For 2 weeks, Matt was gone on his ship.  It not being a deployment and knowing he would be home soon, I did my best to enjoy it and connect with my kids and community more deeply.  One really neat thing about being in the Navy and living in base housing is that there are many other women all around me whose husbands are gone as well.  Upon moving back to Florida recently, I discovered that one super nice neighbor has a hubby on the same ship as Matt’s, so when they were on deployment we vented with one another, and when they are away now we hang out together.  When the husbands go out to sea, the wives emerge from their homes looking for company.  We visit, we chat for hours, we hang with the herd of kids playing, we have fires and marshmallows in the firepit, and we enjoy each other and the (mostly) beautiful Florida weather.  Our schedules go by the wayside, we slack at making dinner, we skip soccer practice to keep hanging out, and we let our kids have a little more freedom and stay up a little later than we normally would.  I really, really appreciate this.  At times when I most want companionship, it is often right outside my door.  I often have a want for deeper connection in my life, and military life is a tough one for finding that… but, then again, in a life that leaves me alone so much, it can be so effortless to find friendship here.  It’s an interesting life, to be sure.