We spent last weekend in Norfolk visiting Brian and his family (Hi, Brian and family!). It was really nice to see them and hang out (they make Norfolk FUN!), but I found on the drive in and the way out that I’m REALLY not nostalgic for that area. We lived and worked there for two years. We bought our first house there. We adopted Roxy and Riley into that house. I got out of the Navy there. I got my first post-Navy job there. There’s all that history, but when we drove around and through, my feelings were mostly of the I’m-glad-we-don’t-live-here-anymore variety. There’s nothing WRONG with it. It’s a perfectly nice place to live. But. I don’t think back on my Navy years with fondness (neither does John), and down there, where nearly EVERYONE is in the Navy or has a tie to it, it’s pretty much impossible to ignore.
The dogs are the one thing I AM nostalgic about, of course. I miss them terribly, and it was nice to drive by our old house and remember them playing in the yard, but they spent most of their lives in the Ashburn house, so even that is somewhat overshadowed by the Navy presence.
We moved away 10 and a half years ago. I’ve been out of the Navy officially for nearly 11 years. My Navy phobia hasn’t waned. Okay, “phobia” is too strong. Discomfort. Not going back there.
But the house – the house was good to us. It appears to have lost ALL character in the last ten years (along with the bushes that used to be in front and flowered practically year-round), but let’s blame the owners for that. Also, winter and brown grass and no leaves.
