Event Horizon

While Wiki may not be an academically sound source, for this particular purpose, it suits -

In general relativity, an event horizon is a boundary in spacetime beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer. In layman's terms it is defined as "the point of no return" i.e. the point at which the gravitational pull becomes so great as to make escape impossible.

To twist the meaning of Event Horizon a bit, as we Merkins* tend to do, the inevitable upcoming deployment is my Event Horizon. I mean, I know it's going to happen. I know it's going to happen soon, but for the first time in Jase's Naval career, I'm kind of... outside of it. It's coming - we're at the point of no return and there's no escaping it, but I don't feel particularly affected by it just yet. I'm not excited or horrified or disturbed or amused. It's just sorta there? That big thing that's going to happen sooner rather than later.

I'm not ignoring it - we've had the car serviced, Jase has updated his will and double checked his life insurance info to ensure it's all correct, we've made "plans" about who to call in case they have to deliver a notification of death, we've notified friends in the area that they're emergency contacts regarding pets or kids, we've set up a couple of Powers of Attorney so I can renew the plates on the car and register the kiddo for the youth center on base if needed and all that jazz. (isn't predeployment FUN? Such an affirmation of long life and joyous memories...)

My parentals, posing in front of some form of the P3. I think. *nods uncertainly

We've started talking to Small Thing about what a deployment is and what it means, because this will be the first one where she actually has an appreciation of the passage of time. The last time Jase deployed, the kiddo was four. Interestingly enough, April is also the Month of the Military Child so there are some extra things out and about for us to take advantage of and give her that extra special bit of "My daddy's a SAILOR and that's cool!" which we find helps to offset the "My daddy's a sailor and the NAVY keeps him away from our home!" NASWI (Naval Air Station Whidbey Island) has a FOCUS group, which is an acronym that I don't have memorized yet, but it helps families cope with the craziness of life during deployment. We've taken the first steps to getting Small Thing involved with that, so hopefully she'll have additional resources besides li'l ol' me and a few of her friends. Hey - kids need a good support system too, right? Right.

So yeah, we're dealing with the necessities of deployment, but really....... I'm usually a bit muchier? about the whole thing. Much more nervous about being on my own, more upset about the idea of "losing" six months of birthdays, holidays, memories..... More of a shutterbug, more into planning a few weekend excursions before D-Day (Deployment Day), more into writing notes to slip into his packout, more into laughing while threatening to send ultra cheesy care packages, more into making lists and checking them 5,284 times to make sure he has an alarm clock and nail clippers and three towels because two always get lost somehow and and and.....

Dad 'n' Jase, peering at an A-6, precursor to the EA-6B. I think.
*more uncertain nodding

And this time, well, this time it's just... different. Jase isn't heading into the wild unknown, stuck on a floating city made of steel with limited resources available. Last deployment he worked with EA-6B Prowlers and he was bouncing between being night check supervisor and being in charge of the entire work center. It was stressy and busy and high tension and he was damned good at it.

This time things are different. The aircraft he's working on now doesn't go anywhere near carriers. He's in the P-3 community and they deploy to air bases instead of to ships. The US Navy is a fantabulously versatile thing, eh? One would think that planes on an air base would be under the jurisdiction of the Air Force, but apparently not so much, akshually.

Those who remember the last time we were on sea duty (three years ago!) will know I generally don't talk about exact movement times or locations unless it's been publicly released by the command, and even then I tend to be a bit less than enthusiastic about sharing a whole lot. I like mah privacy, but I also like to be able to grumble or brag or help someone else who might need something to relate to in this crazy Navy life.

So yeah, deployment is coming. There it is - looming. And I find myself oddly ambivalent.

Gosh I hope that's the right word. (been one of those days)

In other news I've had to take a step back from Derby - the practice schedule doesn't quite line up with what I'm comfortable with for my kiddo. I missed a couple of Fresh Meat practices due to events a smidge beyond my control, and then the realization that the 7-10pm twice a week schedule is a great workout, but I get a bit stressy with being away from Jay at night (dumb, but true). So I'll still be skating - fairly religiously actually - and working on skills I need for Derby, I'm stepping back a bit from doing TOO much with the league until I feel like I can really commit to it. Aaaand until I can avoid going mental over leaving my kid with a sitter half the night.

Regardless of how it works out, I still hope to support the league in any way I can and possibly attend partial practices, without being a full league member. I've been talking with the officers and hopefully we can work something out. If not? There's always next time. I'm only going to get more comfortable on skates - so waiting sucks, but it's not crushing to me right now. Which, also, kind of tells me something. If I wanted it THAT badly, nothing would stand in my way - but when it feels like Derby is interrupting family time..... well, the Navy interrupts family enough, one of my hobbies doesn't necessarily need to do it too, yanno? (insert guilt factor ... HERE!)

Small Thing is pretty stoked about possible skating lessons - so that's another thing that I'm looking forward to: skating with her. Maybe we'll wind up in a place, eventually, that has a Derby Brats league and the wee one can wind up teaching her mom a thing or three about derby, eh?

Still - I love the bouts, love reading about the sport and learning more about it. I love how involved it is! On the surface, derby is just girls skating in an oval, bumping into each other and yelling a lot. When you look a little closer, you see how much skill is needed, not just to stay upright on your skates, but to realize what's happening around you and put the right strategies in play to help score points.

Me. In derby gear.
Yeah yeah.
You wish you were so fierce, eh?

Whidbey Island Roller Girls had a bout a couple weeks ago.... it was their first with Tough Love from the Bellingham Roller Betties. And yanno - Tough Love was right. I think the score was something like 314-24. The league learned a LOT though and came away with more knowledge and an idea of how to improve - Derby's like that. Lots of self taught lessons because so many areas only have upstart teams with limited talent pools and limited population. Bellingham is a HUGE city, with four teams of their own, all with their own staff from coaches to managers. Whidbey Island Roller Girls have their own team members juggling a LOT of responsibilities - I'm amazed of what these ladies have accomplished and how much time and effort they put into Derby.

It's one thing to mentally know that a sport is going to be a time sink. It's another to truly realize how much of your time is going to go into doing All Things Derby. And while I want that - a lot! - I want my kid to feel secure and happy first. When she's a smidge older, my tune will be a bit different too. ;o)

I guess Derby is a bit of an Event Horizon too - it's inevitable. I enjoy it. It scares the hell out of me, but it pushes my boundaries and I wind up doing things I never, ever thought I could do (jump over things on skates? fall down on purpose ... and occasionally on accident .. and laugh my ass off in the process? learn how to use my weight and leverage against other people? let a sassy smile spread as I say,"I like to be whipped..."). It's going to happen. I've found it and it's going to be a part of my life - no going back, baby.

Small Thing's report card came this week - another one of those unavoidable things. She's doing fairly well overall. She's bright and inquisitive and I think she's a teensy bit bored in school. She has issues with patience, blurting out answers, and assuming that the rules don't necessarily apply to her. This all sounds VERY familiar so I have issues correcting her. *sheepish grin Perhaps lessons in the art of Sucking Up should come into play soon? Academically though, her math and science knowledge/abilities place her as a 4th grade student, halfway through the year and her reading level is comparable to that of a 7th grader who has almost completed the term. She's eight.

Part of me wants to just swell with pride. A bigger part of me things that my kiddo is pretty average - logically and emotionally speaking she puts things together quickly, she likes to read, she's inquisitive, and she doesn't always take things at face value. I think these factors kinda put her above and beyond a lot of the TV-Raised kiddos in her age group. As far as her academic abilities though, I don't really see what she's capable of as something... extraordinary. To me, it feels more like the education system has adapted to the lowest common denominator, so things that were once average now seem Stellar and Wondrous.

Regardless? I am thoroughly pleased with my kiddo's performance in school. She's not a perfect student, and for that I am truly thankful. I think American public schools would like to produce cute little followers rather than forward thinking leaders, so if she has a few issues with authority and following rules, I'm totally cool with that.

Someone please remind me of that statement when she's a tween/teen, ok? Ok.

Oh! Other kickass news - my parents adopted a new jack russell! His name is Cody and he's a sweetie. I can't waaait to meet him this summer! We're heading out to visit the family (finally - an opportunity to vacation while in the States. Jeeeeez!) and pick up Vegas. I'm interested to see how Vegas and Jack get along, yanno?

Also, the bestest news by far, my Dad seems to have kicked cancer's ass and while he may never have the same vocal abilities, he'll be around for at least a few (dozen) more years.

I am so effin' relieved, I cannot tell you.......

Though I did have to laugh when Daddy found out I was working towards becoming a member of a Derby league. "Why the hell would you wanna do that? You're too competitive. Just.... *sigh* Don't lose your focus. You could get too into the moment and HURT someone!!!"

Geez, Dad. Who knew I was so ferocious??? :oP

SO! That's it for me, well, other than a few political rants which I could probably do without posting in THIS entry. *winks*

How are YOU doin?!?!??

* - not the pubic wig version of a Merkin. I didn't know pubic wigs were- ok, I didn't know that pubic wigs even existed much less were called Merkins. I learned something new today and am disturbed by the number of parallels one could draw between some American stereotypes and pubic wigs.......

Part Three - Settled and SNOW!

Rather Image Heavy - dial up, spotty wireless, and 3G users, be warned!

Shortly after getting to our new house - which rocks, by the way - we ventured into grocery stores and had just as much fun laughing at American labels, veggies, and other assorted randomness as we did when shopping in Japan. We bought scads of things like toilet paper, trash bags, salad, fizzy lemonade, nectarines, and steak......

Which led us to buying pots and pans, plates and glasses, and some silverware, because our stuff was delayed in customs for two weeks.

*sigh*

Also, even though Jase's bike was in storage in a unit about three miles from our house, it took over six weeks to get it because of some communication issues and a small mountain of paperwork. The small mountain of paperwork apparently did not easily show that the bike was stored in Oak Harbor and we were living in Oak Harbor. Once that fact was made clear, the bike arrived within 48 hours.

Vroom?

Anyway - three months later, Jase is happily scooting around town and hanging around the local MC, made up of current and former military members and all of our stuff has a home in our home.

Is niiiiice! We have a fireplace and an actual *gasp* GARAGE and we have TWO BATHROOMS (first time since like, our first year of marriage) and a fenced backyard and one incredible view.

We also have a house which will be HORRIBLE in the Zombie Apocalypse because it has huge windows and there's a ton of natural light... But that's ok. It's a military town, so as long as zombies don't figure out how to shoot US, we should still win. ;o)

I did mention an incredible view?
*insert horrible parody of Russian accent here*
Sooo pretty!

Jase has finished his school, Small Thing is back in school and overall enjoying it. She seems to chit chat a bit less here, but still thinks the rules don't necessarily apply to her. Alas. But, she's doing well! She still loves to read (the little snirt burger brought home Eldest from the library, the second book in the Eragon series after I told her I didn't think she was ready to read it just to prove she could.) and is completely enjoying the science lessons the school is teaching right now. She's done reports on gray wolves and arctic foxes and decided that cats are like, WAY better than dogs.

Don't tell Jack she likes cats better than dogs...
or he may eat the nose off of her favorite stuffed animal.
Oh wait, he did that already........
This *might* have had something to do with her complete loyalty
to felines over canines.

She's also informed the librarian that she has read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and she shouldn't have to read books with large print if she doesn't want to.

Unless they're about kittens. Or space.

*breeeathes*

Overall things have been pretty rosy. Occasionally they've been really, really white. We woke up one morning to this:

Of course you realize, we have a husky, a small child, and really.... we're not so much parents as we are over grown kids ourselves. Snow Creature Making ensued!

Jack. Loves. Snow. I mean, one would say, "He's a HUSKY, of course he loves snow!" but he'd never really dealt with snow before, at least not more than a flurry or two. he would grab HUGE mouthfuls and chomp it a bit, then toss it in the air like it was a ball to play with. He fetches snowballs. He romps and plays and smiles like CRAZY. That dog adores winter.

We happen to adore googly eyed snow creatures and ... uhm ... other snow monsters?

Dunno what he is, but he's armed!

So yanno, snow, school, and otherwise? We're doing peachy keen here in Whidbey and so. freakin'. happy. to be. here.

People are NICE, the customer service is excellent overall, there are lots of smiles, there's a LIBRARY, and .... people ... there are espresso stands and coffee shops everywhere.

Every. Where.

I am SO glad to be home!

In the meantime, Jase has started brewing beer again, I've started working towards passing my skills test for derby (I can skate... but I can't SKATE... Yet.) and Small Thing has taken to skating as well and randomly bugging librarians about "good books. Like ones you can read in a DAY instead of an HOUR."

Watch out, world!

An ENTIRE Season Later... Part Two!

So yeah, that whole moving thing? Apparently it takes as long to blog about it as it takes to actually happen. WHO KNEW?!?

SO! When we last left our tired, bedraggled, confused travelers, they were in the capable hands of the Air Mobility Command in Yokota, Japan - we stayed at the Kanto Lodge, which was fantabulous and oddly less expensive than the Navy Lodge. The military is not created equal. Whee! Who knew? (sarcasm folks. Yummm.)

We had to make a bazillion phone calls due to coming in on January 1 instead of Dec 31 - with offices being closed and such it meant a lot of things weren't available that normally would be. After a minor whine session via email on my part, the base housing folks (who originally told us "They can't just open the office for everybody who travels in from overseas...") were STELLAR and wonderful and two lovely ladies came in on their days off to ensure we could, with animals, jet lagged child, and a bazillion suitcases, crash in our "own home" so to speak. For those with EXCELLENT memories, you'll know that most of the pet kennels and such were full due to the holiday weekend in Japan. It was similar with Whidbey, though the Navy Lodge did have pet spaces available, we were hoping to just move into our own place and fuggetabout the whole hotel thing for awhile.

Jack Morgan approves of his current location!

Thank goodness for Forest City (the base housing people). The management and our agent really stepped up to make sure we came home and were SETTLED. It was awesome - People can grump and gripe about the military all day long, I know that when push comes to shove, the US Military takes care of it's own - sure sometimes you hafta go a step or six up the chain of command, but when you ask the right person the right question, you get all the help you need and then some.

Being able to ask for help? Now that's another story...

A foggy entrance to NASWI's Sea Plane Base
Welcome to Northwest Washington!

Anyway!!!!

Of course, you guys know the story can't be that simple - GETTING to Whidbey was a bit of an adventure - we picked up a rental car so we could drive to the nearest Ford dealership where our 2011 shiny new Escape was waiting. We had to inspect it for damage because our shiny, new, fresh off the line 2011 Ford Escape had been damaged in a hail storm during delivery.

Yay.

Don't YOU want to buy a brand new repaired vehicle? Yeah, we did too. *sigh Ok, not so much. Luckily, they did a fantabulous job fixing the paint and minor dents caused by severe weather and we didn't wanna battle buying a new car after airplane delays, housing fiascos, and hellacious jet lag.

So we signed, insured, and obtained the keys to a brand new, somewhat snow covered but shiny SUV and transferred our animals, jet lagged child, and fifty bazillion suitcases from the rental to the Escape and off we went to return the rental to the airport...... I followed Jase outta the dealership parking lot because I was a bit confused on how to get back to the interstate, but I told him I didn't know how to get to the airport because I'm an idiot. That sentence is important to the story, stick with me.

Maddy, aka The Mad Catter has come to visit- and digs Whidbey Coffee as much as I do! (see the ginormous green cup of happiness?) OK, that bit about coffee is a lie and Maddy is "special" but he's cute and fluffy and can keep visiting for awhile.

SO! I was following him, meandering our way back to the airport, after me essentially not driving for three years. Driving in Japan = horrifying. Driving in the States = Freakin FUN! The roads are GINORMOUS and you can go more than like, three miles an hour in town! Not sure if that's really a GOOD thing, but at least I didn't have the urge to get out and push like I sometimes did in Japan.

As we're driving through town, I realize we're coming up on the Interstate and Jase misses the on ramp and takes a highway. In my own little brain I thought, "No biggie, I'll just meet him at SeaTac."

In Jase's brain, I had said I had no clue how to get to the airport. We're in two separate cars.

He immediately goes into "Holy shit we're separated and she's nervous and hasn't driven in forever and she's TIRED, AHHHH!" mode.

Meanwhile, I'm happily driving along I-5, listening to alternative rock and thinking, "Damn, they're playing the same songs on this station they were playing before we left..."

In attempting to catch up with me, Jase gets pulled over for speeding and reckless driving. (but it was wreckless, so it should be ok, right? No? Damn.)

The cop says, "So you were separated from your wife? Why didn't you call her cell phone???"

We've been in the country for about two hours, and most of that we were sitting in customs. We hadn't had time to pick up cell phones yet! Also, uhm, we've been living in a country where it's illegal to talk on the phone and drive. And hey! Isn't it illegal to make phone calls while driving in Washington? Yessss, you can talk using a hands free device (though stats show that people using cell phones are as impaired as someone with a .08 blood-alcohol level) but you can't make calls or otherwise use your cell while driving.

Of course, you shouldn't be speeding to catch up to your wife - who you think is lost, but she isn't.......

SO! After getting a ticket, returning the rental car, and activating our much loved iPhones, we FINALLY make our way to Whidbey and see this:


Damn, it's good to be home!