But now, where we live, here in Florida, this is our first home. It's the first place we settled into our new sense of "normal". It's where we became fully comfortable with this new life. It's where I finally stopped crying every night over moving away from St. Louis. It's where I finally felt like a true military spouse; adjusting to the ever changing schedules, the uncertainty, and the fear every day when Nick left for training. Where I learned the military doesn't always play nice when it comes to my future plans. It's where I learned how to deal with those struggles and turn them into opportunities to grow and learn in this new lifestyle. This is the home where Nick finally started his dream career. It's where we completed our little family (for a few years at least) with adding Vino to the mix. It's where I found my first group of military friends; friends I know I'll cry when we part ways and friends I will cherish no matter where we all move to...hoping to be reunited sooner rather than later. It's where we were finally able to experience life as a "normal" couple, seeing each other every day, eating dinner together most nights, and sleeping next to one another every night. It's a place we learned and grew together as Husband and Wife. Where we learned how to overcome and compromise in new ways we never had to prior to marriage. It's where we spent our first year of marriage, combining family traditions and creating new ones.
It's the first place that we turned a house into a home.
We've created so many wonderful memories in this home. It hasn't always been easy and it hasn't always been smiles. But it's our home, our life, and it's filled with more Love and laughs than I could have ever imagined. Even exactly 15 months after our wedding, I still feel like we're in the newlywed/honeymoon phase. Part of me feels we might be that disgusting couple that never truly outgrows that phase. And I'm 100% okay with that.
We love where we live. We live in a fantastic neighborhood in a pretty decent location. As for Milton/Pensacola, Florida? I know most here hate it. Most want to leave.
I can't really say I'm in the same boat as them.
Don't get me wrong, I do not love it here. But I don't hate it.
I believe I've written a similar post to what I'm about to say but I'll reiterate it.
I am not a negative person. I'm happy about 99% of the time. I see the good in most things and most people. I have to look hard to find the negatives. I'm a firm believer that things are what you make of them. So while Milton and Pensacola might not be the best of places, I choose to overlook all the awfulness.....okay, well I don't overlook it. I just laugh at it and let it roll off my shoulders. But still, I don't let the awfulness get to me. I have many, many reasons to absolutely love life here in Florida. And I can say that honestly. I do love living here and will be sad when our time here comes to an end...I might be the only one but so be it!
Here are the reasons I'm loving life:
- I have an absolutely amazing husband so really, being anywhere with him automatically makes the place not suck so badly. We are fortunate enough that right now, his schedule isn't too demanding (I'm sorry I haven't posted a flight school update. I will try to do that this week.) I get to sleep next to him every night. We get to eat dinner together most nights (even if sometimes it is past 9pm). Almost 90% of the time, he has weekends free, which means lots of date nights. When he does have things scheduled during the week, his training only takes up (usually) about 5-6 hours of his time. I've heard from some wives that their husbands spend all their time at home studying. I'm very fortunate that this does not seem to be the case with Nick. He studies most nights, but not all night. Every night, in addition to dinner, we're able to catch at least an hour of television or a movie, go on our nightly walk with our pups, etc. I know to take advantage of this now during training because things will not be this way for the next 8+ years so I'm enjoying it. In addition to this, seeing how incredibly happy flying makes my husband takes away a lot of the craptasticness of this town...knowing this town sucks is a sacrifice I'll gladly do to see that smile and giddiness he possesses while he pursues his dream every day.
- I have made some absolutely amazing friends! We have a core group of friends (6 to 8 of us) and another additional 14 or so. Some of these friends we knew prior to moving here through USNA but some we've met down here. They have become family and I am forever grateful for them. We get together at LEAST once a week, but a lot of the times, twice a week. We gather during the week and rotate between each other's houses with the women sitting and drinking adult beverages while talking and laughing, (and thankfully not gossiping about others because that's not what we do or who we are), while the guys play poker or video games and be our designated drivers ;) On weekends, we head to the beach, a bar, or again, someone's house and hang out. Life here is never dull and I always have someone to hang out with.
- Having this many friends also means our dogs have many doggie friends. Thankfully all our dogs get along really, really well. They love each other and play (and cuddle once they're tired) together. We get together very frequently with our friends who have dogs. It might be a trip to the dog park, the beach, or the river for some swimming. Sometimes we all gather at one couple's house. We hang out while the dogs run and wrestle and play together. It's a win-win. We have fun and our dogs get to release some energy. Vino & Yadi get SO excited when they realize they get to play with the Pensacola Dog Pack.
- We are so close to (St.Louis) home. Never in a million years would I have considered a 12 hour drive "close to home" but now I do. We can easily drive home in one day (it's actually only 10.5 hours but with the stops, it becomes 12 hours). It makes holidays doable since we're able to make the drive and not fly. I know we will not always be so lucky as is most the time, we'll be at least a 16+ hour drive away from St. Louis.
- I absolutely love this weather. I know some are ready for fall but not this girl! I am a summer girl through and through. I absolutely loathe cold weather. And to me, anything below 70 is chilly. Below 65 and I'm cold. Below 60 and I'm freezing! People complain about the humidity, but to be honest, I don't notice it. It's because I don't know any differently. Missouri gets very, very humid so I'm very used to this. Summer is my favorite season so I love that we get summer from March through early November. Mid-November through February are our spring and fall. We get rain but the humidity does die down a bit. However, we do not get freezing cold temperatures. We just skip winter. Last year, the average temperature was about 60. I can totally handle that being our fall/winter/spring in those few months. I'm happy having the majority of the year being 70s to 90s. Like I said, I love summer!
- How you can not love these beaches? I love beaches in general. The breeze blowing off them, the smell of the salt water, and the relaxing crashing sounds of the waves. Being at the beach is my happy place. And you cannot beat these beaches here. Powdered sugar white and just as soft. The water is an amazing blue/green! It's just gorgeous. And the water is so warm. I could just float on a raft in that water all day long (minus the fear of sharks). And seeing dolphins jump and play out by the pier during almost every trip is an amazing sight too! Every time we're at the beach, I just cannot believe it's my home! I never thought I'd call something that gorgeous home. I will surely miss these beaches.
So yes, I have many, many reasons to love this place.
Today, we resigned our lease for another year. Nick is nowhere near finished with Primary training so we know we'll be here for a few more months. And if Nick chooses helos (something he is leaning towards but is not certain of) we'll be here another 6-12 months (again, dependent upon a lot of things.)
I'm happy we're staying. I love this house. Not just because of everything I listed at the beginning of this post or because of the memories we've created here (or because I loathe moving). I love this house because it's awesome! We have zero carpet and all hardwood and tile floors. We have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, one being a huge and awesome master bath with a big walk-in closet. We have another separate room for our office, a large living room and an open floor plan. We have a two car garage and a huge privacy fenced in backyard. We are lucky and we realize this. We love this house and our dogs love it. I will definitely be sad to leave it.
I'm also happy we're staying for all the reasons I listed why I love it here.
Maybe I'm just being too positive but I'd rather be this way than look for all the negatives and be unhappy here. We're here, we can't change it, and we many things to be thankful for.
(Although, I wouldn't complain if jobs paid more....or if there WERE any jobs here. And if people de-rednecked themselves a little bit.
So here's to many, many more months here in Milton/Pensacola and hopefully our friends will stay just as long! (If they don't, I have NO idea what I'll do!)
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For a flashback:
Click HERE to read about Journey from Maryland to Florida.
Click HERE to read about Our First Day in Florida
Click HERE to read about Our Florida Home -- (and as an update, we ditched those nasty washer and dryers to the garage and we bought a pretty new and nice set from neighbors that were PCSing)
Are you not doing that writing job you posted about earlier?
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