A home

Military life requires some interesting things from you. We have been married almost ten years and lived in seven states, and will hit eight before we have our tenth anniversary. I'm not complaining, it is one of the things I love about military life. Moving, seeing different people all over the country and learning about different regions. I think it also gives me the ability to adapt quickly to any situation and make friends no matter where I am. I'm finally comfortable in my own skin and know who I am. I think the moves have something to do with this. I couldn't create a facade and keep it up like I could when I was younger.

Something else that is required is to plant and grow a strong tree with shallow roots that can be pulled up at a moments notice. When we lived in Oakland I think we had the best tree possible for us. It was strong there, a large wonderful support system that I miss, but we had to pull it up and go to Florida. Luckily when you make a life for yourself someplace part of you is always there and you always have people you love, and that love you, to go home to. We have homes all over.

And Friday we purchased our first home. I see this lovely house being a home, not just a house. It is a corner lot in a quiet neighborhood. It has four bedrooms, and two of them are very large. One will be a school room in a few years. And the school system is wonderful in case homeschooling doesn't work out for us.

There is a large kitchen that has been recently updated. Lots of room for me to do home canning and store my food in a large pantry.

Then the yard. Oh the yard. The front has raised beds for ornamentals. Flowers and blooming bushes. I'll plant mint right by the front stoop. There are two large old maple trees that hover around the corners of the property. A large privacy fence seperating us from the street, but NOT from our neighbors. I can plant berry bushes on the outside of the fences and have something pretty and practical.

In the rear of the house there are two large decks, one with a built in picnic table. Our decks will make it easy to sit outside in the evenings and watch the kids in the yard.

There is already a vegetable garden plotted out by previous owners so the soil should be enriched beyond the typical Oklahoma clay. I can have a large, and hopefully bountiful garden.

Then it slopes down a hill toward a creek! My dream has always been to have a creek on my property, and somehow it has come true.

Amazing.