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| The "Cliff Walk" literally a few miles from our house |
I don't talk much about being a wife to someone who is in the Coast Guard. It provides us with a pretty good way of life, but there are certainly things that go along with the job that aren't exactly ideal - I guess that is the way with most jobs. For the most part, the Coast Guard has given Kevin the ability to help raise our girls, live a good life and have a fairly flexible schedule.
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| The dogs enjoying an early summer day at the boat ramp |
The one crappy thing about the Coast Guard is that they make you move every 3-4 years. When Kevin and I were dating, he was working at Coast Guard Headquarters down in Washington, DC, once we were engaged, I left my job and moved down to be together. Mairead and Lilah were both born there, and moved here to Maine when Mairead was exactly two and Lilah was 5 months. While we liked living in Northern Virginia, it wasn't where we wanted to plant our feet. The busy hustle and bustle of "city" living just wasn't our speed. When it was our turn to transfer, we wanted to head up to New England. We were lucky enough to have been given our first choice, Portland, Maine. We were so excited to move and live somewhere near the water - being water lovers, this was huge for us! We bought a cute little house about 1.5 miles from the ocean and settled in nicely. We have a huge backyard surrounded by trees - the girls love running around the yard on hot, sunny days and no one but us can see their cute little bottoms running around, though our neighbors can hear the girls squeals of fun. Even our dogs are in heaven, too. We live just a few houses down from the marsh/river with a public boat ramp where the dogs can swim anytime they want. It really is as nice as it sounds. We've lived here just about three years now and we've made ourselves right at home. We love it here. We love everything about it. The family life is amazing, and it has almost everything we could ever want - my parents even live about an hour away! It's been great having family close by and having them near to watch our girls grow up. We have met amazing people who have great children, and it hurts to know we will have to leave them!
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| A hop...skip...and a jump from our house |
Unfortunately....our time is up.
Kevin's tour was three years, and come May, we will have been here three years. We are awaiting our call any day now from the assignment officer who will be telling us if Kevin will be working in Boston, staying here for one more year or moving back to the Washington, DC area. It's been a bit dreadful, I'll admit. We don't want to leave. We have amazing friends. We have family. We have everything. And now, we will most likely be leaving all of this. If Kevin gets transferred to Boston, the change will be exciting knowing we won't have to leave New England, be too far away from our friends and still be close to family. If Kevin gets transferred back to Washington DC, it will be sad. Even though we have some great friends in DC (some of Mairead's very first friends!), it will just be a huge transition for everyone to go back to living in a face paced and highly populated area.
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| N aked summer days in our yard... |
Just in the last few weeks our girls have started to talk about summer. They talk about the beach and which beach they want to go to the most this summer, hunting down hermit crabs and finding big sea shells. They talk about eating big ice cream cones and taking the dogs for a walk down to the water near our house for a swim. They talk about school, and Mairead talks about starting kindergarten with some of her best friends from preschool. While Mairead has very few memories of living in Virginia, our children's home is here in Maine. This is where they have grown to love. This is all they know, and I think it is the perfect place for small children to grow. I don't have to heart to interrupt their desires to tell them we most likely will
not be living here this summer, and we may be living somewhere
without a beach....or ocean.....or hermit crabs ......or a house near the water.......or near their friends.
It sucks. But, I do know we will make the best of whatever is given to us and know that it is only temporary. When Kevin retires from the Coast Guard, Mairead will only be 11.... 11......plenty of time to grow up in New England and enjoy, but it still makes me sad to think we have to go.
Washington, DC has a lot to offer but all of my fingers and toes are crossed that you can move to Boston.
ReplyDeleteI was born and raised in Massachusetts, lived just outside of Boston for many of those years, and now I have in-laws in both Maine (Bath) and Mass, so I can see why you want to go there.
Good luck, Steph.
What??? Arizona is not on that list! LOL!!!!! It would be great if you could stay put, but knowing your attitude, you WILL make the best of it wherever you are. At least this time you will all have that cute Prince as a distraction!!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you guys get the outcome that you are looking for. Growing up in New England is a great childhood experience, there is something about having the ocean and forests nearby that you don't get out here in the desert (I spent a lot of time indoor playing whereas my husband had magical adventures wandering through the forest, doing that here would get you a nice cactus needle in the tush!). I actually have family in both DC and near Boston so I can't complain about either place. My uncle works for the Airforce and works up in DC but lives in Virginia. My little cousin made the adjustment from AZ to there very well and he loves it, they said it provides him with a lot of cultural experiences he wouldn't have otherwise had. My sister/brother-in laws live in Franklin, MA and they love it there too. It's sad to leave but I bet your family makes friend s fast, thats the plus of being so nice! :) At least on matter where you go you'll never run out of a need for all the winter gear, it's cold all those places hehe
ReplyDeleteThat last picture is cracking me up!
ReplyDeleteI'm astonished that Mairead will only be 11 when Kev is done! That's amazing. You all will have such a fantastic quality of life when this is all said and done, and the temporary pain will pay off huge dividends then. I know that doesn't make the upcoming move any easier, though. Thinking about you (and getting excited by how close you are to meeting your little prince!).
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