Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Coming Home

My brother, as some of you may know, is in the Coast Guard. For the past year he has been stationed in/near/around Iraq, on a ship patrolling the offshore oil derricks. At least, that's what he can tell me. Lord knows what he really has done this past year.


He is coming home next week. I couldn't be happier. But wait, there's more!


Not only is he coming home, he is being reassigned to a Coast Guard station in Tennessee. Which is only about 4 hours from me, and about 5 hours from my dad. This is the closest he has been to us since he joined in 1997. We are, to say the least, thrilled.

I've always given him grief about having cushy assignments. In his eleven years, he has been stationed in Charleston, South Carolina; Tampa, Florida; Panama City, Florida; and San Diego, California. Not exactly harsh climates. Although it did give me some fun places to visit. Without him, I probably still wouldn't have gone to Florida or South Carolina.

He reports to Tennessee in January, and I told him he should come up here for Maddy's birthday and to see the new house. He said he just might do that. Then he said "You know, it's gonna be sweet living close - I can call you on Thursday and say hey, sis, we're having a bbq, come on down this weekend. Or I can say hey, we're going to Dad's, why don't you meet us there?" Instead of "I wish we could but it's just too much money to fly to California."

I'm jealous of people who have family just a few miles away. Although according to those people, sometimes having your family really close is a blessing, and sometimes you're thinking "gah, go away!"


I'm hoping that we can see each other more often, and make new memories.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think 2 hours is ideal distance to be from family. Four hours is way better than Cali though! Yay for you guys!

Steff said...

That's great news, Kim! My sister was once stationed in Japan...That sucked.

And, as for family living close...We just moved in NEXT DOOR to my in laws...So far so good ;)

MaLeah said...

Awesome news for you! TN is a great place to live! And visit! I'm glad your brother is coming home! My Brother-in-law is stationed in Japan and will finally be back in the states a year and a half from now. We'll be glad to have him back state side too!

Lynn said...

I know how long you've been waiting for this, and I'm really happy for all of you!!!

Gail said...

What's really a blessing is that you like each other! We've always had a wonderful relationship with our families, too. That's why we uprooted our lives and moved 600+ miles last year to be near everyone.
We really enjoy being with them more often and we know we're very lucky that we all get along so well.
Pity the families that don't have that!

She Who said...

This is great Kim, I am happy for you. I know how hard it is to be away from family.

Zip n Tizzy said...

That's fabulous news!

That should make for a very Happy New Year!
Yay to family a car trip away.

minniemama68 said...

I'm glad he is coming home and is going to live so close. You are lucky to have such a great family.