Friday, October 4, 2013

SAYING GOODBYE PART I [A FRIDAY LINK UP]

Today I'm linking up with Casey Leigh about what's on my heart lately. I know I've talked several times about moving recently. I know it may be overkill, but we somehow managed to live in the same area for 7 years (my husbands entire Navy career thus far). 

We lived in two different cities but they were only 20 minutes apart, and I spent time in both on a weekly basis. 

In May of 2013 we moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. And when I say we, I mean me because Robert was deployed (he deployed less than a month after we got married).  
I graduated from college on May 13, 2007 in TN, moved into my parent's house and planned on moving the next day ( because I had NO idea how moving with the military worked). After a few tearful phone calls to the personal property office with the military I quickly learned that I should have started the move process (ie: paperwork) at least 8 weeks prior to the move. whoops. So I scheduled some guys to help me pack up a  U-haul that my mom and I rented, packed up, and headed to VA with my and Robert's belongings and our dog Dakota. (Mind you, we never lived together prior to this so we didn't have a ton of stuff yet, no bed, sofa, tv, anything, all the while praying that we could some how recoup some of the costs for the labor/ gas/  rental.

After a day of driving, two flat tires, and a subsequent over night stay, we pulled into our first little apartment. 


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Our apartment was on the bottom floor, the two windows to the left of that door. It was 900 sq. ft. Hugely expensive to us, and a huge dump. And we loved it. It was there that I learned how to make any space into a home- no matter whether you could paint or not (we couldn't), no matter the size of the home, and on any budget. 

We have grown a ton in our selves and in our marriage since we have been together, but I will say that this was where we learned not only how to live together, but how to be "grown ups". I got my first job out of college, and we adopted Lady, our second dog while we lived there. 

We moved out after our year lease was up to this little gem:



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This little place was not much bigger, and not much better, but again we really loved this place. We lived on the left, where the fence was. This neighborhood was so awful and unsafe. A gang that roamed the streets there, and a brothel got shut down just down the street [we like to keep it classy]. 

 Robert and his dad built a nice deck off the side, and I built an enormous garden, full of vegetables and flowers. We loved our neighbors, and we learned how to be a part of a community. Our neighbors across the street and next door would all come sit on that tiny front porch and we would order pizza and wings and sit and talk and laugh and listen to music. Customers of the place I worked lived down the street from me, and we lived close to all of the places we frequented.

I began to discern what I wanted for my life and career in that home. Two and a half years after beginning my first job, I quit and began going to school to fulfill requirements for graduate school. It was in that little house that I gained the courage to follow my dreams. 

Stay tuned next Friday for the second part of this series. 

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