Our most asked question for the last 4 months has been:
How is the job and everything going?
In one word: AWESOME.
I am not sure I could have conjured up a better smoother transition for our family. Phil and I are more peaceful and less stressed than we have been in years. And while his job (like every job) has it's own set of politics and ups and downs, overall he is enjoying it. We are LOVING the fact that when he is home, he is HOME. There are no calls into work, no training exercises, no 15+hour days, and best of all NO DEPLOYMENTS.
Leaving the active army has been an adjustment in many ways we didn't expect. Phil misses the sense of service, I miss the built in support system. In an effort to work through those two big loses, we are volunteering more in the local community and investing time in planting deep roots here. Phil has been taking night classes as part of the Community Emergency Response Team Training that will culminate in a certification exercise this Saturday. Just the beginning for us of course....
Also, Philip has found now that he is no longer in the Army he has time for hobbies! We purchased him a new guitar and he is serenading us more and more. He has also taken great interest in shaping up our backyard! He will be a master gardener one day-just wait!
Nora is bright and amazing as ever. Loving preschool and ballet and swimming, she is a popular friend everywhere she goes. Like her grandpa and her great grandpa Reale, she will make a friend chatting in line at the grocery store! I can't wait for her to start saying "Good Morning!" to everyone we meet (my grandpa's friendly greeting regardless of the time of day). She is on the verge of reading, spelling out every word she sees and desperately trying to put the sounds together, so I plan to try to start teaching that this summer! Feel free to send me advice!
I have recently found my way back to sewing. In the last month or so, I have committed more and more time to one of my former favorite hobbies. Hopefully, in the near future I will have more to share in this department. So far, it has brought me great joy to find I still have the skills to create amazing things (or at least I find them amazing)!
