What I'll Miss the Most

Tomorrow we leave Fayetteville, NC for the last time. It is certainly a bittersweet statement. Almost 10 years ago, my parents drove their oldest daughter here to move in with her new husband. We arrived in my new city greeted with more pawn shops, tatoo parlors, exotic dancing cabarets and title loan businesses than this southern belle had ever witnessed. While there are most definitely things I will NOT miss about this place (Skibo, massive traffic, Crosscreek Mall yuck!), there are many more things that I will miss seeing about the first city we called home. These are surely not all the things I will think on fondly over the next several years but these are the ones that came to mind lately.

10. Commissary shopping. Yes, it is usually a dreaded task. It's crowded, full of carts, kids and sometimes ungrateful baggers. I have come to appreciate the slightly lowered prices, fresher produce and reduced meats. I have also scored some great deals since beginning to use coupons so all in all, I think I just might miss it. Then again, I will gain Kroger.

9. Post. No, not the traffic, gate hassle and over zealous MP's. I'll miss the extremely patriotic, reverence of the rules followed by everyone around. You might not come into the Army knowing all the etiquette but this place makes sure you know it when you leave.

8. Linden Oaks. The Military housing community was built across the street from our neighborhood about 4 years ago. It started out as houses but then they built a community center with a pool and workout center. Although we didn't live there, we had lots of friends that did and that gained us access to all those great places on a regular basis. I can't count the number of runs on those treadmills as each of my kids banged their head on the glass from the child play area. Thankfully they both grew out of that and enjoyed it after all. The school was constructed that brought 2 GREAT playgrounds for us to enjoy after hours. They had the foam padding which was great when Lincoln still wasn't a walker yet. The neighborhood sections also had little parks with great picnic areas that were enjoyed by all. I'm going to miss such a great location within a mile from me. I will miss the friends that live there even more.
7. My back porch.
It's why we bought the house we live in. It was all that was constructed when Jason said, "this is it". My fondest memories will always be of sitting on that porch swing.

6. REA-It's people,helping people, help people. It's our recent bargain find and I'm going to miss it. It is the scratch and dent store that I recently discovered. We had wondered for years what was in that store that was once a Food Lion. Finally, another bargain hunter friend introduced me and I was hooked. Over the last several months, Mari and I have made more than a few trips to the "help store" as it was deemed by Jackson to collect snacks, juice boxes and other HBA products at a fraction of the cost. Name brand cereal and organic baby food are a few of the other purchases that we considered a total score in that place. I'm going to miss shopping there and coming home feeling like a million bucks without spending it.

5. THESE GIRLS...

4. THIS House...

3. Reveille. If you are ever on this post at 5pm, you will know it for more than just one reason. There is nothing my 2 year old Jackson loved more than being on post at 5pm to hear the sound of Reveille. He has always loved it with the enthusiasm that only a child born into the military can have. There have been times, during deployment, that we would play on Pope at 5 just to hear Reveille then drive over to the Bragg side so we could hear it again at 5:15. It commands reverence. People are supposed to STOP in their cars when it is played because it is followed by the National anthem. Patriotism is born here and I'm happy we've instilled it in the boys.

2. Diversity. We now know people from more states than the ones that touch Alabama. I have friends in half the states of the US. I have friends that are close enough to go in visit in at least a quarter of those. I have PLANS to visit states such as California and Hawaii because my friends are there. We have friends from all over and although I will miss them, those are the ones I'll see and hear from again.

1. There are no words to describe how much I will miss them...