Mission (almost) Accomplished.

DH and I went to the Memorial Day Weekend barbecue in our community on Sunday. There were probably a few hundred people there. It was remarkable to me, how many of those people were children, when DH and I bought our house. And now, those children had grown up, and had children of their own. Some, bought houses and stayed in the neighborhood (even in this difficult time in the economy, there are NO houses for sale on our street), some moved away, but came back for the barbecue, so large the event loomed in their childhoods.

The families that DH and I grew up in moved a lot during our childhoods. Not as in the military, frequently, but also without the support of such an overarching organization. When he and I married, when we talked about having children, when we were house hunting, we agreed that we didn't want that for our children-they should have a sense of "place." Our older daughter just finished her second year of college, our younger daughter, her second year of high school. This has been their home all of their lives.

Of course, neither girl was at the barbecue. Knowing that home will always be there means that you have the freedom to leave. I find it all very satisfying.