Mancave: under construction

The hubby's current project is renovating our 1-car garage into a "mancave", with the intent of using it for uninterrupted study sessions, "chair flying", time on his desk-mount flight sim, and (I am sure) fantasy football and ESPN.com away from my nosy eyes.  At first I was unsure about the idea of permanently relinquishing the garage, given the intermittent hailstorms and tornadoes prone to this area, but trying to cram all of his gear into our 3bd/1ba house is a scarier proposition, and I look forward to the day when he does not drop his [germy] backpack and laptop atop my primary cooking counter as soon as he walks in the door.  ;o)

Other positives are that we have a ridiculous amount of accessories to make his mancave more habitable: many portable fans, a small heater, a window A/C unit, an air purifier, electric blankets, and more.  And it makes our already-spacious 3bdrm home feel like a wonderful 4-bedroom house.  Too bad we can't up the bathroom qty, but I must say that having 1 toilet for the 4 of us is working out waaay better than it usually does.  At our last home (a 50+ yr old rental), the plumbing was awful and root-ridden, so frequent toilet problems had us using the yard and the neighboring McDonald's more than we care to admit.  Also, with Matt out of the house so much for pilot training, the bathroom is almost always free.  Prior to his busy schedule, it was not uncommon to see him head to the john with a laptop and candle several times a day.  ;o)

Here are some "before" pix (estimated date of completion--in terms of study area setup, not box removal: this weekend).

And yes, I more than realize that we have a ridiculous amount of boxes left to unpack.  Couple that with the fact that we've been living here for nearly a month and are not really missing/searching for any of our "necessities", and I am forced to admit that we have *waaay* too much stuff!!

Networking

One thing I have grown accustomed to over the years is the fact that, to survive and thrive in a military environment, Matt needs to develop deep bonds with his coworkers--after all, in some situations, his life and theirs could literally depend on these connections.  It is also an unspoken (well, actually, very much spoken) rule that if you want to succeed in your given career field, you need to network and be a team player 24/7.  Which means, in addition to work responsibilities, attend lots of social functions.  I have always been very supportive of this practice, and, as a prior military member myself, believe I have a very realistic perspective on the matter.  I happily attend programs with Matt and encourage him to engage in and volunteer for as many activities as he wants.

A unique aspect of our current path (although ROTC was technically my first jarring introduction), however, is that Matt is very much a student right now...and the majority of his classmates are brand-spanking-new USAFA or ROTC grads (i.e., young and single guys and gals).  In other words, folks not accustomed to working family/non-personal time into their daily schedules--and it seems like they have some sort of social or study adventure scheduled every other day of the week.  I am all for study sessions--and weekly social outings, but here everything is very intertwined--such as: studying while watching football all day long at the O'Club or cracking the books in between volleyball and pizza on a Saturday afternoon....which turns the typical get-together into an all-day or all-night thing.

Matt and I butted heads about this a bit last week, and to his credit, he is really stepping up the family time and has started to balance things very well--even finding other ways to bond with his classmates--such as collaborating on computer-based study aids, which makes me feel waaaay more optimistic about our sanity and family stability over the next year.  :o)  It is definitely an adjustment, though.  Matt is 28 yrs old, my hubby, and the father of two fantastic little girls--thrust into a mix of mostly single early-20-year-olds.  It reminded me a little of my introduction to nursing school as a nontraditional student, however, not extremely outgoing by nature--and very accustomed to hands-on, full-time parenting--social activities were never something I sorely missed.  Time to crochet and cook on the other hand, I would have given anything for!  ;o)

Welcome to training!

Well, our 2 years of countdowns/meltdowns/waiting are finally through, the hubby has passed all his screenings, re-entered active duty, and pilot training has begun!  Matt was given a realistic introduction to the hazards of flight during his first day of briefings, where his footprints and photograph-in-Air-Force-blues were taken for use in the event of a worst case scenario (the former for identification, the latter for a funeral), which was a bit of a jarring wake up call for both of us (me, especially), as he has already deployed three times (including dangerous stints in Iraq and Afghanistan) where these measures were deemed unnecessary.

Now that he has passed his solo flight in Colorado-based Initial Flight Screening--and was able to accurately identify (and land thereafter) an engine malfunction while flying himself--my confidence in his abilities and this adventure has skyrocketed considerably.  Although, I do have to admit, I do not see us jumping up in the air with him any time soon, lol.  After having an ANG family from Matt's class over for dinner this weekend, and learning that Matt's classmate is a licensed pilot in civilian life, with over 300 flying hours under his belt, but that his wife and kid have still not braved the air with him, makes me think I will not be changing my mind anytime soon, lol.

Matt, in the plane he soloed in:

Interestingly, I rarely give a moment's thought to the pilots (civilian/military) who have flown us in the past, pilots who have never met us and are surely not as extra-motivated to safely perform as Matt would be, knowing we were passengers...maybe it is because I know that: a) my tendency to backseat drive might get the better of me and annoy the begeezus out of Matt (even though I would have, admittedly, no clue what I was talking about in-flight); b) in our 8 years of marriage, he has been involved in two pretty severe (yet, thankfully, injury-free) car accidents; or c) it is still hard to imagine him mastering something so amazing and cool.  I still get nerves over my abilities in nursing based on my own opinion of me and the line of thinking involved in option c, so it is probably more that than anything.  We have both worked toward and supported each other in pursuit our own respective dreams for so long that it is hard to imagine we are so close to realizing them.