Settled

When that husband of mine moved me here at the end of June 2006, I looked at it as a sentence of sorts. For what crime? I really can't tell you. I just resolved myself that I was going to be here for two years and I just wanted to get it over with. My, how the military can laugh at the best made plans. The US Navy did NOT consult with me on how I wanted things to go. I am a Taurus. I have to HAVE plans A-Z. To have plans helps me to feel in control and to not have control is not good for Miss Hope.

I reckon I had to grow up some, huh?

We chose to live in military/base housing because we already owned a home in SC. I just didn't want the hassle and headaches of dealing with the ownership and upkeep of two places in my lap. I did decide to make this "loaner" home just that...a home. I put up a few pictures. Had my knick knacks strewn about. Familiar things, you understand. Nothing extraordinary graced this place, and that was okay. Every now and again, I might would find something smallish to pick up and put in this place. My heart wasn't completely in it.

NOW, the Navy has decided, along with my husband, that we will be here until his retirement in 2010. We've sold our home in SC just recently (I am still grieving its loss). Why not buy a home here, you say? Because the old issue of not knowing where we will be upon his retirement arises. The way the market is now? Might be how it is in a couple of years. We may buy and not be able to sell if this isn't where we end up. Besides, I like not having to pay for electricity, water, and trash pick up right now. Let me enjoy it a while longer, if you please. I can promise that soon enough, I'll have those bills coming back to my mailbox.

Here comes the revelation I just had while sitting on the stool in my kitchen.

I was sitting there watching my daughter and husband hang a few new things I received for my birthday on my walls. Pineapple lovelies that my friend Emily gave me. Because I love pineapples. I love what they represent over here down in the South. They mean hospitality. That you are welcome in our home. "Please, come on in and have a seat" goodness.

As I sat there looking around, I noticed something. I was truly and finally making this place a bona fide HOME. I was stamping my personal style in this loaner of a place to enjoy while we are here. I laughed to myself because I have a dear Aunt in California who made a comment years and years ago that I recall to this day. She had visited another Aunt of mine and talked about how busy her walls were. She had stuff on every surface and it just gave her a headache. As I walked through my dining room to my glider rocker here in the living room, I laughed again because I knew my walls were almost to the point to cause pain in her head. (Aunt A? You KNOW I love you dearly!)

I have come to a turning point yet again. *Do these things happen very often as you get older, I wonder? Because I seriously thought turning 37 would kinda smooth things out and not be so 'enlightening' every time you turn around* This loaner is now what we have. No more do I have that home waiting in SC for us to come back to...this is it, Internets. I can either continue to look at this as a sentence I have to serve....or I can look at it as another wonderful chapter in my life that I can live and enjoy until this one ends and another begins.

I choose to have fun and love it.