The Overwhelming Process of Moving.

It's that time again. Moving time. While I understand that this is a process that I will probably become a pro at by the end of my husband's military career, right now it's a daunting task that I'm not looking forward to. Perhaps it's because I'm a full time student and 7 months pregnant.  Or perhaps it's because we're moving to South Korea and I have no clue what we can/should bring and what we should leave behind.

In any case I am finding this task a bit overwhelming. When we moved to Fort Rucker, we only had 4 days to pack up our house and move. This was mainly because we had already scheduled and paid for a vacation not realizing the Army would require my husband to report so soon after he commissioned.  Now the Army would have moved us, but we had heard that you can make a good amount of money doing a DITY (Do-It-Yourself) move and we wanted to make some money. And we did. It was a stressful time, but thanks to a lot people who helped us out, we made it through and we were so grateful that we did it. 

However, this time around a DITY move isn't going to work for us for several reasons. One of the biggest is the whole moving to another country thing. The next is that by the time we move, I will be VERY pregnant. So that puts me back to where I was when I started this post. Overwhelmed. 

Here is what I need to accomplish in the next couple months. Organize our house so I know what we actually own and what we will actually want to take with us to Korea. Unlike our last move when weight equaled money, this time around we are only allotted half of the maximum weight my husband's rank is allowed to move. One half.  Not to mention almost all Korean housing is fully furnished, so we really don't need to bring much with us. It would be so much easier if I could have them pack up our whole house and move it, but  we have to figure out what is going to go into storage, what we're going to take with us and what we're going to give away, sell and throw out. 

Also, this task might not be as overwhelming if the hubs and I were naturally neat freaks and our house was already nicely organized into bins and labeled. Nope! Our spare bedroom could probably make it onto the show "Hoarders".  As well as I've been the same size since I was in 7th grade and have so many articles of clothing it's embarrassing. (Also now I have maternity clothes and clothes people have given me for little baby G).  Add on to that the fact that we got married older, so when we combined lives...we had a lot to combine. We've only been married two years, so we still have a lot of "his stuff"/"her stuff" that makes it hard to organize. My husband and I need a good week where we both have nothing to do, but instead he's putting in 12 hour days and I feel the need to sleep 12 hours a day, and the remaining 12 I'm trying to finish all of my school work early since we will be moving before the semester ends and my teachers are being nice enough to work with me so that I can finally graduate by the end of the semester. 

Somewhere in the midst of all this, I'll have a baby.

 Funny how that is literally the least of my concerns. I figure this little girl is gonna come no matter if my school work gets finished, or hubs graduates flight school, the dishes get done or boxes get organized, so I'm leaving the "having the baby" part alone. 

Sooooo, how to get started. My sweet best friend of a cousin finally convinced me to join Pinterest. She said it was a good way to look up stuff for the baby. And she was right. Now I feel like I'm not neglecting this little girl, she has her own board on Pinterest. After I artistically decorated her room, organized her belongings, and made notes of all the stuff I feel the need to buy now, I turned my attention back to the elephant in the room. Moving and organizing. I found a pin--which lead me to a blog--that had a list entitled "40 bags in 40 days".  I didn't read the whole blog, but I liked the idea. 

Here is Lucy's list. 

http://www.littlelucylu.com/2011/03/40-bags-continued.html?showComment=1346959002635#c6178276555275685739

I'll be making my own as I adapt her list to my house and my needs, but I figure I have about 40 days to get my house in order. But I like the idea of just doing one thing a day. I can handle that with all my homework, pregnancy exhaustion and pinterest obsession. ;) Moving, I think we just found a way to get along. 

Please feel free to post a comment on what works for you and moving! 

History and Observance of Memorial Day

Like many of you, I grew up not really understanding the true meaning of Memorial Day. I wouldn't fault my parents, more society and what the holiday has come to mean to the average American. With many Veterans in my extended and immediate family, we were taught to respect the military--even before I married an active duty soldier. I, personally, have always gotten very emotional at the thought of someone losing his or her loved one in defense of our nation.  This being said, I can honestly say that I had no clue that Memorial Day was strictly reserved for honoring those who had fallen in the line of duty. I thought it was a day to honor all those who had passed from this life.  Even with that misconception, I am embarrassed to say that Memorial Day usually meant a day for a BBQ, as BBQ's are a pretty big deal in my family,  we know how to BBQ pretty darn well.

Things tend to take on a different meaning when they become more personal. My first step towards a more respectful Memorial Day came when I got to visit ground zero, not even a year after the twin tours had fallen. The love and support sent to those who had lost their lives is unspeakable. As we walked through the wreckage and platforms that had been built and looked over the big empty hole that was so out of place, not one person spoke a word. As strangers, we would meet eyes and exchange a look of complete remorse. There was not one dry eye as we walked away with a new sense of feeling of what it really means to be American. I lived in New York a few years later, and those who had experienced the reality of 9/11 have not forgotten.

Ground Zero

Another step came when I had the opportunity to visit the Normandy Beaches in Northern France when I lived there. The videos and memorials made me sob like a baby. The courage and valor of the men from WWII astound me. The families they left behind were just as strong. Visiting those graves was extremely humbling.  The respect the French people had for these Americans who fought for their freedom made me start to wonder if perhaps America could learn a thing or two about honor and respect.

Normandy Beaches Cemetery

My last step was when I met my husband's family for the first time. We had decided that we would visit his family over Memorial Day weekend for a few reasons. First, he had time off of school and I had time off of work, and second, his entire family gathered in remembrance of their father/husband/grandfather who had passed away over 10 years ago. I watched in reverent silence as we went to the grave site of his father. Each child paid their respects, the grandchildren were told stories and were taught to observe their grandfather's memory. Some tears were shed, but mainly laughter as memories were shared.  I watched as a tragic event pulled this family closer and closer each year. I came to truly understand the benefits of what really honoring someone who has died can be to the living.

This brings us to present day. I am sure your news feeds on Facebook, like mine, have been flooded with pictures and quotes of what Memorial Day is really about. It has made me stop and reflect on what the day means to me. Instead of just posting a quote, I wanted to really understand what it means to observe Memorial Day. I asked my husband if he knew the history of Memorial Day. He said he had recently read an article about a small little town who claimed to have started it all. That got me thinking and I did my own research, online, of course. I stumbled upon this website which some of you may have already found. The history is pretty detailed and seems to be pretty legit. The website talks about how many cities claim to have started this tradition. Other documentation states that women's groups can take the credit because they started the practice of decorating the graves of those who had fallen during the Civil War.  Memorial Day originally was May 5 but was then changed in 1868 to May 30, with New York being the first state to officially recognize it as a holiday in 1873.  By 1890 all of the northern states recognized it as a state holiday. The southern states still chose to honor their dead on another day. It wasn't until after World War I that Memorial Day was a time to remember all those who had died in the line of duty, not just those who had died in the civil war.

Civil War

Today almost all states recognize Memorial Day on the last Monday in May in compliance with the National Holiday Act of 1971 which ensures a three-day weekend for all federal Holidays. Some people believe that this is part of the disintegration of what has now become a holiday of "the start of summer".  To quote the VWF (Veterans of Foreign Wars), "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."  There are some who believe strongly the date the should be changed back to May 30, no matter what day it lands on.

After reading and researching so much about Memorial Day, I have now pledged to treat each Memorial Day with the proper observance that it deserves. I do not have a problem with get-togethers and BBQ's.  As I mentioned with my husband's family, I found that the very act of a family BBQ and visiting their loved one's grave was very moving and respectful. However, not everyone has someone specific to remember. In that case I suggest the following things, also taken from the same website.

• Visiting cemeteries and placing flags/flowers or other respectful items by fallen soldiers graves.
• Visiting Memorials ( I personally think Ground Zero would be very appropriate)
• Flying the U.S. Flag half-staff until noon
• Flying the 'POW/MIA Flag' as well (Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act)
• Participating in a "National Moment of Remembrance": at 3 p.m. to pause and think upon the true meaning of the day, and for Taps to be played.
• Renewing a pledge to aid the widows, widowers, and orphans of our fallen dead and to aid the disabled veterans.

I would add a couple more by saying:

• Correctly teach our children and family members what the holiday represents and how to properly observe it.
• Another fun tradition might be doing some of the things they did in the past. At one point, according the same website, women used to wear red poppies in response to Moina Michael's poem:
  

  

  "We cherish too, the Poppy red
  That grows on fields where valor led,
  It seems to signal to the skies
  That blood of heroes never dies." 

• Create a family tradition that you can reasonably continue each year. Even if it just is a family BBQ, while pausing at 3p.m. to think about those that have given the ultimate sacrifice.
• Read stories of those who have lost someone. They can be very touching and uplifting, such as this one
• But most importantly, BE AWARE, not just of your own situation, but those around you. You might find someone who is having to spend Memorial Day alone, and it may be one of the worst days of the year for them.

Whatever you may choose to do for your Memorial Day this year, I hope that you really consider the history and what it really means to observe it, whether you are connected to the military or not. We should all be grateful for those who have been brave enough to go before us and defend our country.

2012

Proud to be an American

The 4th of July has always been my favorite holiday. I really am not sure when this happened. Maybe it's because we have a huge celebration where I grew up and people camp out over night just to get good seats for the parade.  It was also all about the fireworks. We would have our own celebration, but nothing was as cool as climbing up on the roof to watch the big firework show put on by the city.  I've celebrated the 4th in lots of different places. A small no-where town in Montana, Wyoming--where fireworks are legal all year round, New York City--that was pretty fun, Paris--where homemade rootbeer was not well received and people took pictures of us playing baseball--like we were some sort of novelty (I guess we were), but this is the first time I've ever had the honor of celebrating it on a Military post.

I claim it is an honor because no where else is there the deep rooted celebrating that comes from those who really understand what it means to live in a free country. It's one thing to wear red-white and blue and cheer at the parade, or even just show up for the fireworks, but it's a whole other story when the celebration includes a slideshow of those local soldiers who have given their lives in the name of freedom.  It hits home in a whole new way.

Fort Rucker's celebration was no different than most any other celebration that I had been to, at first glance. It had the fairs and booths that I've seen in several places, however the vendors were mainly food. What I love going to little "street" fairs for are the boutique type stuff that aren't usually in stores. At this fair I didn't really see anything that caught my attention. The food, however, was another story.

Considering this was my first festival/fair/celebration type thing that I have been to since moving to the south, I was excited to see what they might have us. My husband and I both decided that we were going to eat at the festival and therefore planned ahead and brought cash. (Because we brought cash, I have no idea if any of the places accepted other forms of payment. We stopped at the alcohol store-bought a candy bar--and got cash back).  These are the types of foods we found.

I'm eating the deep fried oreo here. It was pretty good, except that it was really dry.  Still needs a glass of milk. ;) Hubby go the snickers and we both liked it better. Oreos were $2 and Snickers were $3

I think my favorite part of this was the fact that they clarified that it was on a stick. However, I'm sure you can see my feelings towards this one. Hubby's thoughts : "it taste like chicken, only more rubbery." Yeeeaah...cause that just sounds amazing.  Fried Alligator on a stick: $6

After the fair and "dinner" we went and looked at all the different aircrafts they have here at Fort Rucker. It was pretty cool, but lines were longer than we wanted to wait and I had already seen most of them up close. Here are a few of the helicopters that I captured.

Chinook

This one seems to be a Lakota.

This one here is the Apache.

It was pretty cool, they let you climb inside and everything. Since I had already done that at a Family Day when Hubs was in the National Guard, I didn't really feel the need to do it again.

Here are a couple pictures of myself in a Blackhawk durning the family day last summer.

The highlight of the night however, was the concert given right before the fireworks. It was a blast. Normally they just have the Army band play, but this year they brought in Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band. They were actually pretty cool. Gary played the guitar and he had 3 or 4 different singers. They did a bunch of cover songs and did a good job at getting the audience to participate. We were sitting in the middle and I felt like we had pretty good seats. Because of all the people, the bugs weren't really a problem. My man and I had a really good time and the families we were with. After dark they had people selling glow sticks and such and I jumped on that band wagon real' quick.

Gary Sinise (in the white shirt in the back) and his Lt. Dan Band.



Since we had walked, we decided to leave the concert a little early (since we could still hear it from pretty much anywhere) to start walking back. Our plan was to walk until we heard the fireworks, and then we'd just plop ourselves down and watch the show wherever we were. As it turns out, our plan worked out perfectly and we ended up watching the show on the field in between the golf course and the concert. There were probably only 4 or 5 other groups watching where we were, so it was really easy to feel in your own little world.  Apparently Fort Rucker is supposed to have one of the better fireworks show in the area, and I think they did a really good job. Neither my husband or I are photographers and we just had our phones and cheap cameras for pictures, we didn't get any really good pictures of the fireworks. Here is the only one I have that turned out. 

Fireworks on Fort Rucker. 

All in all, I think that Fort Rucker did a great job at celebrating our Independence. Considering that it's a really small post in an area that is not much bigger, I think they pulled it off.  The festivities went from 4:00pm to around 10:00 or 11:00pm (1600-2300).  We got there around 5:30 or 6 and I kind of wished we had more time.  They also had a huge play area for kids with blow up toys and whatnot. We didn't make it over there at all. 

I was happy and proud to be a part of Fort Rucker's celebration and join in on the chorus; "I'm proud to be an American!"

Gone Camping!

I haven't posted for awhile because I was gone camping! Yep, I took off to Florida for a week leaving hubby to fend for himself and the poodle face. Truth be told I missed them both terribly!

Here is the lowdown on camping here in the southern part of Alabama. Apparently people here think it's too hot and too humid and there are far too many bugs to make it enjoyable. The only reason we went is because the church I belong to has a summer camp for young woman ages 12-18 every year. It's not really an option to NOT go. So we all packed up and off we went. 

I am from Utah where camping is as common as grocery shopping. And if you grew up in my family, you may just randomly go camping for no reason. We would stay in campgrounds instead of hotels, decide to eat breakfast up the canyon instead of at the dining table and my friends and I would just go camping for fun one weekend--sometimes in tents, sometimes under the stars. Sometimes we'd have bathrooms, sometimes we'd bring a shovel.  NEVER would we have showers.

So this being my experience, I was quite unsure when they asked me to go as a camp director for these young woman. I was positive that our campsite would be crawling with spiders and they wrap me up like a mummie in their super spidery web and carry me off to eat me. Yes, I go all out in my illogical-irrational frightmares.  However, I figured if God was asking me to go with them, then He was going to not let me get eaten alive by giant spiders---like in Harry Potter. 

Here's the deal. We didn't go camping. We were in the woods-10 mins from civilization-But we had showers, air conditioned cabins, home-cooked meals made in a kitchen-not over a campfire and a pool. Now I know why God thought I could do this. It was fun and relaxing and the young woman were adorable and seriously the future of American. Most of them were from Army families so we talked about all the different places they have lived and what they liked about being in the Army and what they didn't. Most said it was leaving the friends they had made in that area. It was hard to start all over again. It made me think. I chose this life for me. Hubby was in the Army before I met him. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I married that wonderful man. Our children don't get to choose. They just kind of have to follow suit. I hope our children can understand why we-as their parents-felt it was a good idea. I hope we can help them see the good that can come from growing up in the military. And I hope I can understand if my children choose the same path---because it's hard enough watching your husband fly away from you---I can only imagine  if it were my son or daughter. 

Anyway, I got lost on a tangent, but wanted to share my thoughts on children in the military. Here is my review of camping:

Camping here was any more or less miserable or fun than camping in other places. I saw just as many bugs here as I have camping in Utah, Wyoming and New York (upstate). However the spiders I saw were much bigger and they DID freak me out. I think I could easily go camping here--with all the trees and such if it weren't for the wretched spiders! 

Our campsite

Our Cabin

The view from our hike