"Blue Wife" for a night

One thing about being here at USAG Yongsan that I am struggling with is the blended environment with a heavy dose of Army—this is after all an Army base. Last week I had the chance to feel like an Air Force wife surrounded by my fellow blue wives for a few hours. It was the first get together of the year for the Air Force wives on base; they meet September through May. As a welcome gift to all the new wives here at Yongsan, we were giving these ceramic ducks, Korean wedding ducks to be specific. They came with an explanation of the tradition.

Korean Wedding Ducks

Mandarin ducks mate for life and thus represent marital harmony and fidelity. In Korea, they are given as a symbol for a long and happy marriage. They are placed somewhere in the couple’s home and their position, adjusted by either spouse, tells of the couples marital state. Nose-to-nose means the relationship is good, tail-to-tail means they probably are having a tiff. Traditionally, the female’s beak is tied shut which assists in leading to marital harmony.

Rest assured, this duck’s bill is not tied!

An idea that grew out of control....

As many of you know, my hero recently left on a 15 month deployment. He starts his journey at Ft. Polk in Louisiana to do combat skills training. Due to Army (he is Air Force, but will be working for the Army for the next year) regulations he will get the opportunity to return home for about a week before shipping out to his final destination in Afghanistan.

To help mark the days I decided to make Miss M a paper chain that she can remove a link each day. The bulk of the chain is red, white, blue, and yellow. However, on the guesstimated dates of his return home in July and then again for mid-tour R&R I placed a green link. I can move the green links as needed.

The chain quickly grew to such great lengths that there is NO WHERE in my home to hang the entire length without cutting across doorways and stairways. So I draped the tail end across the bay window in my dining room and put the rest into a laundry basket on top of the nearest kitchen cupboard.

Each morning we remove a link...each morning we are one day closer to having him home.....

Tea Cups

While we were stationed in England I had several opportunities to go to Stoke on Trent. This is where traditionally fine bone china was manufactured. In recent years some factories have closed down and outsourced the manufacturing. However, you can still go there and shop the seconds shops. Most of the items in these shops have defects so small they can barely be seen if seen at all. There were so many pretty patterns that there was no possible way I could just choose one to collect; nor did I think Phillip would allow me to collect several patterns. (That one is right up there with trying to figure out a way to justify a chandelier from Waterford, "But it was only 3000 euros, sweetie....") Just when I thought it was hopeless, just when I thought I would never be able to own lovely British china a memory from my youth came back to me.

As a little girl I loved to look at my Great-Grandmother Berg's tea cup collection when we would go visit. Only once I had fully inspected the pretty cups and saucers from a distance and without touching them, would I raid the toy box for the old comics.

It was then that I decided to collect tea cup/saucer sets. Over the next few years in England I would gather fourteen sets, twelve from shops in Stoke on Trent and two sets from antique shops. My collection has been displayed on the baker's rack, wall shelves, and recently on the ledge of the half wall in the kitchen. I have long wanted proper displays for my collection.

Last fall my mama P told me about a shop in Old Colorado City that has displays she felt "screamed Lynn". This last weekend my parents took me there...boy was she right! The whole shop screams Lynn! I bought two displays that hold eight sets apiece. Monday morning I hung them up, washed the sets, and put them in their new home. Although I broke one saucer when it refused to bounce off the floor(I have since found it on-line and ordered it), I am rather happy with the results.



Even better, I have two slots just waiting to be filled with the perfect editions to the collection....

Nice to know I am not alone in my sentiments....

This has been a very unusual assignment for us. We are stationed at Hill AFB in Utah, Phillip is here on a career broadening assignment. Here I feel like an outsider for many reasons.

While Phillip is assigned to a squadron, that changes every 8 months. Of the two he has been assigned to so far not a single one has reached out to get to know Mrs. Wheeler. A huge part of that is the dynamics of this base. There are more civilians working on base than military members. And lets face it, civilians just don't understand nor CARE about the dynamics of a military family and why it is important to take the WHOLE family under your wings. Phillip has a support network in those who are also in the career broadening program, but I just haven't felt that comradeship among the spouses. I do have to admit that I haven't done a very good job of reaching out either. The main reason is drama...I don't do drama and I don't seek it out. This is THE reason I don't touch the OSC with a twenty foot pole! Drama, who needs it? NOT I! Because of the dynamics of the base I really only use the clinic, commissary, and occassionally the CDC...just very different. Fortunately I have access to those, I have a dear friend whose husband just finished an assignment on a Navy Reserve base...now as an Air Force family that HAD to have been WEIRD!

The culture of the area is different. I am a member of the dominate church in the area, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. To me the culture is that of family cohesiveness and intolerance to things that break up the family like alcohol, drugs, adultery, pornography, and things of the sort. I understand the culture, and like the family focused attitude. However, I can see how it can be overwhelming to others. Honestly, sometimes it is overwhelming and condescending to me! Sometimes I just have to scratch my head. How can we claim to be Christ's people in one breathe and judge others in another? In my opinion, it is not my business what my neighbor is doing as long as it isn't hurting me or my family. If my neighbor wants to do X, that is between them and Heavenly Father. I refuse to judge or stick my nose in it. I keep going back to the scripture(and I am sorry that I can't give the reference) that basically says we will be judged in the manner we have judged. And what about "Let ye who has not sinned cast the first stone"? I have no business casting stones. Unfortunately to outsiders it appears as if a lot of stones are being hurled at them if they don't tow the moral line. Just the perspective of a non-Utahan convert now living in Utah.

So, for me it has been the dynamics of the base and the program my husband is in and the culture of the area that has so far made this a very different assignment for us. I was just telling Phillip the other day that I don't feel like a military spouse here, I just feel like I am floating in time waiting for the next assignment. Thank goodness we have family in the area or I would be totally lost.

Yesterday I was invited to attend a meeting with the AFMC Commander's wife. For my other military wife buddies, this was the wife of a four star who has been in the service since before I was born! This lady was so nice and easy to converse with. Real down to earth. I think that is why some of the stuff that was said yesterday was "let out of the bag" so to speak. It was so comforting to know that I am not the only spouse that feels this way. And I learned where the Airman and Family Readiness Center (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) is located at.

It will be very interesting to see how things are the year Phillip is on his remote...thank goodness I have our family and our ward family to call on!

Have you?

Have you ever tried to run when you can't breathe? Miserable self torture is what it is, running when you can't even breathe.

Meghan and I have seasonal allergies something fierce this year. It seems that almost all the yards within the immediate area have decided that this is the time to go to seed, thus making our breathing near impossible. There are days I wish I could just turn off the faucet, and this is while on Allegra the most powerful allergy medicine the Air Force has to offer me.

This morning was the first training session of the second week of my couch to 5K training(from here on out I will be referring to it as C25K). This week after a five minute warm up walk I will be doing 90 seconds of running followed by 2 minutes of walking for about 20 minutes. Today however I did not make it the full twenty minutes, I just couldn't get enough oxygen due to my congestion. I quit after about 17.5 minutes. Looking back I only had one more repetition, but I just couldn't do it. My head was spinning, I was tripping over my feet, and I felt dizzy.

I think that if I am still having problems with the allergies on Thursday I will just hold off on running until I can breathe normally again. Praying that my snot factory shuts down soon!