Moving day that is :( I am suddenly overcome with the realization of what we are about to do. I've never been good with time management so 2+ months ago when we found out we were moving, July seemed an eternity away. Now I am looking at the calendar and trying to jam pack every little last thing into it before we move. It has finally hit me that our lives, yet again, are about to be completely different...and just when we were getting comfortable around here!
We have met so many great friends...so many in fact that I have had a hard time being able to hang out with every one of them as much as I would like!
There are my wonderful church friends that I have enjoyed getting to know and going to lunch at Mellow Mushroom almost every Friday...I will SO miss my Friday lunch dates!!!
Then there are my blog friends that I met through my blog who happen to live here. We made it a point to get together almost every week. They have been my confidants...ladies that I could complain to or tell really embarrassing stories to or go see the Pioneer Woman with!
I have neighbor friends who will all move(or already have). Today, Caleb and I were walking around the neighborhood and he pointed at one house and said, "Blake's House!" I said, "Yeah buddy, that is Blake's house!" But what he doesn't even realize is that Blake already moved away too.
He also has his long time buddies Asher and Trey that were his first real buddies that he could play with with and he goes crazy about when I tell him we are going to go hang out with them and then his newest buddy, Caden....Caleb walks around the house chanting Caden's name constantly! He will come up to me and say, "Caden's house?" He wakes up in the morning asking for Caden...I can't even imagine in a couple of weeks how heartbroken he will be when we won't have playdates with his buddies anymore.
We have found an amazing church, Golden Acres Baptist with amazing people and an awesome pastor. I sing on the praise team on Wednesday nights and one of the sound guys, Gene, stopped Seth and I Sunday morning after church. He said, "When's the last time yall had your family picture taken?" I told him that we had never had them professionally done. Then he told us that he was a photographer and that he would love to take our picture, free of charge...he said he's been watching out for us and that he has a son in the Marines so he knows how military life can be with a family. I just wanted to cry when he told us that! I am ecstatic that he would do that for us...they will be pictures that we will cherish forever.
Then there are the men who make the Wednesday night coffee. Caleb and I always get there early so I can practice singing before church. Those sweet men are always there to hand Caleb a coffee cup full of marshmallows to snack on and they always wait to put the coffee away until after I'm done singing so that I can get a cup...they've become our buddies too!
We also help out in the youth group on Wednesday nights and I have grown to love all of those kids. They have shown me things about myself and taught me in so many ways. They all just love Caleb to death too and they are all wonderful babysitters!!! :-)
There are so many people that we have grown to love..I can't even name them all. I know that there is a time and season for everything and that we will move on to Fort Rucker and meet new people and find a new church but Fort Benning will always hold such a special place in my heart. Caleb was only 10 months old when we moved here, just crawling around and now he's walking and running and hitting and biting (oh, woops...I guess I won't get into all that today...haha). He has learned so many new things, good and bad! We made it through our first deployment and came out the other side much stronger people. We bought our first home and Caleb had his first real buddies.
I look at all of this change that the army brings about and some days it's fun and then there are days like the one I will be facing when will wave goodbye for the last time.
I am beating myself up for not making time for everyone like I wish I could have and I look back on things that people have said to me or done for me and I wonder if they truly know how much I appreciated them right in that very moment. For all the times Caleb and I were the third wheel while Seth was deployed but it meant more than anything in the world that someone took the time to invite us somewhere and get us out of the house...I can't even say thank you enough.
I just hope that all of our friends here know how special they have been to us while we were able to be here.
The army life may be changing constantly but God is always constant! I know He will be with us to give us the strength to say goodbye to this town and all our wonderful friends and give us the same strength to say hello again to new faces and places in a new town.
Okay, enough sad stuff...I've had my good cry for today...tomorrow's my birthday!
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3 comments:
I completely understand how you feel. My father was military and so was my husband. I've lived all over and have met so many people and made some really great friends. We still keep in touch and make a point to visit as much as we can. Now, I miss the military life...so do our children.
Well, little did you know, but you just gave us a church to try out Sunday! :) We've been looking for one to settle into.
One of my very best childhood friends lives in Enterprise. Her husband works at Ft. Rucker as a civilian....he's a childhood friend, too. :) If you get there and have a hard time making friends, let me know & I will hook ya'll up. She is a sweet, young, Christian girl. I actually like that area -- when we were in England, I walked outside one day & the new neighbors were talking...I heard a southern accent and asked them where they were from and when she said "Enterprise, AL" I had to choke back tears! I had a fellow Alabamian as my neighbor all the way across the pond! She turned out to be one of my best friends. I wish you guys much happiness in moving!
Happy Birthday tomorrow!! We just went through our second move and it just doesn't get much easier. But you have such a great attitude and we both know God has great plan in store for you and your sweet family! Keep smiling! :)
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