Ok, so here's the big news

Don't be too disappointed when you read this. It's not a big deal to most, but it's huge for us.

When I was pregnant with Trey and had no other friends with kids, was going to school full time, working part time and basically miserable, this blonde lightening bolt appeared out of nowhere and took over my life. Shea was a God send. She blessed me with bags and bags (like three huge yard garbage bags) full of cute maternity clothes. All I had were maternity clothes that we could afford. Some...not so cute. She cheered with me as I graduated college, dragged me out of the house to do fun things and became solely responsibe for my addiction to shopping. This is what happens when someone who used to work for The Limited befriends you. Girls like Shea were not friends with girls like me. She was the cheerleader, dancer, surfer, "rich girl", popular one, a little wild and crazy and modeled in her youth. I was the introvert, fiduciary challenged, small circle of friends, very conservative, balanced and too shy to try out for anything. Why did this girl decide to befriend me? I tell ya, she's got this weird thing for pregnant women. Don't ask me why. I don't get it. Round bellies are like a magnet to her. I was four months pregnant when we were introduced at church. I thought she was about five years older than I was, turns out she was actually three years younger. She had perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect one year old daughter and I later found out she lived in the PERFECT house. In fact, it was the house Bill and I longed for when we toured the models right after we were married. There was no way that this would ever develop into a friendship. I came off cold to her and that drove her even more to get me to like her. She later told me this thought ran through her head, "That girl does NOT like me. I'm going to use my Shea charm on her!" Well, it wasn't that I didn't like her. Apparently I come off this way to a lot of people. I'm reserved. I'm figuring you out. I guess I don't do this with a big smile on my face.

We spent at least half of our weeks with each other for the next two years. She was the only friend I had in the hospital with me when Trey was being born. She was with me when I didn't know if I really liked this whole mom thing and assured me that I was normal and not a horrible mother. She encouraged me. She went to Jazzercise with me. We were inseparable.

Then we got the news that her husband, who is in the Navy, was being transferred to the Bay Area. I was devastated. The next logical step? Well, let's rent their house while they're gone! Of course, this was perfect. We were living in base housing at the time. Our house was old. Built in 1975. Had the original cabinetry and countertops. Take this fact plus the fact that average turnaround for families in housing is about every three years and you can imagine the wear and tear on these places. I don't know how the drywall stood up to 25 years of families hanging photos and decorations on the walls. We had plumbing problems. BIG plumbing problems, as in it rained in our kitchen one afternoon while Bill was upstairs taking a shower. Not good. Our water was brown...a lot. And that was with a filter! My infant son's perfect white and light blue clothes took on a beige and grey hue. We had one shower out of three bathrooms. We had a one car garage. We shared a wall with a very noisy family. Now, it wasn't all bad. We were one aerial mile from the beach. We had a cute little yard that Trey could play in and it was the biggest place we'd ever lived in at 1300 square feet. Plus, it was free. Can't beat that! However, She's house was our dream house. Four bedrooms, three baths (three showers), garden window in the kitchen, garden tub in the master, fireplace, huge yard with no one behind us, quiet neighborhood, single family residence, 2200 square feet. They would rent it to us for the mortgatge. We get "x" amount of money for rent from the military. Houses are usually x+$600 to rent, plus utilities, etc. Base housing: totally free including utilities but very depressing. Shea's house: Uber cheap and perfect. Which would you pick?

So we've been here, enjoying the house for three years. Her husband was due to get his next set of orders at the end of February. We readied ourselves by getting on the base housing list (which has improved greatly, might I add) and hoping that the timing would work out so that we wouldn't have to worry about interim housing between this place and a place on base. February came and went without orders. Beginning of March, gone. Finally we were told they'd get orders March 29th. I get a phone call March 29th. I was still at work. Shea left a message at home. They got their orders. To Virginia.

...

What?

No.

Are you sure?

San Diego closed out as an option for them an hour before her husband got the opportunity to pick a base. They're in shock. We're in shock. She was supposed to come back and live in her beautiful house and we were excited to move into much better housing on base.

I'm disappointed that I don't get Shea back.

I'm really ok with staying in the house.

I'd rather have her back.

However, if Bill gets stationed to another base in San Diego, we'd have to forfeit our base housing and move again. We don't have to worry about that here.

Shea. House. Shea. House. See my mix of emotions? Home is a big thing for us girls.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

This is my old kitchen. Notice the groovy dark brown, high quality cabinetry and the pickle green countertops. It's far out. That's right folks, my sink is right next to that, with NO window! Such a joy when doing dishes.
(oh, and the flowers were a day early) ;)


LIGHT cabinetry, white tile countertops....muuuuuuch better.




Our "quaint" little dining room on base.


View from our dining room into the formal living room (la de da dee)



Our little yard on base, backed up and next to lots of other families.




View of our yard from our room. Those hills in the background belong to the government in the form of the military base. That area at the bottom of the hill is protected wetlands so we go to sleep listening to the frogs talking at night.


Of course I'll greatly miss having Shea here, but not moving is a huge blessing as well.