"Bloom Where You're Planted"

That's the advice we got at our spouses' brunch yesterday from Debby, military wife and mom for more than 15 years. I've tried very hard to embrace this mentality and so far, so good. I've met several wives (and their beautiful children) just by venturing out to the dorm playground which is right outside my door. Others I met at the spouses' briefing Tuesday night while even more- including 2 fellow Pennsylvanians (1 graduated from PSU!)- were introduced at the spouses' brunch yesterday.

It's great to meet other wives, especially when we come from different backgrounds- militarily speaking and otherwise. Some of our husbands went through ROTC, others went to the Academy and some were previously enlisted and went through Officer Training School. Two of the wives in our group are also moms- with 2 children each- Logan (4) & Emma (16 months) and Ava (4) & Ryan (7 months). All the kids are beautiful and very well behaved- it makes me look forward to becoming a mommy myself! I'm the only ASBC mommy-to-be, but one woman whose husband is going to SOS (Squadron Officer School) is due in May. It's nice to see another baby bump around the base.

While I've been getting to know the wives, Daniel has been training with the husbands at Blue Thunder this week. It's been hard to have him gone this week, especially with such little notice. Though he told me he'd probably be 'deploying' this week, he wasn't sure exactly when that would occur. It turns out he was gone by 2 on Monday and won't get back until tomorrow afternoon. Thankfully, he has been able to call every day so we get to catch up in the evenings. He's living in a tent, eating MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and wearing a flak vest and helmet for most of the day. Despite the very cold nights (all below freezing!), he's in good spirits and finding the training very educational and well executed. I'm really excited to welcome him back tomorrow even though this will be my last night having the bed to myself. :-)

Now that I have Internet access, I'll be updating more regularly- I'm working on a 'catch up' post to close the gap between the weddings and ASBC.