If anyone likes Weather with a capital W, y'all should come on down to Kain-tuck, where something strong is always brewing. In fact, parts of Kentucky are referred to as "Tornado Alley." Who knew? I thought that was all Kansas. The military lifestyle has certainly highlighted my sad lack of geographical knowledge. I'm still surprised when I'm reminded that Cincinnati is relatively close by and Illinois next door.
Which leads me to one of my strains of musing lately. Why is Kentucky considered part of the South? Isn't it much more a part of the mid west? What highlights this is the fact that right above is the solidly Midwestern state of Indiana, with its solidly Midwestern accent, German work ethic and precisely trimmed hedges.
Cross the muddy Ohio and one is plunged at once into a distinctly southern accent and a proud Confederate history, which overlays their Colonial Western frontier history. However, out in Colorado, going to Kentucky meant "going back East." And to the east is in fact Virgina, which is sort of South but really much more East. So.... Kentucky must be smack dab in the Mid South Eastern region of the US.
Anyway, the weather report here is calling for a warm and yeasty atmosphere above which brooding clouds will roil and stew. Going outside is completely enervating, one becomes immediately as limp as a piece of collard greens thrown into a hot pan. This weather may explain why, no matter what I do, the upstairs always smells moldy.
"I'm intrigued by your beauty and honesty," said my very flattering husband, near the tail end of a marital discussion of Import (which is the fancy phrase for an argument in the making).
"Intrigued, huh?" I asked, batting my eyelashes and forgetting what else I had planned to say.
"You're a fascinating and beautiful woman," he explained.
And that was the end of that discussion.
We are very close to completely paying off Tier Two debt, since we used his reup bonus to pay off my credit card and the ATV loan and a large chunk of the Star Card. This lifts a huge, invisible burden off of us. Since now we need to merely make one payment, we are hoping to pay off the Star Card in three or four months.
Then maybe we can pour that money straight into savings and/or into an extra mortgage payment on the house in Colorado. If we make one extra mortgage payment a year, we'll have it paid off in ten years instead of fifteen, which would mean in ten years, not only would Keith be retired, but we'd own the house outright.
This is the American dream. Work hard, save your money, and make solid investments. I'm all about it.
Speaking of Colorado, there's a possibility that we could be moving back there in a year. Keith's 1st Sergeant got a code lifted from his ERB which was requiring him to stay with this unit and move to GA. He called Keith about a week ago to say we have ten minutes to decide where else to put in for.
Fortunately, Keith was home for lunch at the time, so he ended the call and we looked at each other. How to decide. It's not so easy to just decide back to Colorado, because that puts Keith right back into the deployment cycle.
"I'm meant to be in a line unit," Keith said, after a minute. "It's what I do."
"I know," I said, because I really do. I understood that when I married him.
So we put in for Colorado. Who knows what will happen. It was such a strange little interlude, sometimes I wonder if it wasn't just my imagination. But it would be so marvelous if in a year we were moving back home to Colorado instead of to Georgia.
What makes it even better is that the two year lease our renter has would be up that fall, in November, so we'd only have to find temporary lodging for the summer and then move back into our own home.
We still day dream about that home.
"Remember the garage?" Keith said wistfully, just last night.
We seem to be waiting on a lot of stuff lately.
