Happy Memorial Day

Today I am grateful for every soldier's sacrifice.  

And I am proud of my soldier and my son.

This Is It!

Bubba's last day wearing the uniform...

He looks happy, no?

Retirement, here he comes!

Colonel Bubba

I promised you pictures and I am finally getting around to posting them.  Bubba's entire sibling population descended on Casa Cheeze last weekend and it was a fun, chaotic, entertaining, laugh fest.  Those kids really know how to have a good time!  On Friday, we all gathered to pin on Bubba's final rank in the Army.  We were all very proud of him and his accomplishments.  For me it was a little bittersweet.  I love the Army and all of it's pomp and circumstance and I will miss that part of it.  Knowing that this was the last time I would help to promote my husband made me proud but also a bit sad.  The Army has been the biggest part of our lives together from the beginning and we have weathered every curve ball it has sent our way.  Life after the Army will be sweet, for sure, but different.  

Anyhoo...sorry, I got a little sappy there.  Here are the pics:

Boyboy and I pinning on Bubba's rank (or in BoyBoy's case velcro-ing)

The Entire Clan

I am still waiting for more pics from the siblings and will post more then.  That is blog fodder in itself so I will be posting about that later.  

Mmmmm-Mel

There is a movie that I love.  Some might think that it is a movie that only men love and I can assure you that Bubba loves this one almost more than I do.  Every time I watch this movie, I cry...buckets, crocodile tears, boo-hooing.  If I hear the soundtrack while channel surfing, I have to stop and watch it no matter what I am doing and how long it will take to watch the rest.  It inspires me in life and in love.  It is classic, timeless, and beautiful from beginning to end.  

It is Braveheart

Braveheart has been on our movie channel for the past month and everytime it has been on, (except one - Bubba watched it that time until about 2am) I have watched.  For those who have never seen it, Braveheart is the partly historical, partly mythological story of Sir William Wallace, a Scottish commoner who fights for his country's freedom from English rule at the end of the 13th century.  But more than that, it is a love story.

Wallace starts out the movie as a peaceful, simple living son of a Scottish farmer.  His father and brother are killed by the English.  A young William is inspired by his father's words when he tells him that he can fight - "I know you can fight, but it is our wits that make us men." He falls in love with a local girl and marries her in secret.  When the secret comes out the English Soldiers murder her in order to lure him to fight against them.  And fight he does.  With passion both for his country and his lost love.  This movie is, at times, gory and violent, tender and beautiful, comical and rediculous.  It is, at all times, inspiring.  

Bubba loves me without question and would fight to the end for me and BoyBoy.  He is patriotic and he is loyal.  And I am sure he would look great in a kilt!  I am inspired by that love, that patriotism and that loyalty.  But most of all I am inspired by his courage.  He has fought for his country and lived to tell about it.  He has woken up in the morning and stepped outside to a world that at any time could kill him.  And he continues to do it every day.  His retirement paperwork was approved last week and he will hang up his soldier boots for the last time next summer.  But he will forever be my hero.  I think that is why I love Braveheart so much - he reminds me of my husband. 

Foto Friday

Happy 4th!

Foto Friday

I hate leaving...

There, I said it...I . Hate . Leaving .

We have started the long process of making sure we see everyone to say goodbye before we leave. I have gotten into the habit of not saying 'Goodbye' but 'See you later!' With the military community being as small as it is, I have come to know that I will indeed see them later. Case in point, we are having a reunion this fall of folks that we knew back before Bubba and I got married. We will get together and it will be like no time has passed. That is one of the things I love about our life. Even though we might not stay in touch like we would like to, we can always pick up our friendship as though we just saw each other yesterday. But, I digress.

Leaving. We should be used to it by now. And I should be looking forward to leaving this time since we are going where we want to go and retirement is around a not-so-distant corner. But, I am not. I hate the saying goodbye, the pulling up shallow roots, the vacating of a home, the leap into unfamiliarity. I hate knowing that some of the friends I have made will always be Germany Friends, not lifelong friends. Not because they aren't special to me because I truly treasure every friendship I have been blessed with, but because they are just the type of friendships that pass through our lives. They are friends with an 'use by' date. We will eventually lose touch and that makes me a bit sad. I also hate closing the door on our home for the last time, knowing all the memories that are shut up inside that house. It was our home for a time...that is what we make of it. I lived in only two houses before I met Bubba and my parents still live in one of them. Those two houses are my childhood homes. The homes I have made with Bubba and Boyboy are in our hearts...we will always have our memories of those houses and may even visit them at times but the memories we made inside those houses are the true homes. And, finally I hate the uncertainty and unfamiliarity of what lies ahead. New experiences, new neighbors, new schools, churches, grocery stores are all adjustments. I am not good at change...I adapt slowly.

So, in short...I hate leaving.

Bubba Home!

So, Bubba is back from two weeks in the field and besides the insurmountable mountain of laundry in the basement, I am SO glad he is home. Ever since he got back from his deployment in July, when he is not here I miss him more than ever. I guess it brings back to front and center the pain from last year. Last year was hard. Enough said. I don't ever want to go back there again. One of the driving forces behind Bubba deciding that the time is right for retirement is that he doesn't want to deploy again. Twenty-two years in the Army, countless short deployments, multiple long ones have taken their toll on him. Folks who are not in the military seem to live under the idea that for us it gets easier every time....that we get used to them being gone. They couldn't be more wrong. Whether the time away is just over the weekend for training or for longer, it is NEVER easy. With each absence, Bubba is missing time...time with BoyBoy playing Command and Conquer on the computer or Legos in the basement, time with me discussing what we want to be when we grow up or just holding hands on the patio. That is time we will never get back. Don't get me wrong, I love the Army life and I am a little bit terrified of what life will be like in the "real world", but there are times when I wonder what it have been like if Bubba had been a corporate geek and we had stayed put from the beginning. And then, I remember...we have had the chance to see the world, face our fears, have the difficult conversations, and meet a melting pot of friends who know our pain and will live it with us for the rest of our lives. And then, I am thankful. I wouldn't trade it for anything.