It’s the last day of August and I don’t care what anyone says I have seen the signs. The signs of my favourite season of the year that is…fall, autumn, changing of the leaves, harvest time, etc. Yesterday I raked my first piles of leaves (there will be several more of these sessions) and I pondered if it was my wishful mind that was seeing a faint redness in the leaves which would mean that I have seen the end of one season and have only three more to go before my hubby comes home. G didn’t believe me when I told him that fall was on its way, but this morning I saw a sapling with glorious Merlot leaves swaying on the roadside. I love this time of year!
However, as I was raking the leaves to OUR trees in OUR backyard and admiring the two sunflowers that we managed to grow and the pumpkins that may or may not see fruition– due to a bad case of mold that ran rampant when we were sweating it out in San Antonio over a week ago–I realized that I may not be here next year to rake the leaves. I don’t know where we will be and that is not sitting well with me.
My husband and I both have snail tattoos and this much despised and eaten creature has become something of a family mascot for us. I like to tell people it is because we are a military family and we carry our home with us. My husband just likes the cylindrical pattern of the snail shell. We have always been Bedouins, G and I. Pitching a tent wherever the mission sent him and allowed me to go and before that as military brats. And the sense of adventure has never failed us, but this time I don’t want to leave and this impending PCS has me wanting to pitch a fit. Our plan was to spend the next 4-5 years here in Colorado and then retire to San Antonio, but this remote to Korea without the reward of a follow-on of our choice is really putting a damper on this plan. And to further complicate things I don’t want to retire to San Antonio after all these years of pining. I like Colorado–which is strange. Because I can’t see myself as a Coloradoan.
The question of home and hearth is further made complicated when I think about that expression: “You can’t go home.” As I was driving on 35 in San Antonio I saw a huge billboard for Shoneys and I realized that as much as I have grown away from Texas I will always be a Texan. A Texan by accident it’s true, sense I am sure I don’t have to mention I wasn’t born or even raised there—wait a minute! Why am I a Texan again? Shoneys is a grease spoon mostly found in the South up through Ohio. But the thing is they don’t have them here and I associate them with Texas. Just like I associate Fat Tire, Old Chicago, and clean, green living with Colorado.
So as I contemplated whether I should plant some more garlic and I raked my leaves and felt sorry for myself I realized that as always home is where my heart is (clicque I know) and that even though I might not be here next year at least I would be with my husband. And that was something to look forward to—unless we end up at Minot, North Dakota. A long standing joke between us that wouldn’t be so funny if it comes true.
September 1, 2009 at 8:13 am |
Or Thule AB… aieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
September 1, 2009 at 12:04 pm |
I believe that one is a special duty assignment and if it isn’t it should be.
September 1, 2009 at 9:23 am |
we are stuck with stateside choices so thule is out… not out are such great choices as minot, offut, grand forks, robins, shaw, tinker and probably a host of other horrible places. but hey, we decided to roll the dice. this is one time when the devil you know was simply not good enough. a possible year of misery is worth even the slimmest chance at a favorable outcome. everyone cross their fingers for us.
September 1, 2009 at 12:04 pm |
I’ve learned not to hold my breath.
September 1, 2009 at 9:24 am |
oh and in honor of xtna, tonight is going to be a night just like at home. i’m gonna curl up on the couch and watch a chick flick with a pint of ice cream.
so there.
September 1, 2009 at 12:06 pm |
honey, I am not Bridget Jones…and if you really wanted to be like me you would have watched Last of the Mohican’s or Pride and Prejudice. Sigh.
September 1, 2009 at 2:58 pm |
unlikely. i think the romantic comedy is as far as i will go.
movies need more explosions in my opinion, i’m just saying…
September 5, 2009 at 1:21 am |
I’m feeling for you guys. Let me know the minute you know where you’re going…
Are you going to keep the house in CO?
September 5, 2009 at 1:50 am |
yup…and that’s the sad part…we really like our house and have a lot of plans for it…but it’s a volunteer military, right?
September 6, 2009 at 12:25 am |
So…are you going to rent it out or….? Are you planning on moving back there after G gets out?
September 6, 2009 at 7:21 pm |
we are going to rent it and move back here when G gets out…we’ll probably move back the summer before he gets out to keep some continuity to the school year and all that jazz. in a perfect world he would have been able to come back here, but this keeps us real, I guess.
September 6, 2009 at 11:41 pm |
So Colorado it is then! Congrats! : ) I loved your house…would like to see what you guys have done w/ it so far….
September 8, 2009 at 12:05 am |
Thank you…we still have lots to do and we lovingly call it “The Tree house.” Of course, you are always welcome to move here with us.?.?.
September 8, 2009 at 2:56 am |
Tinker AFB in OKC would–believe it or not–NOT be such a hideous sucktacular choice in one sense–I had that as part of my beat for AFnews and there is actually a semi-bohemian district there that you both would take a shine to. Great sushi bar there called Sushi Neko (right next to the Will Rogers Theater, yeeehaawww!)
My favorite part of OKC was the MASSIVE–and I mean Lackland AFB BX-sized– Vietnamese supermarket complete with plastic orange palm trees and a smattering of offerings from damn near every Asian culture on the planet. Hell money from Hong Kong, almond Pocky, Vietnamese buddha icons, you name it. And the food itself? WOW.
September 8, 2009 at 3:16 am |
Sounds like a treat…I love all of the suggestions coming in. As if we have a choice: They point, we go.