I'm home

 I was remembering when I was in the service. More specifically the first four years. I was eighteen when I enlisted and twenty-two when that first enlistment ended. I hadn't married and was as free as a bird. I remember feeling pretty grown up, yes sir, I was a man of the world now, free to do as I pleased. Sure, the Navy kept me busy most of the time, but I did have weekends and "vacation" days. Taking leave as it is called in the service. Taking leave was the best part of the service! You still got your pay and didn't have to do a thing. It's great. Well, it was until you got back home. Almost everyone I knew in the service was always talking about going home, being home and missing home. 

The reality was quite different than what I expected. When I got home, everyone was either working, off to college somewhere or in the service themselves! In short, I had the time, all day, every day, and all night too, but no one to play with. It got really boring really quick. Being grown up wasn't anything like I imagined it to be. My parents had moved out of the house I grew up in and I didn't have a bedroom anymore. I was homeless! Well, I hope that doesn't offend any homeless people that may be reading this blog, you know, by comparing myself to them. The days were long just wandering around town. The nights were even longer, not much fun going out by yourself! And going out on the town in your sailor suit isn't anything like in the movies. No, it isn't like that at all. In fact, I would advise against that.

 Being in the service when you are married is another experience altogether. You aren't free as a bird anymore, now you have responsibilities. It does change your mindset. You begin to "buckle" down as the saying goes and act in a more mature fashion. The "boots" those that are single and on their first enlistment look at you differently. Now you are giving the orders, even when they are just little ones. There is a saying in the Navy, and I suspect it applies to all branches equally, you know you are doing your job when you find your name on the bathroom wall! It being the service it will be your last name followed by some descriptive phrase concerning your person or speculation about what you might be doing. Reichart is a (fill in the blank) or Reichart creates a vacuum. Yeah, I've seen all of those doodles many times and just smile, confident that I'm doing my duty.

 Getting leave takes on new meaning too. Now when I got home, I had a home, my home. It didn't matter if it was a rental, base housing or a regular house, it is home. No more being bored when at home, now the time goes all too quickly. Seems like you just got there when it was time to say goodbye. Yes, sometimes I would be gone for six months at a time. That was the job after all, what I agreed to, so that's what I did. So did thousands of others. The worst part was moving all the time. I've lived in Virginia, Connecticut, North Carolina, Louisiana and Maryland. Yes, the Navy packed us up and moved us, that part wasn't bad, but you sure didn't put any roots down. As a result, after twenty years of moving you don't feel like you belong anywhere in particular. 

 Well, at least I didn't, it may be different for those that return to the old hometown and settle back down there. That wasn't an option for me. I retired back in '93. It will be exactly twenty-nine years on November the first. I'm still in the same town and still don't feel like I belong here. There are times I feel like I'm just waiting to move. In fact, I think about moving often. Right after I win the lottery. Chances are I'm not winning the lottery or moving. I have a feeling I would feel the same way after I did move though. 

 It's been said that home is where the heart is. I think that is the truth. I discovered after leaving my "home" what I believed to be home anyway, that home wasn't where I had left it. The reality was, I had taken it with me. It wasn't a geographic place after all. It is a state of mind, memories and sentiment, the place where those emotions live. It doesn't matter where I live, they go with me. I have been adding rooms to that home ever since I first boarded the train for Navy boot camp. I'm adding them still. Home is where the heart is, and where the heart is shared. I'm very fortunate to have a wife, children and grandchildren to share my heart (my home) with. I'm home.