Call Me Never

        Our five months of TDY (temporary duty) in Altus, OK has come to an end. It has been a bitter sweet week for these newly weds. Sam was excited to be done with his training, especially after a rough final flight, and I was ready to move on to something more permanent. However, I made a really good friend in Altus, who made the experience great, and I was not ready to leave her behind. Its not everyday you click really well with someone and even in a short five months you can develop a lasting friendship. This is just part of the military life though, you meet people, experience things together that no one else would understand, and then you go separate ways. However, that means we will have great friends all over the world and free places to crash for a few days on vacation!

       Sam and I have come a long way since heading to Altus on March 6th. Before heading to Altus we had gotten into a routine and neither one of us were too excited to be in the middle of nowhere. I remember driving there and we had to slow down to 25mph every 15 miles, it seemed, for a small town. We went at night so we couldn't see much of anything and then we ended up in a hotel room on base. That seems like it happened ages ago. After a few weeks we became comfortable and really began to like the base. We had to tackle a few moves during our stay, but each time our rooms improved and we ended up in the RITZ, so it was worth it. The gym at Altus AFB is 10000000000000 times better than the one here at Vance. Their commissary, BX, and Shopette are pretty comparable, but the ones in Altus are open later. Basically, Altus became home to us and is way better than Vance AFB. It quickly became our new comfort zone. I enjoyed meeting lots of new people, playing at the pool on base (when it wasn't 110*), BBQs, going to movies with friends, hiking, and many, many, many other memories we made in Altus and will never forget.

       Another thing that improved immensely during our stay in Altus was my cooking. When we first got married I wasn't confident in my skills so I mostly stuck with the recipes I had made before, which were more comfort type foods that you bring to parties. Then when we moved to Altus and only had a microwave, I had to get creative, making microwave tacos. Then I read Tosco Reno's book "The Eat Clean Diet" and that had a major impact on my cooking. I did a big pantry clean out and started making recipes that had ingredients I had never heard of, which required lots of research, but I enjoyed it. I also only had a stove top, crock pot, and toaster oven to work with. Sam and I both gained a few pounds in the beginning of our marriage, but since I changed my/our diet and started seriously revolutionizing my cooking in May we have each lost some weight. I think my total weight loss to date is right around 11 pounds since the end of May. You can't out work a bad diet, though I tried and tried, and I am so excited to have a big kitchen back!

       Sam and I came back to Enid, Oklahoma yesterday. We spent today unpacking all our stuff from Altus, which was about six tubs and a few boxes, and did some intense cleaning in the kitchen. There are still a million things I feel like we have left to do, but we put a nice dent in the list today. Sam leaves for SERE, which is survival training, on Sunday. He also has water survival training. He will return to Oklahoma on August 31st. We have gone much longer than a month without seeing each other in the past but I have grown real fond of having him around all the time these past six and a half months so it will be a long and tough month apart. I have lots of projects to keep me busy and help with our move across the pond, so hopefully August passes quickly.

       When Sam gets back labor day weekend we plan to spend a week in Enid tying up lose ends to prepare for the big move. Then we will take a mid west tour to visit family and friends one last time. Our stops will include Kansas City, MO; Quincy, IL; and Springfield, MO. Then we will have hopefully around four days left in Enid and then PCS (permanent change of station) to Mildenhall, England. Where we will find one house.... that we love and live in for 2 to 3 years..... and never move anything during that time....because I for one am ready to be in once place for longer than a few months.

Since we have finished up our first military assignment I decided to highlight my favorite memories of Altus AFB: (In no particular order)

1. Meeting/Making new  friends
2. Rattle Snake Round Up
3. Learning to crochet
4. Water slides
5. Charley's
6. Reading
7. Homemade pizza nights
8. Hunger Games
9. "Take the baby, take the baby"- BBQ with friends
10. Working out twice a day and living across the street from the gym
11. Trip to Dallas for a wedding
12. Lawton road trips with Lauren- which included Orange Leaf and Ross visits
13. Laying out by the pool and adult swim time
14. Hiking in the mountains and trying new recipes
15. Basically anything and everything we did with our friends Kedem and Lauren and their dog Tex

       It is nice to be back in our house, where the living room is as big as the room we lived in for five months, but I am ready to get to our permanent base!

Thanks for reading,
Amanda