Another Farewell

Saying goodbye to friends has sadly become commonplace in our lives. It’s the nature of Jonathan’s business for people to come and go in 2/3/4 year cycles. It was especially prevalent in Aberdeen where it seemed like every month we were attending a goodbye party until finally we were attending our own. This past weekend we said our first goodbye in San Ramon as friends Jake, Sara and Baby B leave to set up shop in Pittsburg, PA. 

Sara was the first friend I met in California so this one stings quite a bit, especially because our hubbies also became fast golf buddies over the past few months and her baby girl and Forest are just two months apart. Meeting friends in the Bay Area has been a bit harder, I think because it isn’t inherently a transient town like all of the other places we’ve lived. People are born and raised here and go on to raise their families here. I don’t blame them. It’s an awesome area and we’d gladly stay if we could. But that’s not the nature of the job. 

We heart East Bay, CA!

We know that soon enough we’ll be attending our own goodbye party and understandably, some people don’t want to invest in our friendship when they know we have an expiration date. It’s for this reason that I find myself constantly drawn to people who are in the same boat. I know that they won’t have a guard up when I tell them this assignment is for 2 years and they inversely know that I will be their BFF whether they have 2 years or 2 months left in San Ramon. 

If there is one thing we’ve learned through being essentially nomads is that life is too short not to make fast friends. And the other transient girls I’ve met don’t think I’m a weirdo if I’m constantly texting or inviting them over as soon as we meet. Things moves faster because we understand the value of being in the same place at the same time. 

I’ve made plenty of acquaintances among the NorCal ‘natives’ but I definitely get the sense that these friendships grow more slowly because they’ve got all the time in the world. It’s hard not to countdown or think of our time here as ¼ of the way over. I try my hardest not to dwell on the NEXT assignment or to flinch when I think about how much I miss my old friends and how much I’ll inevitably miss the ones I have here and now. It comes with the territory but oh- how it takes so much emotional energy! Emotional energy that is hard to come by as a new mom, but still I force myself into new friends’ lives and hope they accept my efforts. 

Sara didn’t leave me empty handed as she introduced me to her little clan, most of which have babies near Forest’s age. I find myself falling so easily into this group who know what it’s like to live abroad and to move around frequently. 

I also have joined a local moms group with babies born in Fall/Winter of 2013 which is full of great women who are super patient with Forest’s mischievous antics.  It’s always helpful to have a group of moms at similar points in motherhood so you can vent and normalize and bounce ideas off of each other. 

But again, for such a shy and introverted person, making new friends has never been an easy thing for me to do. This experience of moving so often has definitely shoved me out of my comfort zone. But still, it’s easy to get frustrated and think ‘what’s the point?’ Why go through the effort if I’m just going to have to say goodbye again and start the whole process over? 

I’m doing a new bible study by Beth Moore called Children of the Day. 

 In her first video session she stresses that no one participating came to this study by accident. It was put in our lives at the perfect time. Already we are learning about Paul, Silas, and Timothy’s journey throughout the Ancient world. Paul made the journey after a painful separation from his closest friend, Barnabus. Because of this rift, Paul then goes on to meet Timothy whom he later describes as ‘having no one else like him’ in his life. Beth made one point that struck me right in the heart: The next person you meet might become one of the dearest people in your life. 

I know that in my life, this is always true. I’m constantly meeting people who stretch my heart. I remember standing terrified outside a stranger’s door in Aberdeen. I’d been invited to a girls night by a friend of a friend but had never laid eyes on any of the people attending and vise versa. I went back and forth over my outfit. Whether I should bring wine. If so, red or white? What will my outfit and my wine choice say about me? 

I remember having a mini-panic attack as Jon dropped me off at a strange apartment. I was so nervous. And yet behind that door were some women that I now call my dearest friends. 

In fact one of those women became a friend (Jillian) of a friend (Sara) who lived in San Ramon. A friend who I am sadly saying goodbye to (for now) but who has introduced me to many others for our time in California. 

Sara doesn’t know anyone in Pittsburg/Moonstownship so if any of y’all reading have a friend of a friend in PA, let me know so we can get them introduced! 

It’s exciting to think that some of these budding friendships in California might become some of the most rewarding relationships in my life. I have to believe that and keep putting my heart out there. It’s an extremely vulnerable feeling but I trust that the Lord is putting the right people in my life and I’m praying that He might allow me to be the right person in someone else’s life as well.  

Nana and Pops Visit San Ramon

Woooooooooooaaaaaah. Summer has been busy busy guys. Two weeks after Jon’s parents left, my parents arrived for a 5 day visit. We had fun showing them around the East Bay area and enjoying lots of good food. 

One day we got really daring and even went for a day trip into San Francisco. 

Unfortunately, we unknowingly planned our drive for the same time as a Giants baseball game so what should have been an hour long road trip quickly turned into 2 hours of stop and go traffic. By the time we arrived at our destination (Golden Gate National Park) we had some tired, hungry, car sick, full-bladdered monsters in our midst. Your truly was all of the above. It wasn't pretty. But once I hit the restroom, ate a picnic lunch and took a Dramamine, I was in much better spirits and ready for a hike along San Francisco Bay. 

As if reflecting my inner mood, as we set out for our hike, the fog cleared up to reveal a beautiful blue sky.  

Suddenly the bumper to bumper traffic in route to SF didn’t seem so bad. 

It did mean that Forest would have to nap on the go, and he obliged by taking a 45 minute snooze in his Ergo carrier. While he napped we enjoyed sweeping views of the bay and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. 

San Francisco really is such a lovely city. I can’t believe we live so close (well, if you don’t consider traffic we are only 40 miles away) and yet hardly ever make it to town. In fact, this was Forest’s first visit to San Fran. I’m bummed we didn’t get a good picture of him in front of the Golden Gate Bridge but naps take precedent over photo ops! 

Hopefully we’ll have plenty of opportunities in the coming months/years to get that perfect picture. For the rest of my parents visit we stayed closer to home. My mom babysat for Jon and I to have a date night which is always an added bonus of a visit from grandparents! We spent plenty of time at the park and in the baby pool, and we even took a field trip to one of the nearby indoor playgrounds for Nana and Pops to see Forest in his explorer mode. 

They hadn’t seen the little guy in 8 months so I know their trip was mostly about soaking in some quality time with him. 

Fortunately, we will be seeing them again in just a few weeks as we make the journey to Louisiana and Texas for 10 days in August. I can’t wait for Forest to meet his aunts, uncles, great grandparents and cousins for the first time!

P.S. As always, Nana came with gifts. She made sure that Forest is set up with a 9-12 month wardrobe for the rest of the summer. Just in time too, because baby boy and his long legs have officially outgrown his 6-9 month clothes, big time! Where did my teeny tiny baby go?? 

 

Big Boy!

Thanks for the new duds, Nana!

Happy Birthday, JonJon!

I'd like to take a moment to wish a very happy **30th** birthday to my main squeeze. 

Jonathan as a 20 year old:)

There is no one else I'd rather grow 'old' with. Welcome to adulthood (because the baby didn't make officially usher you into adulthood last October, right???)! 

Around Town: Robert Livermore Pool and Aquatic Park

Jonathan and I have both been making an effort to get out and explore our little neck of California recently. Forest can now be happily awake for nearly 3 hours in a row (!) which gives us a bit of a wider trajectory for outings. I figured I’ll start featuring these new local discoveries on the blog in a series called 'Around Town' to give y’all some ideas on what the greater Bay Area has to offer. 

I try to get out with Forest at least once every day. He’s easily entertained, so many times our excursions simply consist of a trip to Target or the grocery store. Being a Stay-at-Home Mom (or SAHM as the cool kids call it) can get lonely and weary at times but breaking up our day helps to make the days seem shorter somehow. 

The weather here is pretty good (and VERY good compared to Aberdeen) but the summer afternoons can get quite hot. Whereas we used to just throw Forest (not literally ‘throw’, of course…please don’t call CPS) into the stroller for a trip to the neighborhood swing set, sometimes it’s just too dang hot for that and we have to head indoors or at least to a body of water for some relief. 

Forest and I belong to a pretty sizable playgroup for babies born in the Fall of 2014, and since most of the other mothers are originally from this area and some of them even have older kids, they have a wealth of info for things to do with rambunctious mobile babies like Forest during these hot summer months. 

For instance, the public pools here are really great and serve as little water parks for the non-swimming set. A friend suggested we check out Robert Livermore Pool and Aquatic Park in Livermore so one Saturday, that’s just what we did. Jonathan was stoked to finally take Forest to the pool instead of just supervising him in our lame $10 plastic Walmart baby pool in the backyard (PS. Best $10 we ever spent).   
It was $5 for both Jon and I to enter the park, but babies under 2 get in free. They offer several discounted deals on the weekdays but since we were there on the weekend those deals didn’t apply.  The pool was great and had a shallow beach entry throughout, which was perfect for letting Forest splash around independently. 

The only thing we had to be careful with on the beach entry part of the pool was him trying to army crawl into deeper water. Forest has learned to crawl like a proper baby but still prefers to get around by dragging himself on his tummy most of the time. This is fine at home, but not in a baby pool obviously, so we had to keep a very close eye on him!  

No point in the entire pool was deeper than 3 feet and it was quite a large space which really makes it perfect for young kids. 

It was seriously just one enormous baby pool.  Our baby sure does love the water, but if possible, he loves people watching even more. 

He was in awe of all the kids and toddlers running through the shallow water and playing on the pool playground. In fact, this was one of the only times in his life when he was too captivated by his surrounding to cooperate with having his photo taken. We tried several times to take some cute shots but this was the best we came up with. 

Usually Forest is a gold mine of photo ops but he was just having too much fun to stop and smile for the camera. 

I know Jonathan especially enjoyed this experience with Forest as they are both water babies. 

I’m more of a ‘lay on the beach chair and read a book’ kind of girl so I’m glad Jonathan finally has a buddy to enjoy his water obsession with. 

Right now Forest is still at a stage where he can only handle an hour or two of this sort of experience before he becomes overstimulated. Next summer we’ll have hopefully (?) kicked this morning nap to the curb and will be able to have longer outings as a family. Maybe we’ll even be able to visit the pool long enough for momma to get her tanning and reading on while Jon and Forest swim til their hearts are content.   

We just found out that there is another one of these aquatic parks just 5 miles from our house so hopefully we will get a chance to check it out soon. I’ll keep you posted.