Did I Mention I Have a Son?

I think I may have mentioned a time or two that I have a son (LOL). I think I also may have mentioned he is a Plank Owner at Arizona State in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (LOL) and I think I may have even mentioned briefly he is a Marine Option Midshipmen. Of course I have!! Anyhow, for all of you who aren't bored to death with my ramblings about our son, here is the picture that was recently taken of the ASU ROTC Plank Owners. If anyone doesn't know what a Plank Owner is here is a brief description:

A "plank owner" (or plankowner) is an individual who was a member of the crew of a ship when that ship was placed in commission. Originally, this term applied only to crew members that were present at the ship's first commissioning. Today, however, plank owner is often applied to members of newly commissioned units, new military bases and recommissioning crews as well.(Wikipedia)

We are so proud of our son, of course. He wanted to go to Arizona State University specifically to be a part of this new ROTC Unit. Recently he was named a Platoon Sgt. at the unit so we think he made the right choice for himself.

Well I just wanted to share this with all my readers who have been with me from the beginning.
I am headed up to ASU for family weekend tomorrow. My hubs can't go since he is in the field but that just means we get to get back up on Columbus Day!!
I think I am finally gaining some footing here, not sure on the job front since I can't seem to even get an interview. I have heard rumors of some shenanigans going on with hiring practices here that I am hoping are just that but I am starting to believe they are slightly true. I will get back to you all when I do some digging. Anyhow hope you are all having a great day!

An Open Letter to My Husband

Dear Husband
Well here we are, another birthday for the best husband a girl could wish for. Seventeen Birthdays together, most celebrated apart but celebrated non the less. Another year, another candle, marking another 365 days in the life of the most fantastic human being I have ever been lucky enough to know let alone be married too. How many celebrated together? In the same place? At the same time? Not enough. Always your duty calls, and I wish the best over a phone, an email, a text message. Some years we just had to wish on the same star, not able to speak but speaking volumes with our odd connection not many understand. I love you, today more than yesterday, but not as much as I surely will tomorrow. Tonight, under those same stars know I am thinking of you and wishing you the best birthday in the world. I love you.
Your Wifey

Hartings Happening

Well a lot of busy work is going on in the Harting Household. I have been doing some volunteer work since I was appointed our Family Readiness Advisor. We have a new family readiness advisor and she is brand new and trying to navigate her new job. This isn't a job any degree can prepare you for so as per MCCS there is a lot of training for her, and I and all the volunteers. Official Volunteers are appointed by the command and with that comes a lot of training, and honestly it's nice to have a purpose. I am still hoping to get back to work full time. I am finding this a challenge here in 29 Palms. I not sure what you have to do to get an interview here but once I find out I will be happy to let you all know in case you find yourself coming this way! Hubs is busy at work on yet another predeployment work up..lots of hours at work and in the field, he will be gone for about 2 weeks starting next week and will miss family weekend at ASU which is really a bummer but what can you do. He is really busy and I can not wait for the holiday season to have our son home and he has some time off so we can just all be together again.
Michael is doing really well so far in college. He is thriving in ROTC and a matter of fact he is getting his dress whites today and MarPat (he is Marine Option) down at the UofA and I can not wait to see him in his new uniforms. He has decided to minor in Political Science since he seems to love the Global Politics class he took on a fluke. He has also made the ROTC Color Guard so you all might get to catch him on TV if you watch college sports.....GO SUNDEVILS!! We are so proud of our midshipmen. He is having some challenges with his roommates. Seem they came to school to party and that is fine....but when Michael has to get up at 5 a.m. to Pt with his unit it doesn't go over well. I think they are working it out and trying to find a compromise. The good thing is they all like one another and the boys came to his swearing in and they respect his goals but come on, 18 year olds...girls....college..party. Michael always was a serious kid with big goals and like my hubs said, he will adjust.
So that is what has been going on in the Harting household..kind of a crazy adjustment, I am still finding myself with too much time on my hands but hopefully that will change soon. Hope all my blogger friends are enjoying the slight weather change wherever you are!! I love fall.

9-11

Please remember the heroes of 9-11. Remember those that came before, remember those that came that day and remember those that are still fighting.

My Life and Missing People

Last night I was sitting on the couch watching the telly and started thinking about how often in my life I have spent missing people. Not the missing like when you don't see a friend for awhile, or a distant family member, but missing someone that should be in your life everyday. When I was born my father was shipped off to Vietnam, after being in country for a few weeks he was killed. Does an infant miss a parent that they don't even know should be there? Is it ingrained in our DNA that we should have two faces looking down on us, protecting us, making us happy? Did I know even at 9 months old that someone in my life, my dad was gone? Did I miss him? Well I'm not sure, I do know when I was old enough to know I did miss him. Even though I later had a wonderful step-father, who I still adore and who always raised and loved me like his own, I still "missed" the dad I never knew. So I think "missing someone" was something I started out in life doing and it occurs to me it has never stopped. My sister Lisa was killed by a drunk driver when I was 14, she was 11. It was devastating and I still miss her, I missed her sweet face when I woke in the morning and I miss it still now. My older sister met and married a Marine when I was 12 and she left home, and it was just me, sisterless. I turned to myself all my life. It is like "missing" someone is as natural to me as breathing. Is that normal? When I met my husband he told me he was going into the Marine Corps, I knew what that meant, and I wanted no parts of it. But I relented because I adored and loved him more than any human being on the planet and I set in course another person I had to miss on occasion. Flash forward to last year, our son graduating, preparing to go to University and I figure, it will suck but I can do this, nothing new..just another person I am going to "miss". To be honest, this ache is deeper, and more complicated. Complicated because although I miss him, I know he is exactly where he should be, and I am proud...but still the ache. In the past when my husband left for various reasons relating to the Marine Corps, I had distractions, I have distractions now while missing my son. But than last night, the reality that when my hubs deploys next year....I will be missing both of them at the same time, for the first time ever. UGH. I know my hubs is having a bit of a war with himself, I think this next deployment weighs heavy on him because he doesn't want me in this position, alone. But after thinking about it for awhile I was thinking, I got this. It's literally in my genetic makeup. I can compartmentalize this and "miss" them both. But in that "missing" I am reminded of how lucky I am to have people in my life that mean so much to me that their absence can cause me physical pain. My favorite quote, "love knows not it's own depth until the hour of separation." G.K. never rang so true.

Mil Spouse Friday Fill In #11

1. What is a weird/funny superstition that you have? (from A{muse}ing Mommy on a Pink Park Bench)

My grandmother was very superstitious; I think she passed most of them on to me. She thought eating coconut before bingo made you lucky (always searching for her Mounds Bar), and all kinds of crazy rituals. But the one that has stuck with me the longest was never crossing someone on the stairs, its bad luck you see. If someone is coming up and I am going down I will wait, and even if I am half down I will go back up..I just don’t do it. 2. What are your hopes and dreams for the years AFTER the military? After all, we aren’t in it forever! (from Stetsons, Spurs and Stilettos)

Not sure about that one, we have a few ideas. We still have about 6 years to 22 and my hubs may stay longer, depending on what he is doing at the time. If he is happy and still able to look out for Jr. Marines I think he might stay longer. But we are looking into the State Department after retirement, we love travel, living overseas and with no chirpies in the nest well we can do pretty much whatever.3. Since [this] month is National Apple Month (no really!), I’d probably ask: What is your yummiest apple recipe? (from NH Girl Displaced)Red Delicious Apples straight out of cold fridge is only way I will eat an apple.4. How long have you gone as a military spouse without talking to your husband/wife during service? (from A Navy Princess and Her Little Sailors)

Well it’s a toss up, when he went to Iraq in those early days he would have to stand in line for hours to use a phone so I think it was at least 2 weeks. But I am thinking last year in A-stan it was longer, can’t really remember, I just remember coms were horrible and he didn’t even have good writing tools. I got a post card written on piece of a card board box, couldn’t believe they delivered it!

5. I occasionally watch When I was 17… on MTV. So, what was something that was significant about your 17th year of life? (fromAshley Amazing)

Oh goodness. Well it was a while ago..so..hmmm. Probably the birth of my first nephew??? He’s now a W.O. in the Army and I helped take care of him since my sisters husband was on UDP (he was a Marine too. I was and still am very close to him.

MY FAVORITE. NON FAMILY PICTURES FINALLY HUNG

Finding My Footing

OK. so it has been a few weeks since we dropped our son off at college and I am slowly but surely finding my footing. It's amazing how much of my time I find myself having these days. My house is always cleaner, there isn't as much laundry or dirty dishes. And not that I minded taking care of those things, it did take up a lot of time. My husband is so supportive. He is like, work, don't work, just be happy. I have been able to talk to him when I am feeling off, like how our house feels a bit cold, and not home like----yet. We need to get things up around our house to make it our home. It's easy in our lifestyle to sometimes get a "squatters" attitude. You know the feeling, "I'm not sure how long we'll be here so why bother?". We have done that before, and really it wasn't the way we should have approached things. It is always better to make your house your home and put things up that make you smile no matter how long your going to be there. I have a lot of reasons to be happy and I am happy, just feeling a bit off my game but I am slowly getting my footing. This past week I was attending training because the SgtMaj is unmarried so he asked me to fill a billet on the Family Readiness Command Team and I accepted. It's a volunteer position but I was going to volunteer regardless so what a great way to be a big part and make a difference than this right! The training was OK, you know how it goes, too much time and could have been shorter but it was just nice to get out, meet some of the other wives and start networking for next year when our guys are forward and I already have people I know here. Next month I am going to sign up for CAX LINKS, which is LINKS training (for the none Marines this is part of our volunteer track training) that is not a classroom traditional links but an actual go out in the field with the Marines and play with all their toys while learning Links! I am so excited, the space is limited but I really hope I get to go. I really do hope to find a job but jobs here are not easy to come by so I will keep looking and until then I will do what I can to stay busy. I am going up to see our son end of September for a family weekend and we are going to a football game, so I am stoked about that..GO ASU! Well until next time folks, hope you enjoy your holiday weekend and all my east coast friends and family, hope you get one day of sunshine...dang Earl.