No Holiday Cheer for the Neighbors This Year

Growing up in Virginia, my mom baked pies for the neighbors every year for Christmas. She'd bake pies, and my sister and I would be sent off with our little red wagon to deliver them. We knew just about everyone in the neighborhood, so she must have baked a lot of pies.

She would also bake pies or cookies to welcome new families to our street. I loved that she did that. Nothing says "home" more than fresh baked goods, right? Especially if they're made from scratch. It shows you put some time and thought into welcoming new neighbors.

Since we're living in a house for the first time this year, I decided it was time to begin that tradition myself. After all, I'm an adult now, right?

So when neighbors on three sides of us moved out a few months ago, I looked forward to meeting the people who would be moving in. When the first house was rented, Steve and I decided to take them over some cookies one Sunday.

Unfortunately, Steve was called into work that afternoon. I had already made the cookie dough, and the oven was already preheating. So I decided that I would just take the cookies over by myself, and I'd introduce Steve another time.

I naively rushed over with my plate of cookies, eager to make new acquaintances and hoping for new friends. Unfortunately, as I found out quickly and to my chagrin, the house had been rented by three single military guys in their twenties. The guys were really confused about why a married woman they didn't know was bringing them food--alone.

I'm sorry to say that there are some military wives who make it a point to meet young military guys while their husbands are away. Let me just take the opportunity to say that I am most certainly NOT one of them.

But these guys didn't know that.  I could see them wondering why I was really there, so I tried to mention Steve as much as I could in the brief conversation I had with my three new neighbors. It was painfully awkward. I left as quickly as possible.

Needless to say, when new people moved in next to them a few weeks ago, I didn't go to meet them. I don't know who lives there--they drive up in their cars, park in the garage and shut the garage door behind them. And the guys across the street are rarely outside if they're home, so I haven't spoken to them since. Steve still hasn't met them.

Maybe next year we'll know our neighbors. I hope we do. But I'm not quite ready to go delivering Christmas pies to unknown neighbors yet.

Maybe when we have kids, I'll send them over to deliver the pies.

Massacre at Fort Hood

I'm sure most everyone out there has heard the reports about the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas last Thursday, November 5, but in case you are out of the country or haven't turned on the news and haven't gotten on the internet lately, you can read about the tragedy that occurred in Texas last week here.

Our prayers are with the families of all the victims, as well as the injured. What a horrific event, and one that really hits home for the Army community. When you're sending a soldier off to war, you understand the risks of deployment, and the last days before the soldiers deploy are so precious. This massacre was carried out at a processing center, where soldiers were getting their papers in order to prepare to leave for Afghanistan or Iraq. I can't imagine the suffering of the families of those who expected to have several more days with their loved ones.

We were very grateful to learn that though we know people at Fort Hood, they are all safe and sound.

The Upside

I've already talked at some length about the crazy, ever-changing schedules my Army husband has, but it's only fair to talk about the upside of his schedule, too.

The other day, Steve told me he wouldn't be home until after 10pm since he had to complete a "night jump." (Yes, that's right—where he has to jump out of a plane in the dark while trying to avoid trees and the like.)

So I had planned on a quiet day at home, but when I got home from the gym and running errands around noon, his truck was in the driveway. He'd been given the middle of the day off, and we would be able to spend the afternoon together, since he didn't have to be back for his jump until 5:30.

Unfortunately, our afternoon was cut short when Steve found out the road up to camp would be closed for a few hours, beginning at 2:30pm. (The Air Force conducts bombing runs in the open areas near the Ranger camp, and they close the roads leading into camp during these tests.) He would need to drive back up to camp before they closed the road in order to be back to work on time.

So our afternoon together turned into having lunch and me watching him pack up to leave again, but that wasn't the Army's fault—they tried. This time it was the Air Force's fault!

Still, the Army let Steve sleep in until 7:30 the next morning, and we did get to have that unexpected lunch together, so I can't complain. Sometimes there are disappointments and sometimes there are unforeseen gifts; you can never tell what's going to happen in Army life.

Michelle Obama at Eglin AFB

Supposedly, Michelle Obama is here in the Florida Panhandle at the moment, giving an address only a few miles away. At least that's what I've heard—I wasn't invited to listen to her speak.

The first lady has made it her mission to serve military families. Every first lady has had her pet project: Laura Bush was passionate about education and women's issues; as first lady, Hillary Clinton advocated for health care reform (and she's still working on that one).

I'm interested to see what First Lady Michelle Obama will do for our military families. So far I haven't felt the effects of her good will, but I'd sure give her a $1.4 million award for good intentions.

Seriously, though, I do want to hear how she plans to offer more support to families of servicemen and women. I appreciate her recognition that military families shoulder a lot of burdens, with changing family structures (when parents deploy) as well as financial hardships. I'm not exactly sure how she'll be able to remedy either of those situations, since her husband has approved sending more troops to the Middle East and appears to have completely drained our government of funds for many generations to come.

Maybe you could work on military health care, Mrs. Obama—ours is already run by the government.