I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, where I lived until the age of 24, when I moved with my first husband, a brand new recruit to the Air Force way of life, to Aurora, Colorado. We lived there for about 6 months, and for a girl who loves the sea...it was a nice place to visit, but oh, I missed the ocean! After his training was over, we moved back to Massachusetts, to a town bordering the one I grew up in. I got a job at Hanscom AFB, we decided to breed cats (persians and abyssinians), bought a parrot or two, and life went on. Unfortunately, as marriages seem to do at an increasing rate, ours ground to a halt and ended. I realized I'd met the first love of my life (hi Michael!) soon after (I know... you would think the first love of my life would have been my husband...go figure) and after awhile he and I moved in together. I also met two of my best female friends at this same time (Hi Betsy and Diane!). Those were some of the happiest times of my life! Michael was also in the Air Force, and his family is from North Carolina, so we drove there at Christmas time and, after the birth of his nephew, the annual get together for his nephew's birthday. This was great...I got to experience life in a small southern town, taste some new food [good: Krispy Kremes, NC barbeque, Mrs Wilson's coconut cake! bad: chitlins]. Ultimately, he and I split up...but happily we're still friends :-).
In 1991, after working at the same place at Hanscom AFB for 8 years, the time came to change my working environment. I applied for and got a position in the AWACS Program Office. When the time came for me to leave my old organization, I thought about who I would miss the most. As in most military organizations, the personnel changes frequently, altho the civilian staff doesn't. I decided the two people I'd miss the most were the fire chief, and a guy I saw around the squadron who always had a smile on his face and seemed so nice. Well, wouldn't you know...I ended up marrying the guy with the smile...and he cross trained and became a fire fighter, with the chief being his boss...so I didn't have to miss either of them anymore!
THEN! He got orders...to Yokota Air Base...in Japan!
I was quite excited at the propect of moving so far away, yet still living in an Americanized community...a familiar haven in the midst of new experiences and a brand new culture! We lived off base for the first 9 months, American Village, the only place that allowed pets (we had 2 cats). After that we moved into a brand new 3 bedroom 6th floor tower apartment (which was fun during the earthquakes that Japan suffers from!). I continued my civil service career there, getting a job 3 months after I arrived. I worked at the 374th Comm Sq for about 4 months, and then got a promotion to the Base Commander's office as his secretary, and then in a month, another promotion to the Fifth Air Force/US Forces Japan commander's office. This job enabled me to see all levels of life on an air force base to say the least! I thoroughly enjoyed the Japanese culture, touring when I got the chance, teaching english (more a cultural exchange than anything else) part time, and making a life long friend in the wife of one of my husband's coworkers (Hi Gaylen, Don, Reva, & Buck, Lisa, Hisayo, Masayo!). After some time, I discovered the smile on my husband's face was hiding something...and that the smile wasn't for real. He took a trip home without me one summer, and secretly went to see an old girlfriend. When he arrived back to our home, he ultimately told me he wanted a divorce (of course at the worst possible time: just as my parents were arriving for a 3 week visit).
We separated and I continued to work there until it was time for his next duty assignment, at which time I had to make a decision: where did I want to go? Back home? California? Florida? Virginia? These were all areas where I had friends. After awhile, I picked Virginia, where Michael's sister, a single parent in the Army, lived, with her son, Jason (she wrote in a letter to me: you have no husband, no boyfriend, no job...no reason NOT to come live with me!). She and I had always gotten along and she opened up her home to me. In exchange, I took Jason to school and picked him up, and helped to cook and clean, until I started working again. It was during this time I met the second love of my life (yeah I know...irony strikes again). He was exactly what I wanted in a man, tall, dark, handsome, talented, witty, social, honest, funny as all get out and the most free spirited person I've ever met. I stayed in the peninsula area of Virginia for 1.5 years (hi Grae!), and then was offered a job back in Massachusettts, I accepted and here I am! Dad has a computer... and that allowed me access to the net for the first time, where I met some interesting new people (bounti, G, Lilsis) and made a friend or two in real life: Carol, Mary Ellen, Julie)! So, after living on this planet for 41 years, here's a couple things I've learned: you can't appreciate where you grew up til you've lived far away from it and two, you find love in unlikely places.
So that's a little about me...what about you?

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