Friends.......

For 21+ years now my husband has been in the Air Force.......we never lived on base...always had our own place......we liked it that way.....it is so nice to paint a wall or put curtain rods where you want to put them....etc. We always thought it was nice to get away from the people you were working with and going to parties with. Then we got to Cheyenne.....the market on houses was going down and the prices here were crazy high so for the first time we thought it might be nice to live on base......of course huge historical houses were a mighty draw as well. After almost 3 years of living off base and moving twice we got our chance to live on base and took it. Little did we know how painful it would be to leave.

We have lived in neighborhoods where you never see your neighbors, some where everyone is friendly and waves at you but that is about it....then some where you meet one of your best friends but no others. This time we have met 8 amazing families. It truly was not normal that so many families would bond. All of us are pretty close in age......and our husbands are pretty close with the time in service but yet all of us are very different, yet we made a connection and do a lot together. When one family is out of town we seem slightly lost, when 2 or more are gone it is a sad weekend.

This past Monday my neighbors left for Washington D.C. If you had told me last year I would be crying about leaving Cheyenne I would have laughed in your face. Now it seems like a daily thing. I miss the sound of their kids laughing and slamming of their doors........I miss them inviting me over for dinner or us getting together for a glass of wine, but most of all I dread the idea of leaving here and not having my other 7 friends just one or two houses away. I can only pray that the new neighborhood we will be moving to will be half as wonderful as this one is!

I have about 4 weeks with my neighbors but some of that we will be gone on leave to spend time with my son and daughter in law. I cherish the time we have left. To anyone that has not experienced what we have here I hope at some point you will. Friends are blessings and I am overflowing with them. Christine and Bob we miss you and hope you are having an amazing trip to the east.........