Home Leave...

So, home leave started, and I thought I'd have all this time to write blog posts and relax, and it hasn't quite worked out like that yet. We were in Maryland for the first three weeks, and we spent most of the time seeing the doctor, dentist, orthodontist, and various eye doctors (for LASIK follow-up). Because we were commuting back and forth from VA to let the kids finish school, we sometimes didn't come home during the day. I tried to find the time to study a bit of Chinese but it hasn't been easy so far. Lesson 1: if you are going to see doctors during HL, schedule them all on a few days, rather over weeks. It's no fun to have that be your entire home leave!

Lesson 2: I don't feel like I'm on vacation until I'm at a vacation spot of some sort. We made the decision to let the kids finish school, and I'm glad we did, but I'll keep this in mind for next time.

But it was great to spend three weeks living with my mom and pop. And we tried to take advantage of some great weather! For Father's Day, we went to Baltimore's Fort McHenry. What a great day trip! Although you can drive there directly, we chose to take the boat that goes from the Inner Harbor to Fell's Point, where we had lunch, and then to the Fort.

The kids had a bit of a hard time during our last few weeks on the East Coast. They needed a lot of extra hugs (which we were happy to provide), and we tried to help them verbalize their feelings about leaving. I find it fascinating that my son (typical male!) has trouble talking about his emotions, while my daughter loves to do so. My parents are psychologists and my brother and aunt are social workers, so in my family, we talk about our feelings. I am just going to have to work a little harder with this one. Here, he shared that he was feeling down about leaving his best friend. When I told him that he had his own email address and could write his friend, he was over the moon.

It's really hard to watch my kids hurting like this. We adults believe that the benefits of this lifestyle outweigh the costs (mostly the cost of uprooting yourself every few years and leaving people and places you have grown to love), but the kids aren't mature enough to understand, nor do they get a choice right now. So far, I find them to be pretty resilient and adaptive, but it's still hard to watch. 

Anyway. Interestingly, they seem to be doing better now that we are moving on. We are in Sunriver, Oregon right now, a place we come every year for a reunion with D's family. I love this place. It has miles of bike paths, hundreds of houses to rent in any size, an amazing aquatic center, and good old-fashioned family fun. It is so peaceful and beautiful. I am dreaming of buying a house here or at least spending a larger chunk of our home leave here next time.

This year, in addition to family time, I'm enjoying hour long bike rides and just trying to appreciate the clean air, greenery, and peacefulness. It's not hard. :)





Below left: outside of Bend, Oregon- the 3 Sisters of the Cascade Range.
Below right: Lava Lands/ Newberry National Volcanic Monument (about 15 min away from Sunriver)

We walked on lava!

Tomorrow our Sunriver vacation comes to an end, and I leave for China pretty soon. It's all getting real around here!