John and Bethenie: UUUHHHHH.....

Being a part of the Military has its ups and its downs. There are times I absolutely love it and there are times I want to be as far away as possible from it. I have had a couple of huge moves in my life and they were hard but I got through them. The first was moving from my hometown to Hawaii for school. That move was super exciting. Believe it or not I didn't know hardly anyone when I made that move. I had gone to cheerleading camp about 2 weeks before the move and met some of my fellow squad members and that it was I went off of. During my 4 years in Hawaii friends came and went all the time, whether it be through moving away or our lives just went in different directions.

I met John in Hawaii and a little less than a year after I graduated we got the news that we were moving to Italy. That move was also very exciting but very nerve wracking at the same time. Not only was I moving from the place I had lived for about 4 1/2 years I was moving to a completely different country where I knew my husband and that was it. I started hanging out with a few people not long after I got here, but they were moving a few months later. I knew it was good to have them as friends, but at the same time it was hard to get super close to them, knowing they were only there for about 2 more months.

A few months after that family left I was at a command picnic, because I was tired of not having friends or people to hang out with and figured what a better place to start meeting some people, and met a couple of the best girlfriends a girl could ask for!!! I am so thankful that I went that day and made the effort to meet some new people and see where that would take us.

Well it took us a long ways, and I couldn't be happier for that!!! One of the ladies I met, Beth, left Italy a few months ago and it was hard to see her and her family leave. We had some awesome times with them including a trip to Ireland together. We had a great time working out together, going to markets and just being us.

When Beth and her family left it was hard, but I still had an AWESOME friend here that I knew was here for a few more months!! I had met Shannon at the picnic as well, and could not have asked for a better friendship. Right after that picnic Shannon and I went to the movies a few times and started hanging out regularly. We became very close friends and it has been that way since. She introduced me to PWOC (bible study)and her wonderful family. We were together most of the time whether it be shopping at markets, boat trips (a classic trip for us) or just hanging out at each other's houses relaxing and watching the boys play.

Our families became very close and I was dreading the day we would have to separate from each other. Well as you can probably guess that day has come. This is probably the hardest day I have had while living in Italy. John and I dropped them off at the airport this morning and said our goodbyes, but as John and everyone else points out to me it is just see you later. As much as I do believe that, especially being in the Military, it still sucks!

They are now on a plane back to the United States and I hope they have a safe flight and everything goes smoothly for them! I miss them all so much already, and can't wait for Baby G to get here so that we can meet up and let the two little ones have a much needed play date, really just so the mom's can catch up!!!

Sunday we did spend the day with them in the beautiful town of Sorrento and, even though it wasn't my last day hanging out with them, it was the perfect way to send them off. It was such a relaxing fun day, not thinking about them leaving.

Here are a few pics from that day in Sorrento!

My little Rockstar ~ Gabe