Hawaii has grown familiar to me, at least this base and the cities in the immediate vicinity (the nearest Walmart is fifteen minutes away, a definite difference from the two minute trip from my parents' house). Not quite the familiarity of a "home", but it will be a place to return to when it is time for our lives to settle back into routine. It holds a different familiar for me than that of Eastern Washington, yet even that familiar has changed. Friends have moved, started dating or hanging around different people, gotten married, had a kid, graduated, or are at a different job since we've been there. It won't be what I was used to and certainly not what my husband was used to. None of those can be automatically classified as "good" or "bad"; they are what they are. And for us, what they are is different.
Even I have changed. And who could blame me, once they understand what these months have held for me? I have had to learn how to cope with a completely new environment and situation, things that I could not have been prepared for. So I have changed to make a worthy opponent for such obstacles (and I'd like to think I've given them a run for their money!) There's a whole new social structure to acclimate to and new relationships to form, both of which I've taken in my own stride. Not to mention learning some ins and outs of married life! (I am not the professor yet; I am still very much the student and will be for a while. In this, I am content.)
I am not afraid of returning to a place and people I love--oh no, I welcome it! I am excited to be able to catch up with my friends and family, in regards to what I've been doing and also what they've been up to. But as a freshman is anxious to understand the atmosphere of high school, so I am anxious to become reacquainted with what I used to call home (and probably will for a while to come). It is even strange to me to say "my parents' house" instead of "home", because it is not my home anymore. Home is where my husband is, where my life is. For now, that means Hawaii. And I embrace any adventures that my life will lead me on in the future.
