Saying Good Bye

Summer time in Yokosuka is full of fun and festivities. Obons, fireworks, warm weather, public pools, and Summer BBQs. However, Summer also marks off a fairly sad event as well. PCS season. I suppose some of the sadness may depend on whether a person is an optimist or a pessimist, used to the military lifestyle or has been here for a little or a lot of time.

This Summer was definitely my hardest yet. PCS season is basically rotation season where military folks move in and out of housing. When we say goodbye to good friends and say hello to new ones. Last PCS season, I said good bye to my good friends Julie and Patrice. I always tend to pick friends based on trait's that I'd like to emulate. Julie reminded me of myself in a lot of ways but I also admired her good attitude when her husband was ALWAYS gone. Patrice I admired because she was so physically active and in tip top shape. An avid runner, she would run about a 10K every other day if not more with a double jogger.

Last month I said goodbye to my good friend Nicole who is and was always such a good mom to here 2 girls. I also said goodbye to Maria who was also a military spouse and during her time here had to overcome some difficult personal obstacles all the while her husband being away. The last of last month was my friend Corrie who with a 2 year old always managed to stay involved in the community and busy. (All the while having a kick butt bod).

Today however, I had to say good bye to a very good friend. Nathalie and I met about 2 years ago in our off base neighborhood. At the time she had 2 girls and it was also the time that we decided to form a small play group of sorts within the neighborhood. (It was Julie who made it a more solid group later on) I have to say that the fact she was French intrigued me. Being an American I already had my ideas about the French and that love hate relationship. It made me want to get to know her even more though. Later on I realized how much I admired her as a mom as well. She always had a spotless house and good food in her refrigerator. Her and I had similar ideas on how we raised our kids and unlike a lot of my friends here she was a civilian like me. After Patrice left, Nathalie and I ultimately became closer and our families as a whole became closer. We started hanging out a lot more and Mike started hanging out with her husband Thomas. She found out she was pregnant again. This time with a little boy. After she had Luc it was the motivation for us to have another baby. Our children for the most part always got along. With the typical tiff every now and then but our friendship just seemed to be comfortable. When Mike and I finally got on base housing we drifted apart a bit. Then, when we found out that they where moving to Korea we drifted a little more. I think mentally I was preparing myself for them to leave. Like maybe separating myself from our friendship would make saying goodbye easier. Although Korea is a 2 hour flight away, saying goodbye doesn't become any easier. No more will she come to my house grab a snack out and have a moment to sit and talk about her latest find at the second hand store or vent about her busy day before having to run off to her next errand. No more will I be able to let little Luc nap on the bed and watch him crawl around our house and play with the drawers. He will be running around probably when we go to visit. We won't sit together at the playground anymore after school to watch Charlotte triumphantly swinging on the monkey bars while Nathalie sews another star onto her gymnastics belt or laugh as Sophie and Joshua play house being sure to take off their shoes at the play structure. No more trips to Spasso sitting in the outdoor pool chit chatting about women stuff and looking up at the stars.

Yes, there are so many good memories that I have with them and I will miss that. I definitely thought of that today as they boarded the bus to Narita with their 9 suitcases! I just didn't know what to say. It's amazing how a person can have such strong feelings for a friend and have such sadness in their heart that they find themselves tongue tied at the moment that is most important. Even now it's hard to put into words how special her and her family are to our family. All I could muster up was a good hug and a teary good bye.

Now, I have one more good bye to say to a friendship that seemed to have been too short. My friend Bridgett will be leaving later this Summer. Because I will be leaving to have the baby before they move it might be a little easier to say goodbye however, I still believe that we discovered each other too late in the game. She will me missed.

PCS season has been difficult for me this time around. I suppose as many would tell me, I need to just start to make new friends now. After all, with all of the old people moving out there will be a ton moving in. Such is the military lifestyle.