Wednesday, June 30, 2010

saying goodbye ...

There are many many things i hate about the military, but it's the life i chose & i accept that. My husband is in the AF & will be so for a while longer so I live with those things. But there will always be one thing i hate more than the others, the thing that i will never get used to & sucks every single time ... saying goodbye.

I sometimes feel like all i ever do is say goodbye ... goodbye to a country, goodbye to my husband as he goes TDY or deploys & goodbye to my military family. Those people who help me through everything, the friends who have been there & get those random tiny & frustrating things that can ruin a perfectly good day.

These are the military wives ... the girls i turn to at a moment's notice ... the women who hug me when i cry & cry with laughter alongside me. They've been there, seen it, done it & got the t-shirt.

& then down the line they're gone. Not gone forever, not gone from your life but gone from your everyday. The military up & moves them somewhere new & here you are left behind waving goodbye to the people you love ... & then the circle starts over again.

Well in my short time as a military wife i've gotten used to many things but this is not one of them. I have people i love now living literally all over the world ... & whilst you hope that you will see each other one day the world is a really big place, & whilst the military can be a small world at times more often than not, when you want it to be it isn't!

So PCS season has come around & this time i get to say goodbye to some of my favourite people. A family i have grown to love & to put into words how much i will miss them isn't possible. They're part of my military family & i love them.

I think Hannah knows more about me than anyone ... she's been there for me no strings attached, she's listened, she pulled me through some tough times & i know no matter what she's not going anywhere. The bond between military wives is something else. & then there are her girls ... the girls i want to have myself who can always put a smile on my face.

To list some of my favourite memories would take forever ... but running round the flight line in the middle of winter as a wind that feels like it could be gale force pushes you backwards with every step has to be one. It might sound weird but i think that's my best run ever because it hurt, because it sucked & because we didn't stop.

& Hannah is the kind of person who will keep you going through it all ... she's tough ... & smart (way smarter than me in every sense) ... & strong ... & well you just have to see the kids she's raised to know what a great person she is. She's that person who listens to what you don't say as much as what you do.

& she's going to hate that said all that because well that's the kind of person she is but anyone who knows her can tell you it's true.

& her girls make me laugh & smile & when am sad they'll wipe the tears & make me giggle & for at least a moment none of it matters because that's what family does.

Minot will be their new home ... 4487.7 miles, 7222.2 km & 3899.7 nautical miles from me. That's a really long way. No more dinners or early morning runs. We'll have to share books & dvds through the mail & eatting dessert on your own really isn't as much fun as sharing.

& yes i know we have telephones but i don't like telephones & i know we have email but well it really isn't the same but i plan to make the most of snail mail. Old fashioned letters. I right a mean letter ... my hand writing kinda sucks & my spelling & grammar is pretty bad at times but it's personal. You can tell what someone's feeling as they write that letter, & there's something special about waking up to one.

& so i will write ... i will tell her about the goings on over here, how the weather hasn't changed & the cats are as cute as ever. I will find pretty paper on etsy, & search through stationary stores & start a whole new collection to drive my husband nuts. & when i read a wonderful book, or found some chocolate i think she has to have i will put it in the post & whilst it's not the same it's something because i will miss my friend.
So on Monday we had lunch & then we walked up the hills behind my house to take these photos. Photos i've been wanting to take for so long (& there will be more to come) & i'm sorry there are so many but i couldn't choose because there is no favourite. & then we iced cupcakes & laughed at Madagascar 2 & then they went home & i sat & looked at these photos & it made me happy & sad all in one.

& i'm making the most of the time we have left to laugh & smile & take as many photos as possible of these wonderful people because all too soon it will be over.

5 comments:

  1. Beautiful, just beautiful. So much emotion in the photos and the writing. I can see just how much you love her. I want to cry because she's leaving!

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  2. You just summed up how beautiful a friendship is. Thank you, you made me look into my own life and the friends I have.

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  3. They really are some of the best photographs I've seen you take...(in the short space of time I'm been looking)...maybe it is because you know them and they know you, their faces have such fab expressions.
    Beautifully written. I have friends scattered all over the Country and I see them way to little, maybe I need to take a train ride.

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  4. So touching. Hugs to you. Saying goodbye to a friend is so hard. Awesome blog post & gorgeous photos too.

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  5. this is so beautiful and heartfelt. *hugs*

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