to Enid. Apparently he was expecting me to say no to Enid, but wanted to give us the option just in case. So I hope I won't regret this decision. I know I don't like Corpus and I highly doubt I'll ever learn to love it there, but it IS a place that I know well, and there are definitely some positives to it (every store you could possibly need being within a 10 mile radius is one of those positives) so I guess I'm going to have to suck it up and deal.
I think the worst part of this deal though, is that Mr. V will be deploying soon, and he'll leave the deployment early to move to Corpus. We always do DITY moves, so that means that I'll be the one packing up the entire house by myself and flying to Texas by myself to find a house to buy by myself. I'm not really looking forward to that part. I guess the positive thing there is that we've been looking at real estate listings and disagreeing over every house that the other person likes. I'll get to make the decision on my own, which I find "fair" especially since Mr. V chose our house out here without me.
Anyway, I'll continue to post more updates as I get more free time!
Showing posts with label Navy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navy. Show all posts
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Random Rant and Rave for the week
Rant: Mr. V is gone for a few weeks. Maybe 3. Maybe 6. Maybe 2 months. Nothing drives me crazier than not knowing what's going on. He's in San Diego right now, and then he may or may not be heading to some place in the South Pacific, or maybe Japan (Is Japan considered the South Pacific?). I honestly don't know how he handles his job. It drives me crazy and I'm not the one doing the job. I can handle him being gone, even though I miss him. I just would really like to know when he's coming back, give or take a day or 2.
Rave: I love Roots. And not the 1977 movie. Roots is a Canadian clothing company, that I discovered while reading stuff about Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (ice dance Gold Medalists that I've mentioned before). Roots has a sponsorship deal with them, so I went and checked out their stuff, and ended up buying a Canada sweatshirt.
Mr. V has always rambled on and on about how much he loves Canada, but I never gave it much thought. I had been to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls when I was little, but that was all I knew. Since living close to Vancouver though, and spending a good deal of time up there, and visiting the Canadian Rockies, I've come to love it there too. So I wanted a Canada sweatshirt. It arrived in the mail yesterday and it is by far the most comfortable sweatshirt I've ever worn. It seems that Canadians LOVE Roots, and I can see why. One piece of clothing has made me a fan.
Rave: I love Roots. And not the 1977 movie. Roots is a Canadian clothing company, that I discovered while reading stuff about Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (ice dance Gold Medalists that I've mentioned before). Roots has a sponsorship deal with them, so I went and checked out their stuff, and ended up buying a Canada sweatshirt.
Mr. V has always rambled on and on about how much he loves Canada, but I never gave it much thought. I had been to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls when I was little, but that was all I knew. Since living close to Vancouver though, and spending a good deal of time up there, and visiting the Canadian Rockies, I've come to love it there too. So I wanted a Canada sweatshirt. It arrived in the mail yesterday and it is by far the most comfortable sweatshirt I've ever worn. It seems that Canadians LOVE Roots, and I can see why. One piece of clothing has made me a fan.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Today I Love the Navy
And...now Mr. V is not going to Hawaii. This makes me happy. This also makes him happy. Maybe he'll get to spend an entire summer here after all. I shouldn't get my hopes up though. With our luck, in a week, he'll get thrown back onto the Hawaii det. I probably shouldn't get my hopes up just yet. However, at least for today I can be happy :-).
Friday, June 11, 2010
Today I Hate the Navy
Warning - this is a rant, and I'm well aware of the fact that I just need to get over it. However, ranting just feels good sometime :-). As the title of this post states, today I hate the Navy. Basically, I'm just sick of the military screwing up our plans. And yes, I know that I should expect this by now...and the truth is that I do...but it still doesn't make it sting any less.
I guess if I want to get technical, I shouldn't be mad at the Navy, but I am slightly annoyed at a guy on Mr. V's crew. Mr. V's squadron is preparing to go to Hawaii for an exercise. A few crews are being sent and originally his crew was scheduled to go. We weren't thrilled about this because he missed all of last summer here because he was in Iraq, plus he'll miss next summer too. Then we'll be moving again (hopefully). He was really looking forward to spending the summer in Washington because he loves it here, and even I love it here in the summer. Its the best time to do anything around here because the winter is so miserable. So even though he wasn't thrilled about going to Hawaii for a month, we got over it and accepted that fact.
Enter Mr. S - a department head on Mr. V's crew. He didn't want to go on the Hawaii exercise either, because out of all the dets that will be happening over the next few months, Hawaii is the longest one. So Mr. S managed to pull some strings to get his crew off of the Hawaii det. I'm not sure exactly what he did or said. All I know is that Mr. V came home happy because he wasn't going to Hawaii anymore. Instead, he could spend the summer here and then he'll go on a shorter det in September or later. This made both of us happy.
Until 2 days ago.
Now Mr. V is scheduled to go to Hawaii again. He's not going with his crew though, because his crew is still not going to Hawaii at all. So thanks Mr. S. Your brilliant plan worked perfectly - for you, and the rest of Mr. V's crew. But not for Mr. V.
It turns out that one of the other PPCs (Patrol Plane Commander) - we'll call him Mr. G - in the squadron is being sent to some school in Hawaii. Which means that he can't fly with his crew while he's there if he's in school. So guess who gets to replace him as PPC?? Yep - Mr. V. But here's the best part. No one actually knows if Mr. G is even going to get into this school at this time. He's definitely going, but for some reason, no one knows exactly when he's going because he has to wait for an open slot. So the big plan is to send both Mr. G and Mr. V to Hawaii. Mr. G may or may not be in school then because there may or may not be an opening for him. If he gets into his class while they are in Hawaii then Mr. V will take over as PPC. If there isn't a spot for Mr. G then he'll continue to be the PPC for his crew and Mr. V will do nothing. Which means that he'll essentially be sent to Hawaii for a month, with absolutely nothing to do. I'm sure that sounds fabulous to some people, but its really not when he's already been to Hawaii several times, but has yet to spend a summer in Washington. Plus he's a mountain person, not a beach person, so he'd rather be here for the summer.
Confused yet? I tried asking why its even logical for both of them to go to Hawaii. Why can't they just figure out if Mr. G is going to school then or not? It seems to me that it should be possible to figure that out before they even leave, and if he doesn't get into the school then, then Mr. V won't have to go. But apparently its more logical in the Navy's mind to send them both - just in case.
And the best part? Not only does Mr. V get to go to Hawaii, but now he still has to go on the shorter det in September! So needless to say, I'm not at all thrilled with Mr. S' plan to get his crew out of the Hawaii det. If they had just gone to Hawaii as originally planned, then they wouldn't be going somewhere else in September. Now Mr. V gets to go both places, and I get another 2 months without my husband.
On the bright side though - its possible for me to go visit him in Hawaii. We did this when we were still in Jacksonville. He flew a plane to Hawaii and then had nothing to do for 5 days, so I flew out there to hang out with him. The trip was amazing because all it cost was my plane ticket. They had flown into the Air Force base there, and the Air Force put them up in a 5 star hotel right on Waikiki Beach - for free. So all we spent was the money for my plane ticket, and any food, souvenirs and activities we did while we were there. We got an amazing vacation in Hawaii for 1/10 of the price of what it would typically cost. I can't really complain about that.
This time around, assuming that Mr. G gets into his school, I won't be able to see Mr. V every single day, but I can fly out there and spend time with him on the days that he won't be flying. I'm considering it. They are staying at a hotel right on Waikiki Beach again. I just don't like doing things by myself. I know that in this lifestyle I have to learn how to do things by myself, but I just don't find it fun to do touristy things without someone with me to enjoy them. Am I capable of going places and doing things by myself? Yes. Do I want to? No.
So now I have to figure out if I want to go visit him while he's there. I have to admit that while I had an amazing time the last time I went to Hawaii, I'm also not a huge beach person, and while I had always wanted to go to Hawaii, it never topped my list of places to visit. At the same time, I'm feeling really bitter about the fact that I'll be husbandless for a month. Especially when that month is a month that I know he really wants to be here for. So who knows. Maybe I'll decide to hop on a plane and fly down there for a week or 2. I might as well make the best out of the situation!
Meanwhile, here are some pictures from the last trip to Hawaii I took back in May 2008. And a link to the rest of the pictures.
(inside the original crater of the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island)
(outside of a lava tube - part of Kilauea)
(I've never been a huge beach person - but I do love palm trees!)
(Mr. V and me by a waterfall pool)
(no clue what this beach is called - but there were sea turtles there and that was cool :-) [see the link to my full album for the sea turtle picture])
(Waikiki Beach - I actually got my feet in the ocean because I couldn't go to Hawaii and then say I never went in the ocean. And I'm wearing the shorts because of the horrible burn/tan line on my legs from that day.)
(On the balcony of our hotel room - right on Waikiki Beach)
(A random guy on the street was putting parrots on people's shoulders and taking pictures)
(at the bottom of Kilauea volcano - as you can clearly see - this was a road until lava covered it)
I guess if I want to get technical, I shouldn't be mad at the Navy, but I am slightly annoyed at a guy on Mr. V's crew. Mr. V's squadron is preparing to go to Hawaii for an exercise. A few crews are being sent and originally his crew was scheduled to go. We weren't thrilled about this because he missed all of last summer here because he was in Iraq, plus he'll miss next summer too. Then we'll be moving again (hopefully). He was really looking forward to spending the summer in Washington because he loves it here, and even I love it here in the summer. Its the best time to do anything around here because the winter is so miserable. So even though he wasn't thrilled about going to Hawaii for a month, we got over it and accepted that fact.
Enter Mr. S - a department head on Mr. V's crew. He didn't want to go on the Hawaii exercise either, because out of all the dets that will be happening over the next few months, Hawaii is the longest one. So Mr. S managed to pull some strings to get his crew off of the Hawaii det. I'm not sure exactly what he did or said. All I know is that Mr. V came home happy because he wasn't going to Hawaii anymore. Instead, he could spend the summer here and then he'll go on a shorter det in September or later. This made both of us happy.
Until 2 days ago.
Now Mr. V is scheduled to go to Hawaii again. He's not going with his crew though, because his crew is still not going to Hawaii at all. So thanks Mr. S. Your brilliant plan worked perfectly - for you, and the rest of Mr. V's crew. But not for Mr. V.
It turns out that one of the other PPCs (Patrol Plane Commander) - we'll call him Mr. G - in the squadron is being sent to some school in Hawaii. Which means that he can't fly with his crew while he's there if he's in school. So guess who gets to replace him as PPC?? Yep - Mr. V. But here's the best part. No one actually knows if Mr. G is even going to get into this school at this time. He's definitely going, but for some reason, no one knows exactly when he's going because he has to wait for an open slot. So the big plan is to send both Mr. G and Mr. V to Hawaii. Mr. G may or may not be in school then because there may or may not be an opening for him. If he gets into his class while they are in Hawaii then Mr. V will take over as PPC. If there isn't a spot for Mr. G then he'll continue to be the PPC for his crew and Mr. V will do nothing. Which means that he'll essentially be sent to Hawaii for a month, with absolutely nothing to do. I'm sure that sounds fabulous to some people, but its really not when he's already been to Hawaii several times, but has yet to spend a summer in Washington. Plus he's a mountain person, not a beach person, so he'd rather be here for the summer.
Confused yet? I tried asking why its even logical for both of them to go to Hawaii. Why can't they just figure out if Mr. G is going to school then or not? It seems to me that it should be possible to figure that out before they even leave, and if he doesn't get into the school then, then Mr. V won't have to go. But apparently its more logical in the Navy's mind to send them both - just in case.
And the best part? Not only does Mr. V get to go to Hawaii, but now he still has to go on the shorter det in September! So needless to say, I'm not at all thrilled with Mr. S' plan to get his crew out of the Hawaii det. If they had just gone to Hawaii as originally planned, then they wouldn't be going somewhere else in September. Now Mr. V gets to go both places, and I get another 2 months without my husband.
On the bright side though - its possible for me to go visit him in Hawaii. We did this when we were still in Jacksonville. He flew a plane to Hawaii and then had nothing to do for 5 days, so I flew out there to hang out with him. The trip was amazing because all it cost was my plane ticket. They had flown into the Air Force base there, and the Air Force put them up in a 5 star hotel right on Waikiki Beach - for free. So all we spent was the money for my plane ticket, and any food, souvenirs and activities we did while we were there. We got an amazing vacation in Hawaii for 1/10 of the price of what it would typically cost. I can't really complain about that.
This time around, assuming that Mr. G gets into his school, I won't be able to see Mr. V every single day, but I can fly out there and spend time with him on the days that he won't be flying. I'm considering it. They are staying at a hotel right on Waikiki Beach again. I just don't like doing things by myself. I know that in this lifestyle I have to learn how to do things by myself, but I just don't find it fun to do touristy things without someone with me to enjoy them. Am I capable of going places and doing things by myself? Yes. Do I want to? No.
So now I have to figure out if I want to go visit him while he's there. I have to admit that while I had an amazing time the last time I went to Hawaii, I'm also not a huge beach person, and while I had always wanted to go to Hawaii, it never topped my list of places to visit. At the same time, I'm feeling really bitter about the fact that I'll be husbandless for a month. Especially when that month is a month that I know he really wants to be here for. So who knows. Maybe I'll decide to hop on a plane and fly down there for a week or 2. I might as well make the best out of the situation!
Meanwhile, here are some pictures from the last trip to Hawaii I took back in May 2008. And a link to the rest of the pictures.
(inside the original crater of the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island)
(outside of a lava tube - part of Kilauea)
(I've never been a huge beach person - but I do love palm trees!)
(Mr. V and me by a waterfall pool)
(no clue what this beach is called - but there were sea turtles there and that was cool :-) [see the link to my full album for the sea turtle picture])
(Waikiki Beach - I actually got my feet in the ocean because I couldn't go to Hawaii and then say I never went in the ocean. And I'm wearing the shorts because of the horrible burn/tan line on my legs from that day.)
(On the balcony of our hotel room - right on Waikiki Beach)
(A random guy on the street was putting parrots on people's shoulders and taking pictures)
(at the bottom of Kilauea volcano - as you can clearly see - this was a road until lava covered it) Wednesday, May 5, 2010
MilSpouse Blog Hop
I was reading my friend NavyGirl's blog - Marrying the Navy and came across this. There is another blogger, a fellow military wife, hosting a blog hop for blogs written by military spouses. I sort of skimmed through it at first, but then went back and decided to join in. When I started this blog I planned on updating it much more often than I do, so I figured if more people were reading it, then maybe I would be more motivated to keep up with it!
The rules state that I'm supposed to introduce myself in this post, so for those of you that already know me, feel free to ignore this. For those of you who don't. I'm Brooke aka Brooklet, married to a Navy pilot for 2 years. I refer to my husband as "Mr. V" in this blog. He's a P-3 pilot stationed at NAS Whidbey Island in Washington state. We've been here since August 2008. Prior to living here we spent about 8 months in Jacksonville, Florida where Mr. V was in flight school to learn how to fly the P3. He was winged in Corpus Christi in October 2007, which is where he did most of his flight training. We met in Corpus Christi (though I'm from New Jersey originally).
We're both a little cat crazy, as proven by the 9 cats that live in our house right now. (we had 10, but one recently died, which will be in another post.) We rescue strays, socialize feral cats, and practice TNR (trap, neuter, return) for those completely feral cats. Our friends know us as the crazy cat couple, but we love the furballs and proudly sport the crazy cat couple title :-).
Since moving up here I've developed several new interests which include quilting and card making. I've always been into crafts, but my artistic talent is lacking, and I hope that one day the creations I make will actually not look homemade!
Life in Washington state has been a little hard to get used to. I can't say that I hate it here. But I CAN say that life out here is completely different from life on the East Coast, and I am crossing my fingers that we will be heading back to Florida in about a year and a half.
My blog is sort of random. I talk about military life stuff, but also just about every day stuff. I can definitely call myself a military wife in the sense of thats who I am. I married a guy in the Navy, which sucked me right into this lifestyle. However, I also like writing about other things in my life, because I don't want to be known as just a military wife. So hopefully you will find some of the things I write about interesting :-).
In the meantime, I'm excited about this blog hop and looking forward to reading more military wife blogs. I lurk around on some military spouse message boards, so I'm always interested in hearing about other people's experiences and meeting new people! If its your first time reading this blog, please let me know. I promise I'll try to become a little more interesting and update this thing a little more often!
Here's the link to the blog hop: Riding the Rollercoaster
The rules state that I'm supposed to introduce myself in this post, so for those of you that already know me, feel free to ignore this. For those of you who don't. I'm Brooke aka Brooklet, married to a Navy pilot for 2 years. I refer to my husband as "Mr. V" in this blog. He's a P-3 pilot stationed at NAS Whidbey Island in Washington state. We've been here since August 2008. Prior to living here we spent about 8 months in Jacksonville, Florida where Mr. V was in flight school to learn how to fly the P3. He was winged in Corpus Christi in October 2007, which is where he did most of his flight training. We met in Corpus Christi (though I'm from New Jersey originally).
We're both a little cat crazy, as proven by the 9 cats that live in our house right now. (we had 10, but one recently died, which will be in another post.) We rescue strays, socialize feral cats, and practice TNR (trap, neuter, return) for those completely feral cats. Our friends know us as the crazy cat couple, but we love the furballs and proudly sport the crazy cat couple title :-).
Since moving up here I've developed several new interests which include quilting and card making. I've always been into crafts, but my artistic talent is lacking, and I hope that one day the creations I make will actually not look homemade!
Life in Washington state has been a little hard to get used to. I can't say that I hate it here. But I CAN say that life out here is completely different from life on the East Coast, and I am crossing my fingers that we will be heading back to Florida in about a year and a half.
My blog is sort of random. I talk about military life stuff, but also just about every day stuff. I can definitely call myself a military wife in the sense of thats who I am. I married a guy in the Navy, which sucked me right into this lifestyle. However, I also like writing about other things in my life, because I don't want to be known as just a military wife. So hopefully you will find some of the things I write about interesting :-).
In the meantime, I'm excited about this blog hop and looking forward to reading more military wife blogs. I lurk around on some military spouse message boards, so I'm always interested in hearing about other people's experiences and meeting new people! If its your first time reading this blog, please let me know. I promise I'll try to become a little more interesting and update this thing a little more often!
Here's the link to the blog hop: Riding the Rollercoaster
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Goodbye Again
My bags are packed and ready to go, but I still have a few more hours before I need to leave for the airport. I always hate leaving my home. As much as I would love to live by the motto "Home is where the Navy sends us", I really can't. In many ways, that is true. Where Mr. V goes, I follow and it will always be that way as long as he is in the Navy. We're a family and we will make a home together wherever we go. However, at the same time, I don't know if I can ever call any of these places "home". So far the Navy has put me in Texas, Florida and Washington, yet when people ask me where I'm from, I still say "New Jersey". This will always be my home, while those other places will be a temporary home.
I've never been a person who has dealt well with change, so marrying someone in the military probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world, but I guess we can't help who we fall in love with! It took me 3 years to get used to North Carolina when I was in college there. I spent many school breaks at home in NJ claiming that I wasn't going back to NC and that I hated it there. It wasn't until my senior year when something finally clicked, and suddenly, I loved it there! That's why, when I did move out of NJ permanently, NC is where I went. But it took 3 years! 3 years for me to fully adapt to a place and 3 years to fully love a place. Unfortunately, 3 years is the standard amount of time that we will live anywhere, so sometimes its really depressing to me because I feel like I'll never have time to settle down and really feel like I am home.
I feel like I'm kind of rambling here. This isn't to say that I hate the experiences the Navy has given me. If anything, I love these experiences. I have been to places I never would have been to. I've seen things I never thought I would see. I've gotten "vacations" on the Navy's dollar. I am not sure if I ever would have seen Washington state if it wasn't for the Navy. I have always wanted to visit all 50 states at some point, but Washington was never on the top of my list, so who knows if I would have ever made it there. So while I am thankful for these experiences, it still makes me sad that I don't quite feel at home anywhere but at my childhood home.
I realize that this is pointless whining. If I want to be married to Mr. V then I have to deal with this life, and I'm willing to do that. But sometimes I feel like I need to have a good cry about it all. Most of the time I feel like having that good cry when it comes to leaving a place I am familiar with.
I think the hardest thing about leaving NJ this time is my grandparents. I came out here to celebrate their 80th birthday. I am their only grandchild and I admit that I have always been spoiled rotten by them. They mean so much to me, and in the past few years, they have been very depressed (especially my grandpa). They miss me and they make that very clear. I used to go to their house all the time, but now at the end of their lives, I barely see them. I wish I could see them more because it upsets me to see them crying when I say goodbye to them. I know that they won't be around forever. My grandpa has been pretty sick recently so I know that his time here is limited. I can handle saying goodbye to my friends. I can handle saying goodbye to my other family that is still left here. But I can't handle saying goodbye to them. Its hard enough that I have a hard time dealing with change as it is!
I'm not really sure what the point of this post is. I'm just sitting here, waiting to leave, and thinking a lot about my time spent in this house. There is a large part of me that wishes that I could still be here and that this was still my house to live in. There is so much that I miss about this place in general, and so many good memories, yet in a few hours, I'll be gone for who knows how long.
I guess I need to just suck it up, but I've never been good at doing that. I do miss Mr. V. I miss the cats. I miss my friends in Washington, but life would be ideal if I could just combine everything and everyone that I miss and put them all in the exact same place! I've always wanted a life of stability, but I chose a life of anything but that. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle change better. Maybe one day I'll be able to say goodbye to people without hurting and without crying.
So I guess this is goodbye to New Jersey for a while again. I don't know when I'll be out here again, but I do know that I want and need to see my grandparents again soon. Hopefully I'll plan another trip in a few months, and then I'll just go through this whole sad process again! To end this on a somewhat happy note, the best thing about this life is the freedom its given me. I guess that sounds weird as I sit here complaining about wanting stability, yet being happy about my freedom, but it does make sense. Mr. V has a great job that provides for us and allows me not to work full time. At one point this was a huge downer for me. I always wanted a career and I was upset when I realized we would be living in places that simply wouldn't allow for me to have that career. So I have worked temp jobs and I've worked as a nanny. I work part time and pretty much chose my own hours. His job allows for me to travel and do the things I want to and need to do and for that I am thankful :-).
Well...I guess its time to go pack up the car and head on out of here. I'll be back soon....I promise! :-)
I've never been a person who has dealt well with change, so marrying someone in the military probably wasn't the smartest thing in the world, but I guess we can't help who we fall in love with! It took me 3 years to get used to North Carolina when I was in college there. I spent many school breaks at home in NJ claiming that I wasn't going back to NC and that I hated it there. It wasn't until my senior year when something finally clicked, and suddenly, I loved it there! That's why, when I did move out of NJ permanently, NC is where I went. But it took 3 years! 3 years for me to fully adapt to a place and 3 years to fully love a place. Unfortunately, 3 years is the standard amount of time that we will live anywhere, so sometimes its really depressing to me because I feel like I'll never have time to settle down and really feel like I am home.
I feel like I'm kind of rambling here. This isn't to say that I hate the experiences the Navy has given me. If anything, I love these experiences. I have been to places I never would have been to. I've seen things I never thought I would see. I've gotten "vacations" on the Navy's dollar. I am not sure if I ever would have seen Washington state if it wasn't for the Navy. I have always wanted to visit all 50 states at some point, but Washington was never on the top of my list, so who knows if I would have ever made it there. So while I am thankful for these experiences, it still makes me sad that I don't quite feel at home anywhere but at my childhood home.
I realize that this is pointless whining. If I want to be married to Mr. V then I have to deal with this life, and I'm willing to do that. But sometimes I feel like I need to have a good cry about it all. Most of the time I feel like having that good cry when it comes to leaving a place I am familiar with.
I think the hardest thing about leaving NJ this time is my grandparents. I came out here to celebrate their 80th birthday. I am their only grandchild and I admit that I have always been spoiled rotten by them. They mean so much to me, and in the past few years, they have been very depressed (especially my grandpa). They miss me and they make that very clear. I used to go to their house all the time, but now at the end of their lives, I barely see them. I wish I could see them more because it upsets me to see them crying when I say goodbye to them. I know that they won't be around forever. My grandpa has been pretty sick recently so I know that his time here is limited. I can handle saying goodbye to my friends. I can handle saying goodbye to my other family that is still left here. But I can't handle saying goodbye to them. Its hard enough that I have a hard time dealing with change as it is!
I'm not really sure what the point of this post is. I'm just sitting here, waiting to leave, and thinking a lot about my time spent in this house. There is a large part of me that wishes that I could still be here and that this was still my house to live in. There is so much that I miss about this place in general, and so many good memories, yet in a few hours, I'll be gone for who knows how long.
I guess I need to just suck it up, but I've never been good at doing that. I do miss Mr. V. I miss the cats. I miss my friends in Washington, but life would be ideal if I could just combine everything and everyone that I miss and put them all in the exact same place! I've always wanted a life of stability, but I chose a life of anything but that. Maybe one day I'll be able to handle change better. Maybe one day I'll be able to say goodbye to people without hurting and without crying.
So I guess this is goodbye to New Jersey for a while again. I don't know when I'll be out here again, but I do know that I want and need to see my grandparents again soon. Hopefully I'll plan another trip in a few months, and then I'll just go through this whole sad process again! To end this on a somewhat happy note, the best thing about this life is the freedom its given me. I guess that sounds weird as I sit here complaining about wanting stability, yet being happy about my freedom, but it does make sense. Mr. V has a great job that provides for us and allows me not to work full time. At one point this was a huge downer for me. I always wanted a career and I was upset when I realized we would be living in places that simply wouldn't allow for me to have that career. So I have worked temp jobs and I've worked as a nanny. I work part time and pretty much chose my own hours. His job allows for me to travel and do the things I want to and need to do and for that I am thankful :-).
Well...I guess its time to go pack up the car and head on out of here. I'll be back soon....I promise! :-)
Monday, February 2, 2009
Friendship or Necessity?
My husband's squadron has an active Officer Spouse's Club. They also have an inactive FRG (Family Readiness Group) that is in the process of starting up again. The Officer Spouse's Club is obviously for spouses of officers. The FRG is open to all spouses of all ranks. Mr. V is an officer which gave me immediate membership into the OSC. When we first relocated here, one of the first things that happened was when he was checking in. There was the instant question of "Are you married?" followed immediately by "What's your wife's contact info?" Within 1 day of that conversation, my inbox became flooded with emails from the OSC. Its basically like an immediate acceptance into a special club. Its also an automatic assumption that I actually want to be part of that special club. And that's where my mixed feelings come into play. On one hand, I love the fact that I have the opportunity to meet new people in a new place. On the other hand, I have met a lot of new people here and many of them have nothing to do with the OSC or even the same squadron, or even the military in general.
I am a person who chooses to be friends with someone because I like them. I have never been a cliquey person and I can't stand people that are. I don't like the idea that some people like me because they are supposed to. Take the OSC for example. I've been to 2 events so far. Every single person was super nice and super sweet to me. However, I can tell that in any other situation, I wouldn't be friends with a lot of these ladies. That is not to say that I don't like them, or anything is wrong with them. I just mean that I can already tell I have nothing in common with them and if we should meet on the street, we probably wouldn't give each other a second glance. On a positive note, I did meet a few ladies that I have a lot in common with and really enjoy hanging out with. Its a weird situation to me.
When I was living in Corpus Christi I became friends with a girl there. She wasn't there for long, but in the time that I knew her she was very intent on making sure that we hung out a lot. She was also very intent on making sure that every new student pilot's wife was her friend. If you questioned her about it she would say "We have to invite *insert name* to go out with us. Her husband is in flight school too." It never came across as "Lets invite her because I think she seems cool." It was all based on the status of where our husbands or fiances were at that point in time. I never had any issues personally with this particular girl, but I do often wonder if she would have paid any attention to me if my fiance wasn't in flight school at the time.
I find the military rank structure/chain of command pretty annoying. I understand that its serves its purpose and different people have different jobs and different training. I also understand why fraternization is frowned upon between military members of drastically different ranks. What I don't understand is why some wives decide that they wear their husband's rank.
I guess my point is, I can't stand these people who want to be my friend because I have immediate acceptance in the Officer Spouse's Club. I want to be friends with people that I enjoy spending time with and people that I like as people. A few of those fall into the OSC category, but a lot of them don't. One of my best friend's here is married to a guy who is a much lower rank than Mr. V. But as I just wrote that, I realized I don't even know what his rank is, although I know she's told me before. I just simply don't care.
I have been talking to the girl who is playing a large role in getting the FRG up and running. She offered me the position of secretary and I think I am going to take it (assuming that the rest of the FRG is ok with that). After meeting with her and discussing things that the FRG might particpate in, I am getting really excited about the first meeting on Wednesday.
I'm not sure what my actual point here is. I guess I just find myself in a lifestyle that is not one I would have chosen for myself. Don't get me wrong - I love my husband and I'm happy with this lifestyle in that aspect, but stupid things just really annoy me. My dad, 2 uncles, and grandfathers were all enlisted in some form of the Armed Forces. My mother has told me a story several times over the years about her experience with this "hierarchy" of sorts. When she and my father lived in Texas during my dad's Air Force days, she ran into an old college friend of hers on the same base. After saying hi and catching up with each other, this "friend" asked my mom what her husband did. When she found out that my dad was just a "lowly" enlisted guy, she told my mother flat out that she couldn't talk to her or hang out with her again, because she was married to an officer. That story always horrified me a bit. Not only because I don't think that way, but because thats just plain rude! When I met my husband my mom told me that story again and made me swear over and over that I would never treat anyone the way she was treated by her old "friend". I have no intentions of ever doing that. Now, if you make me angry, or do something bad to me, then I may be a little nasty to you in return. But I promise, that will only stem from whatever incident caused me to be mad at you in the first place :-).
So I guess what I am trying to say is, why can't people just be friends with people because they like the person? Its almost like the ladies in the OSC have to be my friend because its necessary, not because they want to be.
This weekend will be a perfect example. A few crews from my husband's squadron (my husband included) are in Japan for a few weeks. I received an email this morning from the wife of the squadron's CO. She sent it out to only officer wives. She wants to get together with everyone who's husband is currently gone for dinner. But when you really think about it, why did she only invite officer wives? P3 crews are fairly large and there are a lot of other wives out there who also have husbands in Japan right now. Aren't our husband's all in the same place? So if one group of ladies wants to get together for some ladies night fun, why can't everyone be included?
Maybe I am overreacting to this and over thinking everything. All I know is that I am REALLY looking forward to the first FRG meeting on Wednesday. Once that gets started up, then anyone can be friends with anyone in it, and I do hope that the people who participate will be more like me in the way they think.
I am a person who chooses to be friends with someone because I like them. I have never been a cliquey person and I can't stand people that are. I don't like the idea that some people like me because they are supposed to. Take the OSC for example. I've been to 2 events so far. Every single person was super nice and super sweet to me. However, I can tell that in any other situation, I wouldn't be friends with a lot of these ladies. That is not to say that I don't like them, or anything is wrong with them. I just mean that I can already tell I have nothing in common with them and if we should meet on the street, we probably wouldn't give each other a second glance. On a positive note, I did meet a few ladies that I have a lot in common with and really enjoy hanging out with. Its a weird situation to me.
When I was living in Corpus Christi I became friends with a girl there. She wasn't there for long, but in the time that I knew her she was very intent on making sure that we hung out a lot. She was also very intent on making sure that every new student pilot's wife was her friend. If you questioned her about it she would say "We have to invite *insert name* to go out with us. Her husband is in flight school too." It never came across as "Lets invite her because I think she seems cool." It was all based on the status of where our husbands or fiances were at that point in time. I never had any issues personally with this particular girl, but I do often wonder if she would have paid any attention to me if my fiance wasn't in flight school at the time.
I find the military rank structure/chain of command pretty annoying. I understand that its serves its purpose and different people have different jobs and different training. I also understand why fraternization is frowned upon between military members of drastically different ranks. What I don't understand is why some wives decide that they wear their husband's rank.
I guess my point is, I can't stand these people who want to be my friend because I have immediate acceptance in the Officer Spouse's Club. I want to be friends with people that I enjoy spending time with and people that I like as people. A few of those fall into the OSC category, but a lot of them don't. One of my best friend's here is married to a guy who is a much lower rank than Mr. V. But as I just wrote that, I realized I don't even know what his rank is, although I know she's told me before. I just simply don't care.
I have been talking to the girl who is playing a large role in getting the FRG up and running. She offered me the position of secretary and I think I am going to take it (assuming that the rest of the FRG is ok with that). After meeting with her and discussing things that the FRG might particpate in, I am getting really excited about the first meeting on Wednesday.
I'm not sure what my actual point here is. I guess I just find myself in a lifestyle that is not one I would have chosen for myself. Don't get me wrong - I love my husband and I'm happy with this lifestyle in that aspect, but stupid things just really annoy me. My dad, 2 uncles, and grandfathers were all enlisted in some form of the Armed Forces. My mother has told me a story several times over the years about her experience with this "hierarchy" of sorts. When she and my father lived in Texas during my dad's Air Force days, she ran into an old college friend of hers on the same base. After saying hi and catching up with each other, this "friend" asked my mom what her husband did. When she found out that my dad was just a "lowly" enlisted guy, she told my mother flat out that she couldn't talk to her or hang out with her again, because she was married to an officer. That story always horrified me a bit. Not only because I don't think that way, but because thats just plain rude! When I met my husband my mom told me that story again and made me swear over and over that I would never treat anyone the way she was treated by her old "friend". I have no intentions of ever doing that. Now, if you make me angry, or do something bad to me, then I may be a little nasty to you in return. But I promise, that will only stem from whatever incident caused me to be mad at you in the first place :-).
So I guess what I am trying to say is, why can't people just be friends with people because they like the person? Its almost like the ladies in the OSC have to be my friend because its necessary, not because they want to be.
This weekend will be a perfect example. A few crews from my husband's squadron (my husband included) are in Japan for a few weeks. I received an email this morning from the wife of the squadron's CO. She sent it out to only officer wives. She wants to get together with everyone who's husband is currently gone for dinner. But when you really think about it, why did she only invite officer wives? P3 crews are fairly large and there are a lot of other wives out there who also have husbands in Japan right now. Aren't our husband's all in the same place? So if one group of ladies wants to get together for some ladies night fun, why can't everyone be included?
Maybe I am overreacting to this and over thinking everything. All I know is that I am REALLY looking forward to the first FRG meeting on Wednesday. Once that gets started up, then anyone can be friends with anyone in it, and I do hope that the people who participate will be more like me in the way they think.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Life in Washington
People have been telling me for quite some time now that I need to start a blog. I've avoided it for various different reasons, but I have realized that this may be the easiest way to get info about my life out to people. I find myself spending way too much time writing email after email describing the same thing over and over to several different people. I would send the exact same email to everyone at once but there always seems to be one little piece that just wouldn't make sense if I sent it to everyone. Now maybe people can find out about my life, and I'll just respond to the personal things in emails, making my time spent on the computer much less.
So where to start? I suppose I really went MIA to people around the time of my wedding, so sit back and relax as I recount the past 6 months of my life :-).
June 14th, 2008: I married my best friend in St. Augustine, Florida. I learned that it IS possible to throw a wedding together in exactly a month. Everything turned out wonderfully, with the exception of the photographer, which I will not get into because it will ruin my current good mood.
June 15 - July 10, 2008: This time was spent frantically packing up our entire apartment which was filled with everything from our entire lives since the husband and I seem to both be insane pack rats. Husband is a Navy pilot, therefore this frantic packing was done to pick up our entire lives and move across the entire country to Washington state. Husband also refuses to have the military move his stuff anywhere in the continental United States, even though they do it for free. He has declared that it is far better to do a full DITY move (Do It Yourself move for those who have no need to know military acronyms), which the military will pay you for, and then bank a good deal of money. I'd be all for this method if the packing didn't take 2 straight weeks and one day of panic because the moving company was coming to pick up our truck and we still weren't finished packing it. This has now been our second DITY move (1st was from Corpus Christi, Texas to Jacksonville, Florida) and I hated it and complained about it every bit as much as I did with the first move. I vowed to never ever move myself again, no matter how much money I make in the end. (That is, until we got the final payment from the military. I will now happily do another DITY move, although I am sure I will hate it and complain about it just as much. But that money sure is nice in the end!)
July 11-29: Amazing road trip across the United States. This is something that I have ALWAYS wanted to do and any time I have "I hate the Navy" moments I have to tell myself that this trip wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the Navy. We left JAX and stopped in Georgia to visit my mom. We then drove on through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and finally Washington. We stopped at some amazing places such as Yellowstone National Park where we saw the famous Old Faithful geyser. We spent 4 days in South Dakota discovering a state that I tend to forget even exists, only to learn that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Given the chance I would go back to South Dakota in a heartbeat and I feel like I should apologize to anyone who ever heard me rant and rave about how I wasn't going to have a real honeymoon, and instead would spend that "normal" honeymoon time in South Dakota. I have to admit - it was probably the best "honeymoon" ever. We saw some crazy, yet interesting things all along the way. We saw the official home of Superman in Metropolis, Illinois. We accidently stumbled across Metropolis on a bathroom break, and found a giant 15 foot statue of Superman in a historic downtown, along with a Superman museum. Apparently the state of Illinois actually voted and declared Metropolis as THE official home of Superman. I find places like this incredibly amazing and interesting because I would have never in my life thought to go to Metropolis, Illinois. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I love stumbling across the weird and unknown places out there in this country! We saw a ghost town in Montana (Garnet) which involved a 2 mile VERY steep drive up the side of a mountain on a gravel road large enough for one car, but with 2 way traffic on it. The ghost town was very cool (history nerd here), but I will forever be mad at my husband for taking the 2 mile steep drive instead of the 8 mile drive on the other side of the mountain. Not only was the road too small, but it had no guard rails and my car was not getting good traction. When we got to the top I proceeded to burst into tears and have a full blown panic attack, while yelling at my husband and swearing that there was no way in hell I was driving back down that mountain. I am very thankful for the employee who directed us to the 8 mile, much less steep road on the other side. Husband didn't do very well with my anxiety attack and had the nerve to say to me "I thought you drove off the side of the mountain back there. You were behind me and your car was fishtailing and then I didn't see you anymore" BEFORE we found the alternative route back down.
I'm including links to the pictures of my trip because I could write for hours and still not tell the entire story. The final state of the trip was obviously Washington. I was less than thrilled about moving out here, but when we stopped at the Washington welcome center, what did we see? Rabbits! Everywhere!! For those of you that know me well, you know how much I love rabbits. The welcome center had domesticated rabbits (obviously the offspring of a rabbit that someone dumped outside) hopping everywhere. I of course took tons of pictures, fed them an apple and decided that my life in Washington was going to be good. In my mind, the rabbits were a good sign :-). I just chose to ignore the fact that as soon as we crossed over the Casade mountains, it instantly started raining, and the sky turned grey. I'd rather focus on the cute happy rabbits, in the sunny eastern part of Washington.
Anyway, here are the trip pictures:
Jax to Whidbey album #1
Jax to Whidbey album #2
Jax to Whidbey album #3
Jax to Whidbey album #4
We arrived in Oak Harbor, Washington on July 30. We set up residence at the "lovely" Acorn Motor Inn which was to be our home for the next 3 weeks. Husband checked into his new squadron on July 31st. Soon after getting there, husband was told that he was going to Hawaii for a week. So it was me and the cats and rabbit for a week, alone in a hotel. I was definitely worried about reaching crazy cat lady status at that point.
However, Husband came home without his plane malfunctioning, and we became first time home owners! We closed on our very own home on August 18th and have since spent the time from then until now unpacking, setting up, organizing, etc.
I'll update more at another time with all of the excitement that a small town like Oak Harbor has to offer.
So where to start? I suppose I really went MIA to people around the time of my wedding, so sit back and relax as I recount the past 6 months of my life :-).
June 14th, 2008: I married my best friend in St. Augustine, Florida. I learned that it IS possible to throw a wedding together in exactly a month. Everything turned out wonderfully, with the exception of the photographer, which I will not get into because it will ruin my current good mood.
June 15 - July 10, 2008: This time was spent frantically packing up our entire apartment which was filled with everything from our entire lives since the husband and I seem to both be insane pack rats. Husband is a Navy pilot, therefore this frantic packing was done to pick up our entire lives and move across the entire country to Washington state. Husband also refuses to have the military move his stuff anywhere in the continental United States, even though they do it for free. He has declared that it is far better to do a full DITY move (Do It Yourself move for those who have no need to know military acronyms), which the military will pay you for, and then bank a good deal of money. I'd be all for this method if the packing didn't take 2 straight weeks and one day of panic because the moving company was coming to pick up our truck and we still weren't finished packing it. This has now been our second DITY move (1st was from Corpus Christi, Texas to Jacksonville, Florida) and I hated it and complained about it every bit as much as I did with the first move. I vowed to never ever move myself again, no matter how much money I make in the end. (That is, until we got the final payment from the military. I will now happily do another DITY move, although I am sure I will hate it and complain about it just as much. But that money sure is nice in the end!)
July 11-29: Amazing road trip across the United States. This is something that I have ALWAYS wanted to do and any time I have "I hate the Navy" moments I have to tell myself that this trip wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for the Navy. We left JAX and stopped in Georgia to visit my mom. We then drove on through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and finally Washington. We stopped at some amazing places such as Yellowstone National Park where we saw the famous Old Faithful geyser. We spent 4 days in South Dakota discovering a state that I tend to forget even exists, only to learn that it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Given the chance I would go back to South Dakota in a heartbeat and I feel like I should apologize to anyone who ever heard me rant and rave about how I wasn't going to have a real honeymoon, and instead would spend that "normal" honeymoon time in South Dakota. I have to admit - it was probably the best "honeymoon" ever. We saw some crazy, yet interesting things all along the way. We saw the official home of Superman in Metropolis, Illinois. We accidently stumbled across Metropolis on a bathroom break, and found a giant 15 foot statue of Superman in a historic downtown, along with a Superman museum. Apparently the state of Illinois actually voted and declared Metropolis as THE official home of Superman. I find places like this incredibly amazing and interesting because I would have never in my life thought to go to Metropolis, Illinois. Maybe I'm just a nerd, but I love stumbling across the weird and unknown places out there in this country! We saw a ghost town in Montana (Garnet) which involved a 2 mile VERY steep drive up the side of a mountain on a gravel road large enough for one car, but with 2 way traffic on it. The ghost town was very cool (history nerd here), but I will forever be mad at my husband for taking the 2 mile steep drive instead of the 8 mile drive on the other side of the mountain. Not only was the road too small, but it had no guard rails and my car was not getting good traction. When we got to the top I proceeded to burst into tears and have a full blown panic attack, while yelling at my husband and swearing that there was no way in hell I was driving back down that mountain. I am very thankful for the employee who directed us to the 8 mile, much less steep road on the other side. Husband didn't do very well with my anxiety attack and had the nerve to say to me "I thought you drove off the side of the mountain back there. You were behind me and your car was fishtailing and then I didn't see you anymore" BEFORE we found the alternative route back down.
I'm including links to the pictures of my trip because I could write for hours and still not tell the entire story. The final state of the trip was obviously Washington. I was less than thrilled about moving out here, but when we stopped at the Washington welcome center, what did we see? Rabbits! Everywhere!! For those of you that know me well, you know how much I love rabbits. The welcome center had domesticated rabbits (obviously the offspring of a rabbit that someone dumped outside) hopping everywhere. I of course took tons of pictures, fed them an apple and decided that my life in Washington was going to be good. In my mind, the rabbits were a good sign :-). I just chose to ignore the fact that as soon as we crossed over the Casade mountains, it instantly started raining, and the sky turned grey. I'd rather focus on the cute happy rabbits, in the sunny eastern part of Washington.
Anyway, here are the trip pictures:
Jax to Whidbey album #1
Jax to Whidbey album #2
Jax to Whidbey album #3
Jax to Whidbey album #4
We arrived in Oak Harbor, Washington on July 30. We set up residence at the "lovely" Acorn Motor Inn which was to be our home for the next 3 weeks. Husband checked into his new squadron on July 31st. Soon after getting there, husband was told that he was going to Hawaii for a week. So it was me and the cats and rabbit for a week, alone in a hotel. I was definitely worried about reaching crazy cat lady status at that point.
However, Husband came home without his plane malfunctioning, and we became first time home owners! We closed on our very own home on August 18th and have since spent the time from then until now unpacking, setting up, organizing, etc.
I'll update more at another time with all of the excitement that a small town like Oak Harbor has to offer.
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