Sad Weekend for the Pederson's

Well this weekend started the moving season for us. A super close friend of mine left as well as 4 of Maddy's best friends....yikes!!

The Washington's left on Saturday. We met them three years ago. Rob is a Marine and was posted here to teach the CCC (Captains Career Course) with Jeff. They have three kids, Hunter 13, Taylor 10 and Ashley 7. Three years ago, Tanya happened to be driving through the Chick-fil-a drive thru a few days after they were hailed. Another friend, Maggie, and I were eating lunch and letting the kids play at the play land. Maggie and I recognized Tanya from a hail and farewell a week or so earlier and yelled for her...while she was literally driving thru...to join us for lunch and she did. (actions like that...screaming to a virtual stranger in the drive thru can really only be understood by military wives...LOL) There began the Three Amigas!! LOL We started having coffee every Friday morning and that turned into shopping days and finally family nights. Maggie and Bill (the hottest US Army officer I've met to date...a fact almost everyone I know is fully aware of!! LOL Oh yeah, and he bakes cookies!!) have two kids Christian and Nick. Nicky is Maddy's age and Christian is Taylor's...so we all fit pretty well. The three families became great friends. We did lots of game nights, dinners, balls, etc. Bill was sent to Iraq in Sept. 2005 and was there until they were posted to Leavenworth in Jan. of this year. So Maggie and family left first, now it's Tanya and family's turn. Gotta love being the one left behind...okay it's only for a couple months, but still...it sucks!!

Tanya and Rob packed up this week so Maddy was lucky enough to get to spend lots of time with Ash. We also got to have a some downtime with Rob and Tanya too. Saying goodbye is never easy, but I know we'll see them again so it wasn't awful...Maddy might not agree. Actually it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We had gone swimming with them Friday evening at their hotel. We left with plans to go swimming Sat. evening after they had finished cleaning their house. They got done a little earlier than expected and got on the road. I didn't get the message until an hour after they had left, so we weren't able to meet and do the big goodbye thing. Probably better. First of all, I'm an emotional basket case most of the time, but during posting season I'm a thousand times worse!! And Maddy...well I told her and she was busy playing with her friends next door, so she said "oh, Okay." Later last night she had a little breakdown and a good cry...but it was really, manageable...I guess that's a good way to describe it.

Now our housemates leave on Monday. We have been very blessed with the Lewis family next door. They were wonderful neighbors. They have three girls...Courtney 10, Caitlyn 6, and Chasity almost 4. Because we actually share a house the kids were like siblings. They packed up this week too. I took all the girls, Maddy, Ashly, Courtney, Caitlyn, Chasity and Sarah to the mall for lunch and playtime on Thursday...now that was fun!! LOL They were actually really well behaved and played at the play land for 2 1/2 hours!! Anyway..."the girls"...as Maddy calls them a thousand times a day, had their things loaded on the truck Friday and they march out of their quarters on Monday morning. I talked to Myra (the girls' Mom) yesterday about doing a goodbye similar to Ashley's. Maddy will be at vacation bible school on Monday morning and I thought it might be easier if they just left without the big formal farewell. I'm not sure she agreed, but we'll see. Maddy understands they are leaving...for Pete's sake, the four girls lined little chairs up in the lawn and watched as the movers loaded the truck. (and then the movers proceeded to load Maddy's chairs right on the truck with the Lewis's belongings!! LOL) She understands it, but I don't thing she needs to be slapped in the face with it. It will be a hard enough transition without a tearful, emotionally charged goodbye. This is by far the hardest part about being a military family. Even if we aren't moving, the farewells are a constant part of our lives. That being said so are new friends that we learn to make fast and hold in our hearts forever. Sounds silly, but it's survival! We may not have our lifelong childhood friends right here, but we develop lifelong bonds quickly and they are just as strong. Our friends are our family, they have to be, most of us aren't lucky enough to have our family with us. So saying goodbye is never easy!! And this is only the beginning for us!! Super!!