Dave came down on orders for a special training school in Ft. Benning Georgia and would be gone several months. While he was gone I was going to take the kids and fly into Springfield Missouri and stay with my mom and dad until his school was over. Dave would then pick us up on the way back home to California,after his school was finished. Mom and dad were so excited about this, they hadn't been able to see our kids that much since we were in Germany for three years and then in California for three years. They did come see us right after Laura was born in Ft. Ord California.
Then Dave had a change of mind, and he called and said he wanted me and the kids to come to Benning and be with him for the few more months he had left. I told him no, that I would just be sitting in some hotel room all day with the kids while he was at school and then for his few drinks at the NCO club. I also told him that my parents would be so disappointed if we didn't go to their house.
I finally gave in though because he rented a small apartment in Columbus and they had a swimming pool for us to use while Dave would be working. Mom and Dad were disappointed of course but they came to Georgia to our little apartment with us for a nice visit. They went to the pool with us every day and watched the kids swim.
One afternoon Laura and Danny were out on the front porch when there was a very loud crack of lightening. It scared mom, dad and me inside the apartment and terrified the kids especially Laura. She screamed when it cracked and my folks and I both jumped up and ran to her. She was okay, just very very scared. The next day at the pool it started getting cloudy and she started getting so scared that we had to cut our swim short and take her home. To Laura, a cloudy sky meant a large scarey noise. She was two and a half and it was hard to make her understand that it wasn't going to lightening while we were swimming. She was afraid of a cloudy sky for quite some time after that.
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funny, but when you mentioned that year in Columbus, the first thing that hit my mind was that lightening strike. It made an impression on me too. Other memories from there were doing laundry at the laundry mat and free lunches at the park.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I meant to mention the free lunches in the park, which was so close to our apartment---real handy and you kids really enjoyed going over there to eat.
ReplyDeletei don't remember that trip to Georgia at all, nor do i remember that big lightening crack but that's about Noah's age and I know it would scare him too. As for staying with Dad, I think the military and being gone so much must have been hard for him. I remember when Jeremy and I got married and made the decision to move to Spokane, I told Dad that I was trying to talk Jeremy into coming up first and getting a job and a home and then I'd join him. I thought Dad would like that because it kept me closer to home for a while longer. Instead, he told me that if I can go with him, I need to do that, that we shouldn't be apart unless we have to be. Military life is definitely not easy, huh?
ReplyDeleteYes, military life is hard. Moving and leaving your friends behind, uprooting your family,setting up a new home every few years,learning your way around in an town you've never been in before and the separation (combat duty, training schools, going to the field) ect. And all these things I just mentioned had to be harder for your dad because I at least had you and Danny and a home.
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