Greetings and good-byes

Life has been roiling around here. The big boys are home, so more bodies and voices are taking up space and driving away in cars when I need one.  They also have been helpful with finishing off leftovers and piling up laundry.  Best of all, they have been generous with hugs and watching baby sisters, so it has been a true delight to have them home despite the increase in dirty dishes and laundry.

We have had a lot of celebrations in May - the boys coming home, two confirmations, several birthdays, Mother's Day, award ceremonies, end of the season potlucks, prom, Memorial Day weekend, farewell teas, and feasts with friends visiting from afar.

This time of year is always full of comings and goings, but this spring the Navy is taking several good friends away from us.  I can't bring myself to go to library story time this week because our best preschool friend left this past weekend, and her two little boys won't be there for LK to sit with. And my middle school daughter is dragging her feet every morning because her best friend who usually stops by each morning to walk to school with her has also moved out. There are still two weeks left of school, but one by one our friends are saying goodbye.

This is the peril of military life.  Usually, it is we who are leaving after a couple of years, but this time we are watching our friends here pack up.  I've tried to pay forward some of the help we received in the past - watching kids and dogs, bringing by baked goods, washing a few windows, taking bags of half-finished condiments. Inside I'm quietly dreading the summer months and then the school year without them.  It seems like we had just crossed the boundary between acquaintances to friends to good friends when it is time for them to go. And it might be a little easier if it were just one family, but multiple of our favorite families are leaving.

The only consolation is that this week also brought visits from friends we knew from Navy life elsewhere. First, last Sunday we met up for a quick coffee with friends we met 12 years ago in Norfolk. Their oldest son is stationed here, and they came out to welcome him home from a deployment. I'm hoping they'll visit again because we didn't have enough time to talk about all the things that came tripping out once we got going. It was like no time had passed at all. Too short of a visit but wonderful to catch up in the flesh.

Then we welcomed our son's girlfriend for a week's reunion. She had been in Ireland this past semester and came out to surprise him after he had his ACL repaired in his knee. He's been laid up since he came home from school after this injury derailed his plans for the summer.  She's always a smiling face and welcome visitor

Finally we hosted our best friends from Guam who came out to celebrate his pending retirement with west coast friends since they used to live here, and to run the Rock and Roll half marathon with the organization Wear Blue: Run to Remember, which honors fallen service members, in memory of our friends' son who died in an incident just as we were leaving Guam.

We had a great weekend reconnecting while roasting marshmallows at a beach bonfire, drinking coffee, and picnicking at the Sunday night concert in the park.  My only complaint is that because we had so many people to visit with, I felt a little like I had ADD; I was always thinking about catching up with the next person. Yet again I found myself wishing for more hours in the day to spend with the friends we have made over the years and across the miles.