Thanksgiving

We are about to kick off the holiday season. Now many of you out there reading may not celebrate, and I appreciate that. We all have different beliefs and ways of living, and I respect that. Still, even if you do not celebrate religious holidays, traditional American holidays or even any old day at all, there might be something in your life for which you are thankful, and I'm sure you recognize it in a way that's appropriate for you.

For those of you donning kitchen aprons, whipping up pies and hearing your little ones practice their lines for their school's Thanksgiving day play, I do wish you happiness this week as you consider the blessings in your life. Many of you may be celebrating Thanksgiving far away from your loved ones. Many spouses are deployed. Still, that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice. Sure, it can be difficult to get in the spirit of celebrating when you are feeling melancholy, but don't.

I have been there. And, I know I'll be there again. This year, I expect will be my last Thanksgiving Day with my family for a few years. So, I'm going to try and make the most of it and enjoy every last second, from the stuffing to the bickering and even the cleaning up of dishes after a meal. That's the stuff memories are made of; well that and a whole lot more.

I can remember one year in recent memory that my husband was gone for every stinkin' holiday, even beyond the 'holiday season'. It all started with Thanksgiving. We celebrated early and even put the Christmas tree up that day to so he could partake in those festivities. It did feel a bit rushed, but it meant a lot, to both of us. He still felt a little bit a part of the season, even though he would be gone all the way past New Year's; heck, I believe it was well into the end of January even. Typical, schedule. Not really surprising; but it was not a whole bunch of fun.

How can you make your Thanksgiving more enjoyable if you are by yourself or it's just you and your little ones? Why, join your friends of course! I can't think of a military family that would turn away people from their Thanksgiving table. Okay, there might be some out there, but who needs them anyway. Their turkey might not be as yummy as the next guy's. So, make it known. Embrace your "aloneness" and accept any invitation that comes your way--even if you aren't particularly close. You may be pleasantly surprised at the friendships you can develop in these situations. You may also be shocked to know how welcoming your peers can be. Heck, many folks love to invite as many people as they can because they truly believe it's the company that makes the holiday and not the meal. People, in general, love to entertain. Allow them to host and entertain you. It'll show them they are needed and give them warm and fuzzy feelings for reaching out and you'll feel better making new connections or firming up old ones.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week, whatever your plans are. Be safe, if you travel, and remember, it's more than the food that makes this a great holiday.

Military Spouse of the Year - wrapping up the nominations

As I type this there are a mere four hours left in the nominating period for MSOY! http://www.msoy.milspouse.com/

The Coast Guard Spouse list started small, but blossomed in the past week in a half. It's wonderful to see all of the phenomenal nominees listed. So many well deserving spouses who don't often get the recognition for their community service, good deeds and altruism.

In the spirit of recognizing spouses, I just want to say a quick thank you here to the wonderful ladies who make this blog possible. They are not only my fellow contributing writers, but they have become my friends, advisors, teachers, consolers, and personal cheerleaders. Not many of our readers know this, but you each have amazing bios that go beyond what you will see here on the site. Folks, these women are passionate, intelligent, dedicated and driven. I must say, that is quite common among Coast Guard spouses and are fellow military spouses of other branches. We have a determination within us to give back; a desire to reach out; and a spirit of loyalty to our families, spouses, and the military community. Gosh, just writing that warms my heart.

I am eager to see what the MSOY contest brings this year and to read the branch finalists' information in January when voting opens up. Until then, I will say thank you to all of you who make me so proud to say I am a Coast Guard spouse.

Gone but not Forgotten: Scholarship established in memory of USCG Helo 1363

On December 22, 1964 Coast Guard Helo 1363 went down near Trinidad Head in far Northern California while actively engaged in SAR during the devastating flood of '64. Three crew members were lost in the crash, including AE2 J. A. Nininger. Forty-five years later, the son of Petty Officer Nininger, David Wells, has started a memorial scholarship for Coast Guardsmen, their children and others who aspire to attend Humboldt State University.

The men onboard CG 1363 lost their lives trying to save others. It is a sad reality that we lose guardians all too often, but it is stories like this that remind us that no matter how distant the memory they are never forgotten.

USCG 1363 Scholarship Article

Gift ideas for this coming holiday season.

We know our families love to see things from our travels and our service or related to our spouses’ service. Of course, it’s often nice to commemorate your grandfather’s years in the Navy or your great aunt’s letters home while she was corresponding from overseas in WWII. How can you turn those memories and treasures into gifts? Here’s just a small list of ideas for you this season:

Michaels: Proud to Serve Framing Collection
Heirloom Chest
Model of the CGC BARQUE EAGLE
Military Coin Display
Dalvey (my personal favorite. I LOVE Dalvey and the man in blue may be sporting one of these soon. Shhhh, he just doesn’t know.)

~~~

Some gifts handcrafted by fellow Coast Guard Spouses you may want to check out, not necessarily military specific:

Soaps
ODU Bags
Clay Ornaments
Jewelry
Hairbows/clips
Dog treats

When there are no words...

We pray. We think positive thoughts. We remain respectfully silent. We come together as a Coast Guard community to be there for each other, even if just in spirit when our family members are hurting.

Please keep the family members, friends, and shipmates of the missing crew members of the Coast Guard C-130 and the Marine Corps helicopter crew in mind when praying your intentions or sending positive vibes this week in whatever way you do or believe for our military members.

From CGBlog.org, I've borrowed the following, which was released by the AP:

Coast Guard identifies 9 missing in midair crash
By The Associated Press (AP)

The U.S. Coast Guard has identified nine people feared dead at sea following an air collision between a Coast Guard aircraft and a Marine Corps helicopter.

The missing crew members from the Coast Guard C-130 are all stationed in Sacramento, Calif., where their aircraft was based. You can read over at CGBlog.or for more:
http://www.cgblog.org/2009/10/31/prayer-request-for-the-following-families-and-their-comrades/

Supporting everyone on the homefront.

So, we here at Waiting for Ships are obviously proud of our men in blue. That doesn't mean we aren't quite proud of our women in blue as well. While we don't have a resident CG husband, we do support our brethren. We do recognize that not all Coast Guard spouses are women. In fact, a number of us have friends who are 'dependent' spouses of the male persuasion.

Okay, let me stop right there. We do have a contributing writer here who is part of a active duty duo. How she and her husband make it all work, amazes me. That being said, he probably would have some interesting insight on being married to a Coast Guards(wo)man. How the heck would one even write that? Am I just chauvinistic here? You'll have to excuse me, because I'd just as soon call everyone "Coast Guardsmen", regardless of gender, but I digress.

One of my husband's good friends and a friend of mine as well is a retired fellow. He now plays the role of spouse, if you will; supporting his diligently working active duty wife. In fact, we just had the pleasure of visiting them, and I continuously ribbed the guy about donning an apron and attending spouse luncheons. Truly though, that's not how it goes, but you knew that didn't you?

Just like us wives, the husbands live their lives. They support there loved ones in blue and maintain their own identity. Male or female, husband or wife, active duty or not, it all comes down to loving the one you are with and respecting their choices, careers, talents, dreams, and so on.

To all you guys out there who wonder where the blog or website is about you, it's right here. We may be a bunch of crazy, silly, witty (I hope) women, but we have the same concerns and plights as you. We deal with the issues about how to tame the yard while chasing a toddler and your spouse is underway. We battle over the t.v. remote when our spouse is in port. We even argue about which one of us is a better BBQ expert.

Yes, even we stylish and bon-bon eating, high-heel wearing girly-girls ;) can PCS cross-country solo; burp the alphabet at a beer-drinking contest at the All Hand's Club (come on I can name a few); conquer WOW; and even change a flat tire (as long as we don't mussy up the manicure). You see, it's not about being a girl or a guy, it's about being a Coast Guard spouse. We adapt and mature as the ebbs and flows of this life bring us through both tough and smooth waters.

More to come on that, and if anyone wants to pipe in on what you want to read about pertaining to male spouses, let us hear it. We want everyone to feel welcome here.

After the Tsunami

Our friends over at CGBlog.org made a post about something very important involving some CG familes in American Samoa.

Please read it. Maybe you can lend a hand.

TSUNAMI ASSISTANCE

Semi-Wordless Wednesday

Not my picture to post, but if you haven't seen the heart-wrenching photo that is sweeping the web about a little girl and her daddy who is headed off to war, click here for the photo and article. I know thinking about my own kids how sad a moment like this has to be for everyone involved.

So much to do!

We got the official word! Yep, the man in blue received his message CGHRMS or whatever telling us where we are headed. I know, I know, we've known for over a week, but NOW it's far more real.

I'm going to find out about listing the house tomorrow and moving ahead with that piece. It's pretty bittersweet. We are not super attached to this place, but it was our starter home and the home we've spent most of our time as a family in so far. Before, we bounced around from condos to apartments and the man in blue was often underway. So, this has been 'home' to us.

If we cannot sell, we will try to rent. That's both scary and exciting. The word 'landlord' conjures up an image of a worried crazy person chasing down rent from an unruly tenant (okay, that's a bit much, but it happens). Our friends (yes they were a CG family) had a really bad experience last year when they were renting out there home. I really don't want to find ourselves in that situation. There renter worked them over good and they are good, no, GREAT, people. It was really unfortunate and made me really second-guess this next step for us. The good news is, there situation turned around thanks to their working together and making sacrifices, they found a resolution to their problem. Sadly though, they were out a lot of money and another CG family that was line up for the house was put in a bad spot too. :(

I'm trying to be optimistic though. We are elated to hear that the man in blue doesn't need to attend any pipeline training. Apparently, he has all the schools he needs for his next cutter, which is huge! That means more time at home with us before everything changes again.

We have a report date too, but that may change depending on our oldest child's school release date. She wants to stay forever, of course.

Yes, we told the kids. The oldest is really the only one who "gets" it. She held back tears when she heard. I was really proud of her for trying to be strong about it, but really it's a lot for a kid to take. They have so many emotions about moving and whether or not they will make new friends at a tender age, that it's heart-wrenching sometimes. Of course, if the man in blue retires as he wishes (before I had/have planned, hee - hee), she won't have to endure the moves through high school because he'll be retired by then.

Alright, that's all for tonight I guess. Just lots on my mind and so much excitement and anxiety in our house lately. It's time for a vacation.

Oh, yeah, I'm going on one soon.......more on that later.

Ironically, I've been virtually speechless.

I haven't posted in four days. Shocking, I know. I'm still trying to absorb the recent news. We still haven't seen the official orders, but they should show up sometime in the next two weeks, or so I'm told.

Right now, we are focusing on how to prepare our home to list it for sale. Another option we've considered is renting, but we are not 100% sure we are going to do that given we will be moving 3,000 miles away. That being said, we've had multiple offers for pseudo property managers. Nonetheless, it's a daunting concept. We may entertain it in time, but currently for sale the house must go.

Additionally, I've learned that housing is NOT an option for us where we are headed. So, that's a bit frightening. We were hoping it was a least something we could fall back on if we couldn't find a decent rental. Alas, it's not. We've been perusing the online newspapers and conversing with some folks we know out there. The rental market is not too shabby, and hopefully BAH will cover what we need.

I just learned that my children will be in two different schools. That kind of stinks as I was hoping the older two could actually attend the same school. The baby (not so much a baby anymore) will either be home with me or need preschool. Yes, I am considering staying at or working from home again. I am not sure what the market holds for my degrees and/or professional experience. As such, I can't really make a decision on that yet.

Oh, and I found out some fantastic, more than terrific, news. A friend of mine is going to be living within 30 - 50 miles from me. She and her hubby are doing the GEO thing next year, which will take her to a home practically next door to me, more or less. I can't tell you how much better this has made me feel.

'Til next post.