We were invited over to a barbeque last night. When Miah brought up the invitation I was a bit nervous. Military wives tend to have a stereotype... Pecking order and all, the stereotype is less than ideal for a friend.
My fears quickly disappeared when I met the Sheldens. They are about as normal as a military family can be! They are down to earth and enjoy spending time with their children and friends. Their children are adorable and fairly close in age to Amie and Matty. I'm so glad we were able to spend time getting to know them. I finally feel as if we might have friends in this middle of nowhere place that we now live in. (It's really not that bad, it feels like the middle of nowhere because I have to take a road trip to find my staple shopping joints.)
I wish you guys could see how cute the kids are all playing together. It was pretty rocky with the big girls, their attitudes are equally matched in surly stubbornness. It was a face off between the alpha personalities but eventually they found something to do together and became friends. The boys... Well, as soon as they were let free they had fun running circles around the adults. After supper we stripped their shirts off to clean the grime from their baby faces, hands and rolly polly bellies. With how similar they are in height, weight and skin tone it was hard to recognize which one just ran past. Matthew really likes their puppy (big dog is a better way to describe this sweet furry lover!)
I'm sure we will end up spending a lot more time with their family, we had a lot of fun!
I work at a tea house here in Dayton. It's by reservation only. A group of Officer's wives had made a reservation, but the base General's wife forgot to make hers...and called the day of to see if she could get in. She was very rude about it, but we made an exception for her because we could fit her in. And because we didn't want to deal with it. When everybody got there, nobody would sit down until she showed up, because of her HUSBAND'S RANK! Like she earned it. I don't understand the idea of "pecking order." People need to command respect by being kind, and polite, and EARNING that respect - not by demanding it because of their husband's rank.
ReplyDeleteANYWAY, rant over.
I'm glad you are doing well. I have been reading your blog every day, checking for updates. :] I miss you, and I'm excited for your new baby!
I'm so glad you shared that. Hopefully now people that haven't seen/heard about the whole military wife thing will understand the stereotype. It's great to meet people that don't care about rank/pecking order. Then again, this personality might be due to the type of job Jeremiah and his friends do. They're not "ordinary" sailors.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm happy to hear from you and I can't wait to hear more of your culinary adventures!