I grew up in the same neighborhood that my dad grew up in, went to the same schools, and even had some of the same teachers. We moved once when I was a kid, and it was a distance of about 3 miles, in the same neighborhood, the same school district, the same everything. That was when I was in kindergarden, and my parents still live in that house now.
I went to college in North Carolina when I was 18, and remained there for 4 years. After graduation I did a breif summer in Chapel Hill, followed by 3 months in Raleigh, and then I moved to the DC Metro area in January of 2006.
The thing is, something kind of big has changed over the last year. People that F and I have come to know and love have moved away. And more people that we know and love are planning to move away in the next year or so. It seems that this is going to become a very regular part of our lives as long as we live here. Kind of a bummer for someone like me who can name the 3 friends that ever moved away from preschool to high school. (John, Tracy, and Kylie)
Somehow, the people moving away from DC now seem different from the friends that graduated before me in high school or college. Those are 4 year adventures that everyone knows will last 4 years and somehow that makes it easier when everyone scatters to the wind.
Here, people can get orders, promotions, transfers, leave for grad school, law school, business school, or graduate from school. None of these things have the kinds of expected timelines that school always had for me, and that makes it harder. We've had some great friends move, mostly due to the military, and I know that that usually means good things for them (promotions, more training, bigger responsibilities) so I'm happy for them. But it isn't much fun being left behind.
The childrens' books are usually about the new kid in class, but what about that kid's old best friend that got left back in the old home town? I'm not trying to bum anyone out, or guilt any of our friends that have moved or are moving, it is just something that I've never experienced this frequently before and I'm not entirely sure what to do.
I guess we'll keep making new friends and pray real hard for some of the old friends to get transfered back!!
I promise to go back to blogging about puppies, furniture, weddings, and sunshine tomorrow :)
I'm sad too. The hardest part of being in the military is knowing that every two years or so, I'm going to have to start all over. Actually knowing it is going to come to end doesn't make it any easier. At all. That is why I'm lobbying for an end to this career in the next few years!!! Miss you tons!
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