Southern Hospitality

Imagine living near your entire family in your hometown. Imagine that one of those people is your 6 months pregnant fiancee. Now imagine the fact that you have just received a job opportunity some 900 miles away, and the best thing for your future family is to take that job. What would you do? There are three major things that affect you and your life when you move away from home. Those three things are, missing your family, adapting to new living conditions, and expanding your responsibilities as a person and eventually a parent. When you live any distance away from your family, you will miss them with varied amounts of difficulty. Some of us have no problem missing our families, however. When I was eighteen years old I joined the United States Air Force. My first duty assignment was RAF Mildenhall, England. After the first year I became accustomed to missing my family. The largest difference about this move from Michigan to Georgia was, in fact, that I was engaged and that my fiancee was six months pregnant with my son, Derek. This was the most difficult thing I had ever had to endure as a person. When I first moved, she didn’t immediately want to move with me because it was much easier to move by myself, because we had no money, and no place to live. Eventually, after about three months and the birth of our son, she moved down with the help of her parents, and grandparents. When I first arrived in Georgia, it was much hotter than Michigan. Remember now, that I’ve lived in two different places in my life. The first place was Michigan, with its icy and brash winters and mild to medium summers. The second place, being England, with is bone chilling still aired winters and extremely mild summers. Now we move to Georgia with its extremely tolerable winters and scorching hot summers. Think about the differences here and imagine how much anyone would have to adapt to those differences. When I first moved here I had a ratty old Ford Explorer with no air conditioning and only two windows that worked. There was an immediate difficulty trying to regulate body temperature when such extremes are encountered. One thing that helped adapt to it was the friendly people that the â€Å"south† is so famous for. Everywhere you went, someone would say, â€Å"How are you hun? † or â€Å"Can we get you something sweetie? † This is one thing that anyone could get used to experiencing every day. All of these things have helped me grow into a better person. When I found out that my fiancee was in labor, it was an unbearable situation to deal with. I was able to take off of work for two weeks so I could make the sixteen hour drive back to Michigan to be with my family and see the birth of my son. When I made it back, I was able to witness the birth of my son. It was the single-handed most exciting moment and day of my life. After the two week â€Å"vacation† I had to make the trip back to Georgia, again, without my family. Now if that doesn’t make your stomach churn, I’m not sure what will. That was the most difficult thing I’d ever had to do. Think about the things that make you who you are. If I am having difficulty with anything in my life, I think of my children and one simple verse. Philippians 4:13 which reads, â€Å"I can do all things in God who gives me strength. †