I just wanted to recap my whole experience here on the island. I remember I was really nervous to come out here and wondering how it would be. I hear that the friendships you make with wives and such out here were supposed to be close knit since you are in a foriegn country and no family around. Then when your husbands deploy, that's all you got. Well, I learned that it's not always true. I spent my first year practically alone. I then made...well..I wouldn't really call them friends. But since I can't think of a better(or shorter) word for it, I'll call them that. We only hung out really while our husbands were deployed. Then once the boat ported, we didn't speak. They weren't my kind of people either. Then I learned where the real close knit was. It's in the guys. Wives are like temporary families for them. We let them sit inside a home with real food, kids, and a sense of back in America. Especially here. These guys went to combat together and I won't ever know the ful stories that they have that happend there. Back home in the States no one will really know what my husband and all his friends went through. I can say I made friends out here. We still speak when our husbands step off the boat, but it's honestly nothing that we will stay in touch with each other forever. My outlook on this place is just that. You have the close bond with your little family, the guys he works with, and the time you have here. I think that's one of the main things I'm going to miss from here. These guys take care of their own. Their squadron is their family here. The wives take care of more than just their husbands. We help in things that we can here while their gone, and give them a little piece of home until they can get back there. I ended up making a friend who was born and raised here on Okinawa. She taught me things about the Japanese that you won't read in a brochure. I think I showed her that not all military wives are snotty and uptight. I wil never forget the people I met here or the times I had. It was where my son was born, and where for the first time I hugged my husband goodbye and knew he was going to real combat.
posted by: Michelle  |  date & time: 12:01 AM  |  comments: