Six Degrees of Separation

The world truly is a very very small place . . . . either that, or God makes it just a little bit smaller when we need Him to.

Two months ago, shortly after we moved here, I decided to take the kids for a walk, with no particular destination in mind. We walked a couple blocks from our house before I randomly decided to hang a left down a street that we had not traveled down before. Towards the end of the street, I just happened to glance at this gal coming out of her garage, pushing two small boys in a stroller. I sort of squinted, looked at her closer, and decided she looked a little familiar. So, I asked her, "Excuse me, where are you from?" She looked at me kind of funny and asked, "Are you Amber?" Now, many of you may not know this, but Amber was that friend in high school that we all had, that one who I was joined at the hip with, the one that people always associated me with. So, her question of whether I was Amber was not so weird, and so I said, "No, I'm Danielle." She laughed and said, "Oh, I knew it was one of you." As it turns out, I had run into Heather, a gal I had worked with fifteen years ago in Montana at the Big Sky Waterslides where we were both life guards. And if that wasn't enough, she had married Matt, and Matt's dad and my mom worked together for many years at the Hungry Horse Dam and were very close friends until Matt's dad moved to another part of the state. I have fond memories of those waterslide days, one of which includes my first drunken night at a local bar with Heather and Matt (and yes, I was only 16 and at the bar for those of you that can do math . . . but hey, this was a redneck bar and they weren't carding and no, I didn't drive). Now think about it . . . what are the chances of me running into someone I knew in Montana fifteen years ago, all the way out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, AND that person only lives three blocks from me?

My left turn that day has turned out to be a complete blessing. Heather has taken me under her wing, introducing me to all the neighbor ladies and inviting me along on their Thursday night ritual of watching Grey's Anatomy, drinking wine, and eating popcorn. She has taken care of my kids on several occasions when emergencies came up. My kids absolutely love her (Charley calls her "Momma Heather"), my kids love her two boys, and my kids love going to her house. Matt and Heather watched our dog for us so that we could enjoy a night away from home last month. Matt and Heather have completely opened up their home to us, and for that, I am extremely grateful. Now I just have to start working on repaying her . . . :)

Matt's parents are in town visiting, and Matt's dad was a military man himself years ago. So, today the kids and I took Matt, one of his boys, and his dad to Barber's Point Air Station where Brian works, and Brian gave them "the tour." I decided this was a good opportunity for me to take some pictures and show everyone where Brian works.

This is the front of the air station . . . nice, huh?

This is the back of the air station, the hanger area, where they store the helicopters and perform maintenance on the C-130's

Brian giving the C-130 spiel to his tour guests

The view from the front of the air station

I've been asked many times since we've been out here how Brian likes his job and if he's adjusted to being back at a Coast Guard station. While only Brian can truly answer these questions, my impression is that he does in fact like his new job and is happy back among his Coast Guard peers. We both agree that Little Rock and the Air Force treated us EXTREMELY well and was a perfect arrangement for our life situation the past three years (i.e. having two kids, me finishing school and working, etc.). But I haven't heard any complaints from Brian, and he's never in a bad mood when he comes home from work, so he must like it so far, right?