So Long, Farewell, Auf Weidersein to you...

There are so many blog posts I have started in my mind and just haven't put to the computer yet! Maybe if I get time in the coming weeks I'll get on it! This one is a very important one though as the feeling are so raw.

As an Army Spouse of over 9 years, I have passed into the category of 'seasoned.' Hm, I feel like a steak now! lol Anyway, I have moved all over the world and said goodbye to so many people who have become important to me. With small children I do not have a need to look toward the summer in any way other than as military moving season. And the season is again upon us.

Our summer, like everyone else's begins with Memorial Day and BBQs and ceremonies honoring those we've lost along the way. This is an important time for me as over the years the lost persons who I've known list has grown. This year we added another name to that personal list. So, I would like to take a moment to mention three names that aren't just friends of friends, rather friends and the spouses of friends we have been blessed to meet along the way.

I salute you and thank you for your service Ed Dixon and Clint Sikorski, and much love to those they left behind, Jana, Oliver, and Brianna, and Mandy. Most of all I say thank you to a great friend, John Vaughan.

We have moments in society when everyone remembers where they were, the loss of the shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and Sept. 11, 2001. When you lose a person who is very special to you, you always remember that place and those feeling also. John was more than a friend in college, he was a brother, and I think of him every single day. And in honoring him, I honor every soldier who has ever died for our country through the centuries. Each man and woman who has made that sacrifice deserves to be remembered, not just at Memorial Day, but every day. Even if its just a quick thought or pray to say thank you, they each deserve it!

Now, being in the military community we experience another kind of loss more regularly, that of friends as they move away. I had to say goodbye to two very special families this weekend. Thanks to technology, we will keep in touch in a way that was not available to military families even thirty years ago. See, Facebook can be a blessing!! But, while we make fast friendships, we can sometimes lose them too. As the distance grows in miles it grows in differences also.

Don't get me wrong, the people who I was close with in Germany 5+ years ago still mean a lot to me, but the truth of the matter is, if it weren't for social media I would not still be in their lives or they in mine! We don't talk, but we "FB Stalk" each other, just to know how each other is doing. Today I saw a picture of a friends son enlisting. I can't believe he is already at that age! I haven't talked to her personally in a very long time, but through FB I have prayed for her through a recent hard time and am now celebrating with her on her son's enlistment.

This recent loss of friends I think might be hardest because I found a truly amazing group of women here in Kansas the likes of which I haven't had before. It seems with each base we end up at the dynamics of the group are so different. Here we have a close group of about 10-12 of us. In Washington I had two groups of 3-4 close friends. In Germany we each seemed to have 2-3 close friends inside a larger group. I attribute the dynamics in Germany due to living on a tiny base (about 400 soldiers) in the middle of the German countryside! It's all very interesting to me, but I digress... again!

Anyway, this time I also had to deal with my children saying bye to their friends. Keirnan was only barely one when we left Washington, so he didn't really understand what was going on, but now at three, he was devastated that his friends were leaving him. And this, of course, means my heart was breaking for him!! We sometimes forget or don't realize just how much our children understand at this age, but they really get it. I had only mentioned to Keirnan that the Nevins family was moving a couple times over the past month or two and not at all on the day we went to say bye. But when I told him it was time to go, he burst into tears and clung, and asked to move with them. These friends were the ones who were there for us through Will's deployment, it was a major growing point in Keirnan's life and James' first year! That is the way of the Army family though. People you've only known a matter of months become so important and trusted. By the end of a couple years, forget it, they are family!

We said goodbye to the Brennans this weekend also, another close friend whose son is one of Keirnan's best buddies. Talk about a hard summer for the kid, all of his closest friends are leaving! Our group has 4 boys about Keirnan's age, by the end of the summer Keirnan will be the last one! In the next month or two we'll lose the Knaptons and the Walkers as well. These ladies and their children have become very special to me, each in their own way. And while I wish the best for them in their travels, I can't help but be sad to see them go!

So, in true military fashion, its not Goodbye, just See you later!