ch-ch-ch-changes...

As a military family we are very familiar with change. We rarely live in one place longer than a year and we have almost no control over where we will end up next. Additionally, since many of our friends are military as well, they also come and go such that we are always saying goodbye to somebody.  I am use to this and I have accepted it and I honestly even like it this way most of the time.  Sure, I miss our friends who move away and I am sad to leave friends when we move away but there are always new friendships to look forward to as well.

Despite my acceptance regarding this fact of our life, I've been kind of sad about it lately.  A few months ago an opportunity came up for my husband to apply for a graduate program in Singapore. He applied and was selected so we will be temporarily moving to Singapore early next spring.  I've always wanted to live overseas and this short 6 month program seems like the perfect opportunity. Plus, it means an extra 6 months of coveted shore tour time before he has to go back to a boat!

Now I can't really "complain" about this change because it was our choice to apply to this program and thus break up our continuous 2 years living in the same location.  And I am super excited for the adventure I know it will be! But I have never lived in one place, moved away, and then come back to that place, which is what we will be doing.  And while we are gone of course things are going to change and many of our closest friends will be gone or shortly leaving this duty station when we return and I am already having anxiety about missing my dear girlfriends!

These girls mean the world to me. Becoming a mom this past year has totally changed me in ways I never expected or could have anticipated and I have relied so much on my friends here to help me learn and grow without becoming totally overwhelmed.  The ladies in this picture are the wives in our small group through our church.  I had the waitress snap this shot on my phone camera this evening during our weekly pho date (pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup for those of you that haven't had it).

The 5 of us get together every Sunday afternoon for pho and generally sit in the restaurant gabbing for at least 4 hours.  And if the restaurant closes, we stand outside on the sidewalk talking some more for sometimes over an hour.  And this is not idle gossip.  We talk about the deep, meaningful aspects of our lives.  We talk about our hopes, and dreams, and struggles, and fears.  And we are becoming better women because of each others influence in our lives.  My friend J who was visiting last week joined us for pho last weekend and commented to me how we all have strikingly different personalities and yet are so obviously close knit. This is true, we are all very different and even at different stages of life with children of varying ages and some with no children yet or expecting children, and yet we all have something to offer.

This week we met for our pho date on Friday night instead of Sunday afternoon because C is 40+ weeks pregnant and could be having her baby any day and we wanted to squeeze in "one more" Pho date before baby shows up, at which point we plan to move our pho date to pho-carry-out in C's living room! The impending arrival of C's little one is just the first of a long series of changes coming up for our group which I think we are all in denial about.  C's having a baby, then C is moving near Christmas time, then L is moving in the spring right around the time we leave for Singapore, and then S will be moving at the same time we get back from Singapore shortly followed by J and then I will be the only one left out of this little group which I'm really trying not to think about!

I was relaying my sentiments about this over pho tonight and second guessing our choice to go to Singapore and miss 6 months that I could be spending with S and J who will still be in the area while we are gone. And C reminded me what another friend had said regarding their decision not to pursue the graduate program in Singapore.  A deciding factor in their choice not to apply was that they love their life here and they didn't want it to change.  But know, with 4 of their close friends leaving for Singapore (us and another family) everything is changing anyway.

I think this is a good point.  Change is inevitable.  Even when we try to keep things the same, life goes on and things change.  And I'm grateful for this; for the opportunity to learn and grow, for the blessing of new experiences and new friends, and for the sweet memories I am making with my friends now.

I feel so incredibly blessed to share this little sliver of time with these amazing women.  I know God put them in my life for a reason. I have really needed their support, encouragement and wisdom this year. And though I don't want to let them go, I know that God has big plans for all of us and I trust that He will continue to bless us with other friends that will come into our lives in the future.

(okay, that may have been a little melodramatic considering I'm not moving for another 5 months... but I love these ladies! ... and all my other wonderful friends here!)