I only have a few weeks until this baby is due to arrive, and I wanted to get a chance to introduce our newest Okinawa Hai team members before I take a wee break! So stay tuned as I share with you a bit about four more amazing women...
She loves to write. Of course, all of the editors at Oki Hai enjoy writing. But she is a real editor-of-the-school-newspaper, English-is-my-favorite-class, summer-creative-writing-class-girl kind of writer. Since she was a kid, she’s been drawn to pen and paper (and now keyboard and screen). Her parents recognized early on that she enjoyed writing and encouraged her skill with extra classes and workshops. And when she headed off to college, instead of recommending a more practical degree like nursing or teaching, they supported her decision to pursue a degree in creative writing.
And after graduating, guess what happen to her love? Well... as for many of us new to marriage and motherhood, it got buried under laundry and diapers. For awhile. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Heather was born and raised in Connecticut. Her parents still live in the house she grew up in (such a wonderful contrast in stability with military life). When it was time for college, she knew she needed to get away from her small town to learn to stand on her own two feet. Having visited a woman’s college in her area, she became convinced that environment would be the best way for her to become... well, become herself.
She chose Sweet Briar College in Virginia and a writing degree. She learned to like many different kinds of writing. (Except poetry! She quoted me one of her lines: “the serenely honking geese” and then laughed in embarrassment.) But, she always came back to enjoying nonfiction writing best.
At the end of her freshman year, her roommate was chatting on AOL Instant Messenger (back in the day) with a guy studying at the nearby Virginia Military Institute. When the roommate admitted she already had a boyfriend, she volunteered to pass him over to Heather. They chatted for three weeks – during which time he spelled everything correctly, quoted her poetry, and just generally knocked her socks off. They met and things developed from there. They got married two years later, after he graduated, but as she still had another year of school, they lived apart – her in the dorm, him in the BOQ – while he finished various Army schools.
Two weeks after her graduation they were off to Hohenfels, Germany – as virtual newlyweds. She had taken a full year of German at Sweet Briar, but says that landing on German soil seemed to suck every word out of her brain. So she hid out in her house for the first three months, before getting a job on base at the Education Center. That helped involve her more in life overseas. She started attending the Family Readiness Groups (FRG) and met more women from their unit. That became her lifeline to friends and support.
Their daughter, Brenna, came as a bit of a surprise. The intention had been to wait until they returned to the States. But life is full of surprises. She stopped working and focused on this new concept of motherhood. They were able to travel a lot, too, but before long were off to Florida for a school and then onto Fort Carson, in Colorado.
Tony deployed within months of their arrival in Colorado and she hadn’t had time to develop any support group by that time. But she joined a playgroup and found a fun place among these other moms. Anthony was born at the end of their time in Colorado.
When he was born, she did begin writing again – but this time it was on her first blog. It was a very here’s-what-we-did-today sort of thing. It wasn’t until the next move to Okinawa that she decided to make her blog public and begin writing more content... more for her... Choosing, after a long hiatus, to use her writing as an outlet again. She said, “It was time to figure out me again.”
She had learned in Germany how great the FRGs were to help her begin friendships, so she has chosen to be apart of them here, too. Admittedly, she says friendships take a long time for her to develop. Seems it takes a year to find someone to really click with, another year to be really comfortable with them and then invariably, one of them is ready to PCS again. With small children, a marriage to maintain, and trying to carve out some time for herself – she often finds friendships fall farther down her list of things to do. But she’s glad that FRG is so active here and always tries to attend the monthly Coffees.
I can tell by the animation in her voice that getting back into writing has really been fun for her. She’s enjoying maintaining her blog and making a record of her family’s life. And when the opportunity came up to join us here at Oki Hai, she jumped at the chance. As soon as she saw Meredith’s Help Wanted ad, she emailed and actually put up her first post that same week! The contrast between the writing styles is a challenge, but she feels almost like she’s back to work... using her skills and her love of writing.
As far as the future, which seems like a million miles away with a toddler in the house, she does picture herself going back to work when the kids are both in school. But admits that she’d like to be there when they get home each day.
Interestingly, she’s recently begun to think that writing may just be something she does for herself and that when she goes back to work, she’d really like to teach military families how to handle their finances better. She and her husband are taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University at Torii Station right now and she’s loving it... She seems to be the biggest nerd in the class and is thinking it might be a good fit! Finances can be such a big issue in marriages, and since taking this class, she and her husband have worked together on money issues for the first time. It’s been great for them.
But for now, the struggle for balance goes on... family, marriage, personal time, friendships... balance in everything is the goal – and Heather struggles along with us to achieve that goals.
Hi Heather:
My name is Nichole. I am a nurse in the AF. My dependent husband and I just arrived on island at the beginning of June. We are expecting in December with our first. We also just married not too long before PCSing here. We are very excited, and still everything seems to be happening at once.
We took the Dave Ramsey course before we got married and got A LOT out of it. I read that you and your husband took it at Tori Station. Could you possibly get a POC contact name/number to me as I am interested in taking the course also at Tori.
Coming to the island…just getting married and pregnant and then coming here when my spouse left his job back in the States has brought on a whole new set of financial challenges.
I would greatly appreciate any direction you could offer as to how to get enrolled in a class.
Thanks!
Nichole
Hi Nichole,
They offer the financial peace university at Torii Chapel. I took it there last year. You may want to contact one of the chaplains there to see if they are going to be offering another class. I haven’t heard them announce anything during church though, but it would be best to contact a chaplain. Chaplain Jerles who was leading the class has already PCS’d. The number for Torii Chapel is 644-5107.
Hi Heather:
Wow..time has flown. Thanks for the info about Dave Ramsey. I have another question for you now. My husband and I are writing a Children’s Book now. I noticed you have writing experience and wanted to ask you opinion as far as how to get a book published goes. This is all new to me so I just wanted to brainstorm with you if you had any ideas. Thanks so much! By the way how much time do you have left here on island?