Homesick

I've been reading friends posts, one in paticular, who has added to my feelings of longing to be back where I grew up. But, in order to really understand, you first must have a little background.


I'm a brat.


More importantly (and I wear this "title" proudly!), I'm an AIR FORCE brat.


I'm almost 30 years old and I will always be a brat.


But, I don't come from a typical military family. Yes, I had a mom and dad, brother and sister, cats and dogs. But, the typical military family moves around every so often. Depending on the member's job, some move more frequently than others.


I was born in Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. Both my parents grew up close enough to here that when I came along, both sides of the family got to enjoy me. Then my sister came along (14 months 6 days to be exact). Shortly after she came along, we moved to Hill AFB, Utah. At this time, my dad was still flying helicopters. We were at Hill for about 2 years and then had orders for California. But, before we made the trek to Cali, my dad had school (Alabama I think), so we lived in Arizona with my mom's parents who had left the east coast. We moved to California in 1979 and that's where we stayed. And stayed. And stayed. My dad wanted to be stationed in Germany and me, being the wonderful "daddy's girl" took up that desire. Only, that desire is as strong today, if not stronger, than it ever was. While in California, my dad quit flying helicopters and took on the C-131; big, noisy cargo planes. That could be why I love planes today!


While in California, we added a baby brother, found a church we loved, friends that became family to us, and a school system that allowed me to have the same friends from elementary school through my first year of high school. We settled into life, like all military families do, and expected that my dad would retire there. Well, that all changed one winter day in early 1991.


I had been on a ski trip with friends and when I came home, my dad was waiting for me at the front door. He told me that he and my mom needed to talk to me in their room. My first response was "I haven't been here all week, I didn't do anything!" My dad just said come with him. So, I sat down on my parents bed and he handed me a book about Germany. He asked if I'd be interested in going there. I yelled yes, after all, this is what my dad and I wanted! I'm thinking, this will be a great vacation. Then my dad says, "for 3 years". My mouth dropped. Was he serious? Yep, he was. Remember, this was early January. He had to be in Germany by April. Not much time when you've got 3 kids in school and 11 years of friendships and memories. I was on cloud 9! Then they hit me with the bad news. I could not take my cat. Then I crawled under their bed and cried, "I'm not going without Frisky". They managed to get me to calm down and sit down and tell me that my grandfather had agreed to take mine and my sister's cat for us and when we moved back to the states, we could have them back. That settled, I was ready to go.


It seemed like I was the only one ready to go. My dad left in April and we stayed behind to pack up and finish the school year. It was very difficult time for my family and our friends who had to say good-bye. I didn't even go to the surprise going away party that my best friend threw for me. For me, it was easier to start distancing myself from everyone, so that when I was actually gone, it would seem like I had been gone for awhile and hopefully it would be easier. It wasn't, but with the idea of moving to Germany before me, I didn't dwell on the fact that I was leaving the only home that I had known. We had a family reunion, minus my dad, in early July and then we were on our way.


On July 9th, I stepped into the Brussels airport, forever leaving me with a very deep love and desire to be in Europe! Of course, at that moment, the only thing I cared about was seeing my dad again! We saw him standing up behind some glass waiting for us, but we had to go through customs and all that jazz before we could get to him.


Our family reunited once again, we began our journey to our new home in Niederheid, Germany. My dad found us a house before we got there, so we were able to move in right away. We had some stuff already there, but we had to wait (I think it was a couple months) before we got all our furniture and our remaining household goods. My mom and sister had a very hard time adjusting, but I was LOVING it!!!


We had a new home in a new country, a new school in a different country and my dad had a new job now on a NATO airbase flying the NATO E-3A. We lived in Germany, but my school was in the Netherlands. I went to school with Americans, Canadians, Greek, Turks, Brits, Portuguese, and the list goes on. There were Germans in our school, but they had their own section. The school was k-12th grade, but of course, everyone had their own sections. The high school was very small. We only had 57 or something like that in our graduating class. And apparently my reputation preceeded me when it came to softball. My coach couldn't wait until I got there. We started softball in January and that's when I really began to fall in love with Europe. I got to travel to many different countries doing what I loved most, playing ball. I got to experience many different things. Things that you wouldn't experience if you were to just sit around and wait for your tour to be over. We know families like this. They are miserable in their assignment because they're not in America.


Europe is where I grew up. I graduated, learned to drive, met my "first love", met the one who is now my best friend (playing ball), got married (in Denmark), honeymooned (in Australia). I went from being more than an AF brat, I became an Army wife. I have many memories, but I still have a longing to be back there.


While in Europe, I made more friends and had to say good-bye to more friends than I ever did while living in California. Some of those friends I still keep in touch with today others are just a memory. If Steve came home and told me that there's a job opening for him overseas, I'd tell him that I'll be on the next plane out and I'll be waiting for him over there!


So, if you ask me where I'm from or where I grew up, now you know your answer.


I didn't leave my heart in San Francisco, it's in Europe!