02 December 2011

Moving!

I have moved again!  This may be the last time... I hope it is, but I can't say anymore that I'm not moving again.  Last time I said it, it bit me in the ...  well, you know where.
So, since I haven't written in a while, and I told you that this would be hit or miss, I figured I better write something!
I have now moved 29 times in my life time.  My youngest sister says I have a PhD in moving!  I believe it.  This last move was to North Little Rock, Arkansas. Why North Little Rock?  We'll get there; it is sort of a long story. And it does need to be written down as I know it.  I may not have all the facts and figures, but here goes...
My parents met in high school, but didn't actually get together until after high school. Both families were in the same social circles in Memphis, Tennessee and my maternal grandmother knew my paternal grandfather from school.  So the summer after high school, my dad had mononucleosis and my mother would go over to his house and keep him company.  They got married that December.  
My dad's college plans fell through and he joined the Army.  I was born a year and a half later at Millington. I am the oldest of four. We then moved to North Carolina. My dad wound up as a navigator in helicopters and went to Korea. My sister was born in Memphis.  Dad would be home for a little while and then go back.  My brother was born in Georgia. My dad again went overseas, to Germany.  Mom and he were not getting along and she went to serve him papers in Germany.  She came back pregnant with my youngest sister.  She was born in Memphis. My dad got out and my parents divorced.  He went to college in California, but not before he was given full custody of the three of us.  This was back in 1961-62.  It was unheard of for men to get full custody at that time, unless something else was going on.  We'll never know for sure, but most likely my grandmother had a lot to do with how that was played.
So, what happened to the youngest one?  She was adopted by some cousins that couldn’t have children of their own…
So we were whisked off to California with my grandmother and my dad caring for us.  That was interesting.  Shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated, we children were shipped off to live with an aunt and uncle in Indiana.  They had 2 boys, our cousins, and we lived with them for about a year.  Then my uncle went to Vietnam, my mom got re-married and our lives once again changed.  We went to live with my mom and step-father, Gerry in Mississippi.  Greatest man ever.  He raised us from that point on, as if we were his own kids.  We did ask about our youngest sibling over the years, but were given the information that she was okay and no, we couldn’t go see her.
So, you would think our moving might have settled down then, but no, it did not.  Gerry was an aeronautical engineer, same as our dad, and he started off with GE, then was hired by Boeing. So, we moved again, 2 more times.  The last move was to Seattle.  We had been living in the Southwest, which I dearly loved, beautiful weather all the time.  Then moving to Seattle, where the skies are GRAY and it misted/rained all the time.  I, by now, was a teenager.  I hated it… oh, man, did I hate it.  And of course, we know how teenagers over dramatize everything and feel like they know everything.  My dad got remarried that year and I left one home for another.  One more move!  And the grass was greener for a long time, I thought.  We did move from Colorado back to California for my last year of high school.  I vowed I would NOT do that to my kids! 
I stayed in California the longest… about 8 years.  However, I did have several addresses while there.  There was always someplace cheaper to live!  A better bargain, lower rent, lower utilities.  Sometimes roommates, sometimes not.  
But Los Angeles, I felt, was not a great place to raise kids, so I moved away… back to Seattle.
Met my hubbie, moved to Portland.  He got transferred to Seattle.  We bought a business in North Central Washington and moved.  Business went belly up, we moved to Portland.  Found a better job in Seattle, moved again. 
All this time, hubby was in the Army reserves.  He finally took a class to update some of his electronic skills and was hired as a contractor working with the Army.  We moved to Korea.  Desert Storm happened, we moved back to the Southwest.
He sold Real Estate for awhile, then got back into the Contracting business.  We went to Virginia.  He went to Korea again.  We went back to the Southwest.  My oldest graduated from high school, three years at same school, with one in the middle in Virgina. His contract was bid on by another company and we went to Panama.   Panama Canal treaty was over in 1999, we moved back to the Southwest.  My youngest graduated from high school after 3 years in same school.  Kept that promise!
Another contract, another move to Korea, this time for 3 years.
Home again to the Southwest.  My stepfather passed away early in 2010.  My brother passed away this last summer.
For the last seven years (maybe more?), we had been in touch with my youngest sister.  Our husbands liked each other.  An opportunity arose and we grabbed it!  So, I am now actually living across the street from my youngest sister.  A new adventure begins!  And it only took me 29 moves to get here!

So, here are a few more facts:  I have lived in 15 states, and 2 countries!