Sunday, February 26, 2012

“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” -Deepak Chopra

So, after my last post, I thought for sure I would write about the obvious...November.  But, I think I will come back to the present, in hopes that this anxiety that fills me daily will either subside or be a little more bearable.  I haven't been blogging for many reasons.  One is that I just don't feel like I have much to blog about - living in Mexico City, although interesting, I'm sure everyone would get tired of me complaining about the drivers & traffic.  Two is that time is limited - working full time, going to school and still trying to be Mom, yeah, well...blogs definitely take a back seat (although I should be doing a final paper right now) I figured maybe this will help me get my writing juices flowing.  Third reason is that so many times, I feel like people are judging the life I live with my family.  I know, that should NOT be a reason, but man, you can only hear so many times, "I would never have moved out of the United States." "I can't believe you would take your children to another country."  "You are a better wife than me, because I would never follow my husband 1/2 way around the world."  Well, I did and I am.  And, although at times it's not fun or easy, we have almost made it.  We have about six more months of this crazy life left.  I am excited, scared, anxious, and a million other feelings.  Sure, I have lost some friends while on the program.  I was devastated at first, but life goes on.  People truly don't understand.  I have friends who have the option to do a 3 year tour as a family, or a 1 year tour unaccompanied.  They opt for the 1 year.  That is their decision - it's just not our decision. (Although this program unaccompanied wasn't an option unless you end up in an unaccompanied post - which isn't common.)  We've lived for 3 years, as a family, in foreign countries, away from friends and family, and although at times it was a fairy tale, other times, it was devastating.  I do have to say, if anything, this program as proven who is here and supporting us and loving us unconditionally.  It has given us friends that are family.  I guess this brings me to the reason for my post:

Change is a brewing in The Macy home, and although we aren't in the "packing and moving" chaos, we are in the chaos of the unknown.  Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy and excited about it, but boy, it brings on some serious anxiety.  I wake up with this tightness in my chest, I go to sleep with the same tightness.  We have under six months left here and life as we know it is going to change - drastically.  Back in December, Brian (and I) decided that he would not reenlist.  (Crazy, right?!) Anyways, right now we have a plan in place with other options brewing.  Hopefully, the moon and the stars align or whatever people say and the plan becomes a reality.  Hopefully, we will know more by the end of March.  But, the plan that has been in place for a while now will be taking us to the East Coast - probably VA.  How exciting, huh?  This California girl is bummed the ocean won't be in my backyard anymore, but looking forward to all of the great places to see on the East Coast and being close to family there.  We've been talking a lot lately about how weird it is going to be to live in the States again.  (Side note:  My babies refer to the U.S. as America when talking about home, Brian and I refer to it as The States.)  We are finally going to get our things and live in our house.  Kids are going to go to a school that they aren't going to have to leave in 18 months.  We are actually going to plant roots after yanking them out two and a half years ago.  I can't wait!  But, until then, I think that little things are going to really stress me out.  For example, today, I walked into the maids quarters and there are boxes EVERYWHERE!  I almost started crying.  Not because there are boxes everywhere, but because it just seemed so . . . claustraphobic.  Trying to get to things - impossible.  I feel like I am on the edge of tears all of the time.  I just hope it's not like this for the rest of the time I am here.  

Brian is heading to DC/VA area in a couple of weeks and I am trying to decide if I head that way with him.  So many pros & cons.  I just can't imagine going and leaving my babies in another country - even though there are very capable people here to care for them.  But, do I go now and Brian and I can search out different areas we like and focus on those areas in our housing search or do I wait and see what happens with the different jobs in the works and then go.  Decisions, decisions.  I've already sat down and talked to the kids about it and they are like, "Go, Mom!"  If only it were that easy.  If only I was a millionaire and could take them with me.  I mean, it is a 4 day weekend from school for them.  But trying to justify spending almost $1900-$2000 for the 3 of us to fly (Brian's is covered) is hard - especially when we are saving, saving, saving for other things that will need to be purchased when we move.

So, whatever...I don't know what else to say about all of my arguments in my mind right now, so let's move on to some more fun and lighter things that I am sure is the reason my family reads this.

On a lighter note, Kyleigh had her first basketball game on Saturday!  She seemed to enjoy it.  She did travel a couple of times, but nothing that we can't work on.










Christopher spent the week at camp.  We sent him with a camera, but there were no pictures taken - boys!  But, Brian took this one on the drive home from the school.  This is what my son buys on trip:



Other than that we had a great weekend.  Spent it with friends on Friday night, Six Flags on Saturday followed by a late dinner and then spent today just hanging out.  Had lunch with friends and then came home and took a nap.  Tomorrow is going to start another busy week, but hopefully it will go by fast. 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

SURPRISE - All about October!

OK, so, since I had the day off today and spent much of it doing homework, I thought I would take a minute to blog... (Yep, Pops, hell is freezing over.)  I can't believe the last time I blogged was in September!!! What use is having a blog if I don't use it?  I've actually been thinking about blogging for quite a few weeks now, but honestly, there isn't much to blog about when life is consumed with work and school - for all 4 of us.

So, let's start back in October.  Maybe I can find SOMETHING to blog about from then.  I will just use my pictures as a writing prompt.  OH!  October!!!!  I remember now.  I got to spend 4 LOVELY days in California.  It was AMAZING!  It was so nice not being surrounded by buildings, it was almost euphoric being able to breathe the clean air and see the views of the Pacific Ocean.  Oh, California how I love thee!

I spent some time with my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Scott & Cousin Casey.  I had lunch with Aunt Nancy and did some quick shopping.  She actually found my ball gown!  I went "grape stomping" with  some  of my BFF's in the whole wide world.  I have to say, my trip home was MUCH needed.  I don't know if I have written about this before, but Mexico City is a VERY  difficult city to live in.   I will just leave it at that.

Me & Izzy

Chris, Me & Lola

Our group (minus Izzy)


Even if I am not very fond of Mexico City, I am EXTREMELY fond of the people this city has brought into my life.  In October, we went to Puebla for the night, went hiking in a local reserve, and to celebrate Halloween, we went to a local cemetary to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.  Yeah, we do have some fun here.  We even take pictures to capture our adventures.  (All shared below.)

Hiking with friends in Desierto de los Leones

Brian, Jorge & Eddie
Yes, we do take wine on our hikes.
Our group - the friends that Mexico brought together.


Have I said before how difficult of a city Mexico City is?  Well, if not, it is.  Especially for this Southern California girl who grew up in a town where in 2010, there were 77,982 people.  Back in 1990, my little town had 59,967 people.  Living in a city with over 23 million people is a little difficult, so you take every chance you get to get the heck outta dodge.  Well, one night in October, we did just that.  We headed to Puebla.  I have to tell you this little town is BEAUTIFUL!!!  I actually cried when we left...seriously.  I could stay in Mexico forever if I was living in this town.

24 hours in Puebla:


Rainbow on our way to Puebla





Of course, Halloween on this program just isn't the same without a party at the Marine House.  Boy did we have loads of fun.  The Marines had a haunted house for all fo the kids and then later on, they had a party for all of the adults...of course, some kids stayed and partied like rock stars.

Halloween at the Marine House:

Beauty & The Beast
aka
Kyleigh and Brian
Bigfoot
(yes, the a lot of the kids still call him Bigfoot)

Pirate Andrea


Curtis as Spartacus

Cedeno as a Joker

The group that was left at the end of the night.

Halloween night we spent the evening at some friends house and after trick-or-treating was said and done, we decided to celebrate Dia de los Muertos Mexican style.  We packed up the kids and headed to the cemetary.  Unfortuantely, we just missed the band that was playing, but we did get to walk through and take some amazing pictures.  This was defintiely an experience

Dia de los Muertos:
















So, that was October in a nutshell.  Maybe if I can jump on this blogging bandwagon again, I can get a November post in here very soon.