Turning Over...

Yesterday started day #1 of the hubs turning over with the PWEPS.

I can't believe how fast these 3+ years have flown by.

We're in the homestretch...and I'm a little sad.  It's weird having been the "senior" wife in the wardroom during this past year in the shipyards with the CO geo-bacheloring and the XO is a newlywed.  We have a great wardroom and I've grown the absolutely adore all of the spouses.  From the rockstar newbie wives who don't even know how much MORE of a rockstar they'll be when their hubbies' tours are over to the more "seasoned" JO wives who have experienced so much as single married spouses/parents/women.  My fellow department head wives have all been pretty stellar and our XO's new wife...couldn't love her more.

I've felt blessed with this boomer tour.  The fast attack tour was rough and the schedule hellish at times...making this boomer tour (for me) feel like shore tour with a few underways sprinkled here and there.  Still, I know the crazy fast attack schedule made me thankful that even though he was gone for 90% of the time, he still was home for that 10%...unlike other branches of service where a 6-month deployment is only the HALF-WAY mark for others.

Still...as hardworking as our spouses are...I think plenty of kudos lie within the ones at home (those working outside and inside the home).  There's definitely a special type of personality that a military spouse needs to possess.  From the seasoned higher-up wife like Liza whose grace, wisdom, and strength has probably given her hubby an awesome piece of mind to know that his family has been more than well-taken care of during his various underways/deployments/patrols/geo-bacheloring to the nearing-the-end-of-the-tour-and-career-JO wife Melissa whose life as a mommy of 3 under 3 (two of them being the uber-adorable twin GallaGIRLS joining their uber-adorable big brother Jack) and hilarious exploits that would drive an ordinary person insane make her even more thankful for everything she has...definitely a woman who would've made an awesome DH/XO/CO wife!!

We'll be staying put...which is the main thing we wanted.  Giving our kids some piece of normalcy in this type of lifestyle is something we try to get when we can.  Although it would've been nice to be back home in DC...for once, we didn't want to go.  Let me clarify...I didn't want to go since with two mortgages (one being in the wonderful FLORIDA housing market)...buying a home in DC was not the best option.  We'll be home one day...but for now, I'll enjoy the constant uprooting to new places (although most of our time has been in VA so far...and by choice...hahahaha...nice to be close to home) and enjoying the culture of each different area in our lovely little country.

Hail & Farewell next week...can't wait and yet I can...