When I met Leah's mom that all changed. I felt home. I felt loved and safe. From day one she treated me like another daughter. She hugged me, fed me and even yelled at me and I loved every moment of it. She and Leah also introduced me to bingo. Now granted I knew what bingo was, It was something that my grandma did with her friends, it was full of crazy, quirky superstitions and troll dolls, and it was the last place on earth that I thought at 19 years old I would be hanging out at on a weekly basis. If your asking yourself if Leah and I were the youngest people in there? The answer is yes, every week our pregnant butt's would waddle into a room full of 70 something's with mom in tow who would rub our bellies for good luck and provide us with countless hours of entertainment. We would sit and joke, play pull tabs and laugh until we were in tears. The three of us were partners in crime and it was amazing. I had another mom and sister. My first deployment had given me a gift that not many deployments give someone, it had given me a family.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Bingo!
Moving 14 hours from the only home I had never known made me realize just how much of a mama's girl I really was. Even though Leah and I had became incredibly close I still missed my family and being pregnant with my first baby I was sad because I didn't have my mom there to experience it with me. I didn't know what I was doing half the time or what I was feeling and I didn't have my mom there hug me and tell me it was ok.
Holy Culture Shock Batman!!
Anger. Anger was the most prominent emotion I felt when the Coast Guard moved us away from what was so familiar to me. Change is scary. I am one of those people who can handle change if it is given in small increments. When handed a cross country move away from everything I ever knew, I admit it...I freaked out a bit.
However, Concord, California had a whole lot more than grocery store scares to offer me. New music, fashion, languages, 6 to 8 lane highways, and ethnic food were just a few things that bombarded and overwhelmed me. I guess living in the boonies my whole life had sheltered me from "the real world" quite a bit. I can tell you that the fashion I was use to seeing certainly didn't involve winter boots (UGGS) with mini skirts and belly shirts. One, because it was too cold, and two, because we were practical. We only wore boots because they were necessary to stay warm when trudging around in the snow, not to make a fashion statement.
I will never forget the day we decided to venture out to the Sun Valley Mall. The UGG boots and mini skirts were the first thing I noticed. I looked down at my plain-jane sneakers I was wearing with my boot cut jeans and began to worry if I would even blend in here, much less fit in. To me it was obvious I was an outsider. Someone who wasn't born and raised in the sunny fashionista land of California.
I think Michigan did shelter me. From pretty much everything. I wasn't prepared for the crazy highways, or the trillion different languages that sounded like mumbled garble and were so apparently foreign to me. OH! And the food! Nowhere Up North (Michigan) can you get authentic Mexican food, or Indian food, or real Thai! My taste buds were on fire with new flavors, or maybe that was all the hot sauce and peppers that they put on everything, either way it was so different!
Fellow military spouses: you DO NOT need to go around the world for a culture shock. Just move to California. :)
Although I hadn't realized it at that point, I was learning things about myself. I learned how to drive on said highways. I adjusted to the culture and learned some simple phrases in a few languages. My most favorite still being "Dos margaritas por favor!" I also learned how to be self sufficient in a new, unfamiliar place.
However, Concord, California had a whole lot more than grocery store scares to offer me. New music, fashion, languages, 6 to 8 lane highways, and ethnic food were just a few things that bombarded and overwhelmed me. I guess living in the boonies my whole life had sheltered me from "the real world" quite a bit. I can tell you that the fashion I was use to seeing certainly didn't involve winter boots (UGGS) with mini skirts and belly shirts. One, because it was too cold, and two, because we were practical. We only wore boots because they were necessary to stay warm when trudging around in the snow, not to make a fashion statement.
I will never forget the day we decided to venture out to the Sun Valley Mall. The UGG boots and mini skirts were the first thing I noticed. I looked down at my plain-jane sneakers I was wearing with my boot cut jeans and began to worry if I would even blend in here, much less fit in. To me it was obvious I was an outsider. Someone who wasn't born and raised in the sunny fashionista land of California.
I think Michigan did shelter me. From pretty much everything. I wasn't prepared for the crazy highways, or the trillion different languages that sounded like mumbled garble and were so apparently foreign to me. OH! And the food! Nowhere Up North (Michigan) can you get authentic Mexican food, or Indian food, or real Thai! My taste buds were on fire with new flavors, or maybe that was all the hot sauce and peppers that they put on everything, either way it was so different!
Fellow military spouses: you DO NOT need to go around the world for a culture shock. Just move to California. :)
Although I hadn't realized it at that point, I was learning things about myself. I learned how to drive on said highways. I adjusted to the culture and learned some simple phrases in a few languages. My most favorite still being "Dos margaritas por favor!" I also learned how to be self sufficient in a new, unfamiliar place.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Bite, Peas, Ray Ray!
2 months into meeting Leah and boring days were a thing of the past. She had returned to work part time at a lawyer's office and I had begun watching Deacon, oh and we were completely inseparable! We spent every moment together aside from sleeping and depending on the day sometimes I never made it past her couch. Our husbands were often gone 6 weeks at a time and frankly being alone sucked. We were both pregnant and it was easier being together than being apart.
Now with pregnancy comes cravings and mine EVERY SINGLE MORNING happened to be a giant Dr. Pepper and a cosmic brownie, this to a 16 month old is pure joy! I would come waddling in the door and the cheerios that Leah had placed on the highchair tray instantly became no longer fit to eat. Deacon would make his way over to me and with a sly grin, look at me and say "bite, peas, Ray Ray!" Now tell me how can you say no to that!? One bite became two and two became three and soon half my brownie was gone, this did nothing to satisfy my cravings so I solved the issue and starting buying two. Leah would give me the glad your staying home with him face and walk out the door, and we would start the morning with our brownies and the backyardigans.
Pure Elation!
We are BEYOND elated at the awesome out-pouring of love on our blog topic. And just because ya'll like it so much we want to give you more. :) So is one of the thousands of stories I have to offer...
Taking place in Concord, California in what looked to have been housing close to being condemned, started my first Coast Guard adventure. I remember pulling into the neighborhood and my jaw literally dropping. The housing scared me. I now wish I would have taken a picture of it to share, maybe the wow-factor would take its full effect. One of my boys was 2 y/o at the time and the other was merely 3 weeks old. We walked into the door of the house we were assigned to and the inside wasn't as bad as the outside looked. There were perks. There was a storage unit attached to the garage and another in the back yard. The back yard had a fence around it, which gave me the great idea of adding a dog to the family someday. Oh, and there was a palm tree. I had never seen a palm tree before. The downsides were that the kitchen was too small, the walls contained asbestos and lead paint, there was no closet space, spiders everywhere, and our household goods weren't expected to arrive for another two weeks. I know I sound like a whiny baby right now, but this was far from the Michigan home I knew and loved.
Another strike California offered me that same week was when I attempted to go grocery shopping. By the time I FOUND a grocery store, one that I had never heard of, I was ready to go back home. I instead continued on what I had ventured to do. I had picked up a few essential items and it was then, when I made it to the cheese aisle that I gave up. $6.00 for 12 slices of Kraft cheese!? This was too rich for my Walmart-$1.99-Kraft-cheese-buying-self. I called my mom crying that I was ready to come home and left my cart in the middle of the store and walked out. I had been defeated by a grocery store.
Allow me to point out that until this move to California I had grown up in Northern Michigan, in a town where everyone knew everyone and if you weren't related you knew someone who was. It was however, one of the biggest towns in that area and it only had 3 stop lights (If I remember correctly). We had two grocery stores to chose from, not the 20 I had encountered in my new town, and if either of them ever charged $6.00 for cheese they would have gone out of business quickly. So needless to say, Concord, California was way out of my league.
Things did get better. I adjusted. I learned where to shop and how to get there. When my spouse deployed 2 weeks after being there, I was forced to meet my neighbors because my dishwasher blew up. My favorite neighbor to this day was Jen. In a conversation about the weather there, she told me "Sometimes when it gets really cold we get this cold film on our cars and the grass." I laughed uncontrollably realizing she was talking about frost. Again, keep in mind I am from an area where -40 and six feet of snow is normal. :)
Well, I guess this has to be it for now. Honestly I could go on for hours, but my children are choosing this very minute to have a wresting match in their bedroom. Tis the story of my life, but I will save those for another day. :)
Taking place in Concord, California in what looked to have been housing close to being condemned, started my first Coast Guard adventure. I remember pulling into the neighborhood and my jaw literally dropping. The housing scared me. I now wish I would have taken a picture of it to share, maybe the wow-factor would take its full effect. One of my boys was 2 y/o at the time and the other was merely 3 weeks old. We walked into the door of the house we were assigned to and the inside wasn't as bad as the outside looked. There were perks. There was a storage unit attached to the garage and another in the back yard. The back yard had a fence around it, which gave me the great idea of adding a dog to the family someday. Oh, and there was a palm tree. I had never seen a palm tree before. The downsides were that the kitchen was too small, the walls contained asbestos and lead paint, there was no closet space, spiders everywhere, and our household goods weren't expected to arrive for another two weeks. I know I sound like a whiny baby right now, but this was far from the Michigan home I knew and loved.
Another strike California offered me that same week was when I attempted to go grocery shopping. By the time I FOUND a grocery store, one that I had never heard of, I was ready to go back home. I instead continued on what I had ventured to do. I had picked up a few essential items and it was then, when I made it to the cheese aisle that I gave up. $6.00 for 12 slices of Kraft cheese!? This was too rich for my Walmart-$1.99-Kraft-cheese-buying-self. I called my mom crying that I was ready to come home and left my cart in the middle of the store and walked out. I had been defeated by a grocery store.
Allow me to point out that until this move to California I had grown up in Northern Michigan, in a town where everyone knew everyone and if you weren't related you knew someone who was. It was however, one of the biggest towns in that area and it only had 3 stop lights (If I remember correctly). We had two grocery stores to chose from, not the 20 I had encountered in my new town, and if either of them ever charged $6.00 for cheese they would have gone out of business quickly. So needless to say, Concord, California was way out of my league.
Things did get better. I adjusted. I learned where to shop and how to get there. When my spouse deployed 2 weeks after being there, I was forced to meet my neighbors because my dishwasher blew up. My favorite neighbor to this day was Jen. In a conversation about the weather there, she told me "Sometimes when it gets really cold we get this cold film on our cars and the grass." I laughed uncontrollably realizing she was talking about frost. Again, keep in mind I am from an area where -40 and six feet of snow is normal. :)
Well, I guess this has to be it for now. Honestly I could go on for hours, but my children are choosing this very minute to have a wresting match in their bedroom. Tis the story of my life, but I will save those for another day. :)
When Ray Met Lee
In January of 2006 when my ex-husband called me from Coast Guard basic training notifying me that our first deployment was going to be in Cheboygan, Michigan I was less than thrilled. First of all I didn't even know where in the hell that was and after looking it up online I had my doubts. I was 4 months pregnant so maybe it was the hormones but I just couldn't see the good in this move, but being the supportive "Coastie Wife" I was I sucked it up and made the 14 hour trip into the great unknown. The first few weeks in my new home were less than pleasant. We were in a temporary house until we found a permanent apartment and I didn't know anyone, I was homesick and frankly bored out of my mind. That all changed when I met Leah Bent.
Sitting in an OB office is the last place that I ever thought I would meet my best friend, but none the less that's how it happened on a weekday afternoon in February. Her adorable little boy Deacon had caught my eye and the mutual hello between my husband and hers gave me the first glimmer of hope that I would make a friend here. The introduction and conversation that followed while brief set the foundation of a life long friendship filled with ups, downs, laughter and tears and stories that even the best writer couldn't make up, but we didn't know that YET.
The First Post
Hello all new readers!
I have created this blog to tell a story. A true story. The story of a group of military wives who have learned a thing or two about themselves, each other and their significant (or ex-significant) others.
You may have noticed the blog title is "The Ones Who Stayed Home." Well that's exactly what we were. We were the ones who stayed home and held down the fort so that our soldiers could go off and do what they were told to do for our country. Here, we will tell you our stories. The hardships we endured staying behind, the friendships we made, and perhaps even the horrible experiences we wouldn't wish on our worst enemies.
We give plenty of credit to our nation's soldiers and all that they do, but here we will also pay tribute to the ones behind the scenes, as they are heroes in their own light.
~Leah
I have created this blog to tell a story. A true story. The story of a group of military wives who have learned a thing or two about themselves, each other and their significant (or ex-significant) others.
You may have noticed the blog title is "The Ones Who Stayed Home." Well that's exactly what we were. We were the ones who stayed home and held down the fort so that our soldiers could go off and do what they were told to do for our country. Here, we will tell you our stories. The hardships we endured staying behind, the friendships we made, and perhaps even the horrible experiences we wouldn't wish on our worst enemies.
We give plenty of credit to our nation's soldiers and all that they do, but here we will also pay tribute to the ones behind the scenes, as they are heroes in their own light.
~Leah
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)