Operation Homelife Welcome Home! Yes, You Live Here Now

Welcome Home! Yes, You Live Here Now

by Krysta Murray I have actually said those words to my husband more than once. Maybe more. Truly, he shows up from deployment and I have moved all of our belongings to a new house, a new state, a new country. He has been paying rent on a place he never actually stepped foot in yet.

Our first deployment was two years into our marriage. Even though he had been away many times for schools or training or underways, it was the first time he would be gone for months on end rather than weeks at a time. How many months was actually not determined by the time he left, and could change anyway. He was also deploying to an active war zone at the time and I’d say we were both pretty stressed about it so I opted to take a semester off from college and move back home for awhile to be near family.

I moved back roughly two months before he returned to start my next semester and get us a place to live. I specifically remember needing a new bedroom set and ordering a fairly inexpensive one that was mailed there in about 10 boxes and 200 pieces I had to put together myself. Two nightstands, a chest and dresser with so many drawers to be assembled. A friend and I spent hours surrounded by pieces with the little letter

stickers on them as we flipped through pages of assembly instructions. By the time he arrived I had settled in already, and showed him the new bedroom set, how the washing machine worked, where the silverware drawer was, etc. When it came to a homeport shift to Spain, he and the crew had to worry about getting the boat there, but the spouses had to get ourselves and our things there. So most of us went ahead of them. While the household items would take awhile to arrive, the house search was a more intense process; we had cultural integration courses to complete, visas to apply for and a driver’s license to obtain. All while living out of a hotel room with a toddler no less, in my situation. The ship arrived before we found a house, and we moved to temporary housing for a week or so and surprise! He was sent back stateside for a school! So while he was away, I found a house, had our household goods delivered and had unpacked everything. By the time he got back, I had to show him how everything worked and the buttons were all in Spanish. He somehow managed to skip the moving part again when I left Spain to come to California. (He swears it was not intentional.) He wasn’t technically departing until October and would be on deployment up until then, but our son was old enough to start school that September so we got special permission to leave that August so I could obtain a house and register our child for school. My son and I flew overnight to Virginia, grabbed a few hours of sleep there

before taking another two planes to San Diego. We stayed at a hotel for only two days before the house was available to move into. So we did, because we only had so many days allotted to be in a hotel. However, our stuff would take a lot longer. For six weeks I slept on a pullout sofa couch I bought when I moved in, and used outdoor patio furniture as temporary living room seating in which I watched TV on my computer. My small express shipment arrived so I had a computer, toys for my child, some laundry baskets and extra sets of clothes and towels and a few kitchenware items. That was it. Sure enough by mid-September, the truck arrived with all our things. So when my husband flew in that October, he had an actual bed and fully furnished house to call home. Of course he was only here for a month before he went to a three month school across the country. By the time he was here long enough to figure out his way around the house and the area, I had been here six months. Needless to say, when we leave California, I would not be surprised if I am yet again sleeping on a deflating air mattress waiting for our things. I imagine when they arrive I will assemble our household, arrange furniture and decorate. The bed will have freshly laundered sheets, and I’ll greet my husband with, “Welcome home! Yes, this is our house, let me show you around.”

Tender Green Beans

Nothing says summer like the crisp snap of a green bean. A perfect addition to any meal or snack, they can be eaten raw or cooked. While they are available year round (luckily!), mid-to-late summer is the ideal time for indulging. The common green bean, also known as string bean, is what is mainly found in grocery stores. Other varieties are the French green bean (also called haricot vert), snap bean (not sugar snap peas), the pale yellow wax bean, the purple bean (turns green when cooked) - and so many more! Green beans are a low calorie, high nutrient food. When green beans are fresh and crisp, they pack vitamins C and K, dietary fiber, folate, magnesium, potassium and silicon, with no cholesterol. They are heart healthy and good for bones, skin and hair. Green beans keep their antioxidant levels after cooking. Trim ends off before eating. Green beans should be firm and snap when bent. If they bend and are wilted, they are old; they are certainly edible at that stage, but won’t have the same amount of nutrition. Store unwashed, whole beans in a container or plastic bag in the crisper section of the refrigerator up to seven days. To freeze beans, rinse in cool water, dry completely. Trim ends and cut to desired size, put in a freezer bag and remove as much air as you can. Some people opt to blanch beans first. Enjoy these versatile, fresh vegetable!