Evolving decor

Matt had his first [simulated] flight today, and it sounds like he did very well, receiving a "score" of average/above average from one of the tougher IPs (instructor pilots).  This is particularly great, as he is in the minority of pilot students here in that he entered IFS with zero flying hours.  Many students are private/commercial pilots on the outside or at least have taken some lessons.  Matt has his second simulation tomorrow and is seriously cracking down.

While it is scarily customary for him to mark any sort of career/education/life transition with a large, related expenditure, today's $50 blowup of his cockpit handout (formerly so small he needed a magnifying glass to read) is apparently commonplace/necessary--and is now a part of our bedroom decor.  It was first destined for the mancave, however, when I opted to take Petunia for an after-dark stroll, necessitating Matt to study in the house while the kids slept, it became affixed to his closet.  He uses this printout to help memorize a variety of different flight maneuvers.

It is right next to this picture of passenger and cargo planes (I think???), which are exactly the sort of aircraft he is interested in flying.

This picture always makes us chuckle.  It is his largest item of enlisted memorabilia (from his 7yr stint), and over the past two years, when he was in the reserve/a full-time student/otherwise unemployed, I would display it prominently in each of our residences to reinforce to the casual--and perhaps suspicious--bystander, that, yes, in fact, we do have a legitimate military affiliation and that Matt had a great job/opportunity merely months away.  Those were perhaps the two longest--yet busiest--years of our lives.  Many moments were unbelievably stress-ridden--but now, in wonderful hindesight--make for some of our best memories and biggest laughs.  :o)

Relating

While Matt was in his commissioning program, the two of us were essentially full-time students (each receiving G.I. Bill benefits) and parents.  It was a very unusual situation at times, as most young parents who are not independently wealthy are not [somewhat] intentionally unemployed and enrolled in a full college courseload.  With folks foreign to enlisted scholarship opportunities, it was sometimes uncomfortable to explain because it really comes across as one of those too-good-to-be-true scenarios.  I felt like maybe some neighbors felt like we were faking our military affiliation, as one in particular tried to trip us up on occasion with acronym-based talk.  I found myself hanging military memorabilia around the house more than usual and taking as many pix of Matt in uniform and at ROTC functions as possible to beef up our legitimacy, lol.

I joined a moms group as soon as we'd moved to Oklahoma (as I normally do, wherever we go), but found I couldn't really relate to anyone there, being in such a decidedly transition period in our lives, while most of them were much more "established".  Once I began meeting moms in my nursing program, there was definitely a lot more relatable ground, but most of them were juggling a job on top of school--however, also benefitting from a strong family network in the area.  It wasn't until our youngest's birthday celebration in July, weeks before moving 90 minutes north to Enid for UPT, that I really got a chance to get to know one of the two family's in Matt's ROTC detachment in a similar situation.  Matt was completing his B.S. through University of Central Oklahoma, however, their only ROTC is an Army detachment, so he was placed in a cross-town agreement and assigned to a dettachment in Norman (about 60-90 minutes south of where we were living).  Therefore, the majority of his ROTC buddies did not live nearby and there were really only two or three (young, single, college guys) that he introduced me to more than a time or two.

I ended up feeling like our situation was perhaps more atypical than it actually was (after all, in his detachment of about one hundred, two other guys with families were doing the exact same thing we were [and thank goodness he was the first of the group to commission--or I would have died of jealousy!!]).  Last Friday, at an informal student spouse coffee thing (about 5 or so wives plus a couple kids), I met a wife who went through almost the exact same thing--her hubby just commissioned as well and was probably on the same scholarship notification list that Matt was on in early 2009.  She also has a daughter the same age as my oldest (kindergarten) and a son slightly younger than my youngest (he is just over a year).  AND she is knocking out the prereqs to apply to nursing school [and has been for many years]--however motherhood and the crazy UPT schedule has put her aspirations on temporary hold (much like my situation as I opted to try for my LPN and finish the RN route a bit later, after working towards some form of nursing licensure for about 6 years).  AND, lol, they are also the only other family in the neighborhood with a giant swing set in the backyard!  ;o)

It's not quite the same feeling as the "small world/small Air Force" feeling we get every time we move and stumble across folks we've gotten to know at different bases over the years, but it is definitely an exciting/unusual/new one.  Makes me feel perhaps a little less crazy and a little more run-of-the-mill, lol.