Harvard grad school took us to Boston, Massachusetts, and it was magical. We met a lot of good friends outside of the Army, although we did miss some of the community aspects it holds. Hannah and I spent all of our time together that summer, like super Daddy-Hannah time, no Mommy.
This was so amazing, but then when I started grad school in the fall, Hannah was not having it. She was so upset with me. I’d come home from being at school all day and she’d run into the other room and wouldn’t speak to me. At first I couldn’t figure out why, then I got it. I told her I was sorry that I had to go to school and couldn’t hang out with her all day anymore, and things got ironed out and eventually she started to get over it about four months later.
Transitioning from being deployed to being home is always hard because everyone has a life and a routine, certain ways they like things, and you come home and just screw it all up. Now there’s just one more person in the juggling act. Add to this moving to a new city and embarking on a completely new life experience- it was very, very hard. Once we got through that though, things got much easier. We spent a lot of time together in the summer, which was really nice. Even though that time was hard, I’m glad those two years happened because it helped us figure out who we were as a family.
This last move from Boston to West Point was a little easier because we had figured all that stuff out earlier. Hannah still had a pretty rough time with it; she did not want to leave Boston and for the first year we were here she talked about being there all the time. Moving is always an adjustment, and I think much harder for the kids than Lindsey and I. Though it is weird that I’m home all the time now.
In the past, I would leave every three to four months for a month at a time on top of my deployments. Lindsey is very much an introvert and likes to be alone, so learning how to be around me much more now has been a transition for her, and I reckon I can be a lot to deal with. We seem to have figured it all out and now we’re sort of used to it, but I think this next PCS out of West Point is going to be really painful. We all love it here. Hannah’s best friend is our neighbor, my son is really great friends with her sister, and Lindsey and I have made good friends as well. This will be a hard move, but I have faith we’ll get through it and hopefully never have to move again afterwards.
