Returning to Columbus...surreal.

Returning to Columbus has been surreal.  It feels like coming full circle in a sense.  For those of you unaware, Columbus was our first assignment in the Air Force. We were known as FAIPS (First Assignment Instructor Pilots).  We came here in approximately August of 1998...we were young Lieutenants straight out of pilot training.  Low man on the totem pole.  We were newlyweds.  We were young.  We were enthusiastic.  We were naive.

We moved away in the summer of 2001. I had earned my Masters degree.   I was pregnant.  We left a family of 4.5...hubby and wife, baby to be and our sweet Yellow Lab and Golden Retriever!   It was pre the 9/11 days...things were so different.  We were so different.  We were young.  We were enthusiastic.  We were naive.

Fast Forward 11 years.  Wow, things have changed.  Times have changed.  The Air Force has changed.  We have changed!  Base housing has changed (thank God!).   So we return to where we began in so many ways...as a career, as a family etc.  We now have 4 kids.  We are down to one dog.  We've endured years of TDY's and Deployments.  Literally.  We added "Colonel" behind our title of Lieutenant.    Brad has gone from being the Executive Officer to the Commander of the Squadron, to being the Squadron Commander.  We aren't as young. Perhaps a little less enthusiastic. Definitely not naive.

While surreal, coming back has been fun.  AETC (Air Education and Training Command) bases are disproportionately young compared to many other air force bases due to the nature of their mission.  This type of base trains new pilots...the majority being straight out of college or a service academy.  A large number of those students remain at the base for additional three years to be instructors (FAIPS). In light of that there is a big demographic of "kids" here in their young to mid twenties.  It makes me feel old and at the same time I'm hoping it keeps me young.  I've enjoyed playing intramural volleyball for the first time in ten years. I'm supposed to play in a flag football tournament in a few weeks.  It's that college campus type environment and activities that are one of the fun elements of being here and living on base.

So returning to Columbus has a sense of coming home.  We're glad to be here.  I'm not saying I wouldn't prefer moving Columbus  to a metropolitan area a little further north...but then I guess it wouldn't be Columbus.   We have lived places that are "cooler"...both literally and figuratively...but "cool" loses something when you're husband is constantly TDY or deployed for a year.  So we're thankful to be together and we're glad to call this small town home for now and to call this community our family.