As another assignment comes to an end I think about my time as an Air Force wife. This assignment has been the most difficult in that role. For a majority of the time I longed to be anywhere else. Now, I am longing to stay here.. ok, that’s a stretch, but I’ll miss the place. I want to be clear, it isn’t the location I loathed, it was the assignment. It was tough. That’s it. It was also fantastic!
It was only 18 months, but it encompassed a lifetime.
We owned our first home here.
During our time at Shaw a majority of my pregnancy with Abraham was spent.
He was born here and experienced his first year of life.
This included a lot of firsts!
In our short time here, Avera more than doubled in age. She was 15 months upon arrival now just shy of 3.
She became a big sister.
She went to school for the first time. We were blessed by the caring staff who invested in her during her two years there.
She continued gymnastics and discovered a love for dance.
We gained TWO new family members.
They made our family complete.
We took two years of jet photos.
We made new friends and soaked up the numbered days with old ones.
Mike was gone… a lot.
But he more than made up for lost time making the times he is home count!
I battled prenatal and postpartum depression. I want to include this because it’s real and it greatly impacted our time here. While I believe the assignment/tempo, the pregnancy, the change in motherhood, etc., were all contributing factors, I wouldn’t change any of it. Any of it that was in my control in the first place at least.
We took some East Coast trips: Panama City, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, DC, Savannah, Disney World!
We celebrated many holidays and birthdays.
We will miss being close to family and the opportunities we had during this time to travel and unite with them all.
Mike went from Captain to Major.
When we say goodbye to #evenmoreShawsome, we are not only saying goodbye to an assignment, but a big chapter in our lives; the F-16. We celebrated Mike’s final flight in the F-16.
Funny enough, our next stop is back to where much of this journey began: #goodinGoodyear.
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