G O O D B Y E S

Tomorrow, we will take Justin to the airport as we send him off to college.

Dear friends are picking him up on the other end, so I know he'll be in good hands. It still doesn't make it much easier as I seem to cry even at the thought of him being so far away. I'm struggling.

I know he's responsible. I know he's ready for the world. I know he'll have fun.
I also know our family just won't be the same without him here.

It's going to be an especially rough day as we are finally forced to see him off.

I'm not sure how much more I can handle right now. This month has been especially rough.

It's hit me this last couple of weeks that I don't do good-byes very well. I just can't hold back the tears. 

My face turns completely red and I have the super ugly crying face. Then, there's the headache that comes from all that crying. And the lack of motivation for a little while.

It's kind of horrible. Really horrible.

It's been difficult to see everyone leave- we have met some amazing families here. A few departures have been especially painful. Jim's boss and his family left two weeks ago as another wave of friends left.

We've had so much fun together.

The latest to leave are Justin's girlfriend Josie and her family.

With teenagers together for more than a year, Amy and I became really close as well as we've learned the ropes of parenting teenagers on a whole new level. We will miss them.
Josie is going to college in Michigan, their family is now stationed in Texas.

I'm sure we'll see them again, but it didn't make the good-bye any easier.

I've talked way too much about how rough our start in Germany was. In January, I made it a goal to let go of the negative and focus on the positive.

I'm sure I've slipped up, but I've really been making the effort.

I've complained about everything Oberstaufenbach {the village where our first house was in Germany}, but failed to focus on the one good thing to come from our move there.

My dear friend, Tricia and her three boys.

I know deep in my heart even as hard as it was dealing with German utility bills, pink walls, nasty {oops, I let out another negative} Russian landlords, living on the Hauptstrasse, no yard, our easy-bake oven, RV-size sinks and lots of mold- we were meant to make our first stop in O-town.

I'm now convinced it was in the plan for our little family.

We got into our house the first of December which made for that super rough first Christmas I vowed to try to erase from the boys' {and our} minds.

As hard as I struggled to stay positive and hold the boys close- it wasn't fun.

Once January rolled around and the boys were back in school, Justin brought Steven over.

I think they met at the bus stop. He happened to be Justin's age and played sports.

Both boys let me know I needed to meet their mom- I'd like her and they could see me becoming friends with her. Looking back, I'm sure they were as worried about me as I was about them. We were all trying to move on in spite of grieving our move from Kansas.

Shortly after, they invited Justin and Ty up to their house for a Super Bowl party. I ran up to drop some cookies up and meet the mom just to make sure things were ok.

Little did I know how close I'd get to her in just under a year and a half. I'd soon come to find out she's one of the most dynamic women I've ever met. With boys the same ages, we've gone through so much together this last year.
Football season, basketball season, homecoming, proms, a couple trips, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New's Years together, graduation and college just around the corner for our oldest.

She's also been a huge motivator in my life to get back in shape with countless hikes, walks, work-outs, and talks.

She introduced me to yoga, clean eating, and other dear friends I now treasure.She's been that friend that rarely a week goes by without seeing at least a few times.

Her departure was a rough day as we {in her words} "ripped the band-aid off" and said our "see-you-laters" as she moved to Colorado.
I knew it would be hard, but didn't realize it would be this hard.

I love her dearly and already miss her terribly.

New friends are one of the best things about being in the military.
Moving and having friends move is one of the worst parts of being in the military.