postheadericon a town of uniforms

i’m homesick.  not for my parent’s home in that first time at sleepover camp sort of way.  not for my parent’s home at all actually…  but for what was our home, in jacksonville, florida.  (the home which we still own and are currently renting out by the way.)

i never thought i’d say that, but i am homesick for it…  for the killer town of jacksonville we lived in…  for the weirdos, the homeless dudes that would freak me out but also make me laugh…  for my friends…  friends with kids and friends without.  i’m homesick for happy hour at european street… coffee at cool moose…. brie and wine at the brick…. oreo moose pie at biscotti’s…. cheese grits at the fox…  (all of these are my fave restaurants by the way.)

i wanna go home.

**********

i’m not diggin annapolis.  there, i said it.

i’m sorry, but this place just weirds me out.  apartment living issues aside, i’m just not keen on annapolis.  it’s weird that strolling through downtown consists of seeing an abundance of people in uniform.

it’s weird.  to me.

maybe not to you military folk, or those of you who think of annapolis as a tourist attraction, because in reality, it is one…  i just don’t want to live in a tourist town.

i don’t like living in a town where people walk around asking you where this or that memorial is, which gate to walk through in order to get on “the yard” (meaning on the Academy grounds), wondering if you can take a picture of them standing in T-court (again, on “the yard.”)

that’s weird.  to me.

i’ve discussed this with my parents (whose only association with the military is through my husband) and they find this aspect of annapolis strange too, especially when we go out downtown.

yeah, there’s The United States Naval Academy directly across the street.  and it is beautiful, historic, monumental.  i’m not trying to down-play that at all.  i’m proud that my husband graduated from there.

i just don’t like living across the street from it.

that’s weird.  to me.

sure there are cute shops and coffee houses that i dig; but upon grabbing a window seat one of these cute coffee shops, opening your laptop, and beginning to sip on your latte… you glance out the window to a sea of midshipmen.  ”college kids” in uniform… ambling around because they have liberty for however many hours (depending on what class you are)…  and they all look the same.  all.  of.  them.

that’s weird.  to me.

**********

i guess i’m just realizing, even more so in living here, how much i am not a “navy wife,” or at least not one that fits the stereotype.  the ones who do… they LOVE living in annapolis.

and that’s cool, if that’s your thing.  i can respect that.

but it’s not mine.  and i’m struggling with living here.

i’m a fish out of water.

i’m different.  living in a town of uniforms is weird to me.

and school just started monday.  all the midshipmen have returned.

all the uniforms around town are stifling.

i’m claustrophobic.

i miss my home.

No Responses to “a town of uniforms”

  • Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s gotta be so hard. I lived in a small town about 45 minutes from my family for about 3 years, and while it was beautiful & adventurous (I lived on 23 acres & had cows! and snakes! and ponds! and mice!), I just wanted to be close to all my friends and a 5 minute drive from my mom.

  • roisin:

    well, i miss you too. and i would be weirded out by the navy-ness as well.

  • Erin:

    I’m a cop’s wife who isn’t good at/in love with being a cop’s wife. I can sort of commiserate, at least to feeling like a bit of an outsider at times.

  • Living in exile right now due to some severe allergy problems, I know how you feel. I miss home, too.

  • Beth:

    So when are you moving back then? That would only put an hour and 20 minutes between the 2 of us, and that would be really bad ass!!!

  • I have no sympathy cuz I told you how to fix that problem: come live with me.

    <3

  • It would be strange to me too. I lived in a very small rural area with my husband for the first six months of my life. I thought at first it was the life for me. I quickly discovered it wasn’t. Thankfully we were able to move.

  • I’m so sorry, lady.

    Selfishly, I wish you were in Jacksonville.

    I get homesick for our house in Sarasota sometimes, simply because it was where we lived when we brought S home from the hospital. Where he took his first steps, had his first birthday party.

    I have to remind myself that it’s just a building.

    But the family part? Would make me crazy. I have to have family around me.

    When we were younger, we were going to move to Seattle for a job for George. Our families told us we were crazy, we scoffed at them.

    Now I realize, acutely, that they were right.

  • Let’s move to a deserted Island and eat conch 24/7.

  • I feel ya. Not the whole military-family thing, but definitely the fish-out-of-water thing and the homesick thing and the wtf am I doing here there. Hugs.

  • I still live in the same town I grew up in. Because I can’t do that kind of monumental change. I have great respect for people who can though. Especially people who do that aren’t thrilled about it and do it anyway.

  • I’m a former Navy wife too, Nic. And I *never * fit the stereotype, either. Not once in the short time I was one. I didn’t even want to try to fit it. When my husband was deployed on his last Westpac, I stayed away from the other Navy wives, not wanting to be like them, and suffering in (near) silence. And sometimes I think I might have missed the forest for the trees by doing that. Only sometimes, though.

    I also *totally* understand being homesick. I hope that you can find somethings to love in this new place, this sea of weirdness you have found yourself in.

    Most of all, stay the non-traditional Navy wife that you are. You’re awesome and the Navy needs more of *you* out there.

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