Hello...Goodbye

As a navy wife/military spouse you have to get used to meeting and making new friends all of the time. Some friends go, some stay and some become friends for life. 

Me and Mini-Me (Alicia E.) @ girls night

Since moving to SD three years ago I've made countless friends but I've come to realize that it's the quality of friends that matter and not the quantity. When I first moved here myspace was my only connection to the military wife community. I literally did not have one friend out here when my husband and I got married so I used myspace to meet other military wives in San Diego so I would have some type of support system when I eventually moved out there. I still talk to the girls I first made friends with when I first came but it's really been in the last year and a half that I have made connections that I know will last a lifetime. 

Andrea G. (holding little Bruce), Brynn (holding Chase), Me and Alicia E.

If you are familiar with the military community than you'll know that it's common for a lot of spouses to move home for a period of time while their sailor, soldier or marine is on deployment especially if it is a long one. My husband is currently on shore duty and is luckily in an un-deployable status at the current time, however most of my friends husbands are not :( Recently I've had to prepare and actually say goodbye to some of my closest friends and it has hit me harder than it ever has before. Making a good friend in the military wife community is hard because of all the damn DRAMA!!!!!! So when they leave it's almost as hard as saying goodbye to your husband. In the last year three of my very good friends left San Diego for good and it has been very hard without them here....

         

                               

                         Andrea & Peyton

                                                       

                            Brenda

                                   

                                  

                                  Tiffany & Colt

In addition to these three amazing friends leaving some of my even closer friends will be leaving or have already left for a few months. When I think about how hard it's going to be without them around since they are such a big part of our everyday lives it pretty much brings me to tears. When you live 3,000 miles from home these people become your family so it's almost like being apart from your family all over again. This past weekend I had to say, "See you later!" to my friend Brynn who has become such a good friend in such a short period of time. We met when Chase was about 2 months old and in the last 6 months she and her husband Wayne have become great friends of ours. They'll only be going till the spring but they will be greatly missed, especially at Chase's 1st birthday party! 

Brynn & I

In addition to Brynn leaving my mini-me (Alicia E.) will be leaving at the end of October for 4 months. Now in the grand scheme of things 4 months is not very long but when you spend more time with a friend then you get to spend with your husband they become a very important part of your life. Alicia E. lives exactly 2 blocks away so we spend a lot of time together she was even there to document Chase's grand entrance to the world! On top of that less than 4 hours after he was born she left the hospital and went straight to my house to to get clean from top to bottom so it would be ready for us to come home. These are just some of the small things she does that makes her a great friend and more importantly one of Chase's godparents. We've known Alicia and Bruce (her hubby) for a little over 2 years now and we've had our ups and downs but I know that we'll all be friends for a long time. 

                                                                    The Estep Family

I should probably start wrapping this up now but I don't want to forget Germaine! I met her a couple of weeks before we had Chase and an instant friendship was born (no pun intended). She will be leaving in a couple of weeks as well while her husband is deployed but will be back in time for Chase's birthday which he is very excited about! Good luck girl you will be missed have a good time at home. 

Germaine

Once again this is the Mad Navy Wife signing off......Alicia :)