By the end of the summer in 2003 my brother had advanced to the commissioned ranks and was offered the chance to tour and live overseas with his wife. My then unofficial husband and I deployed with different units earlier that year and served several months overseas. My husband and I were left to fend for ourselves. Yes, I'm being dramatic. We settled into our routine. I wanted things to be the same but now my husband and I were sharing living expenses since making the decision and being approved to move out of our individual on base quarters. It was nice to have a full kitchen and mostly nice to be able to leave work. We decided to to live near the neighborhood my brother and his wife owned their first houses in and now reside.
My brother and his wife are incredible house keepers. You cant help but want to be at their house for this reason. They always kept a fully stocked fridge of stuff to throw on the grill and refreshments. My husband and I had the privilege of pretty much being able to raid their cabinets without asking so long as we would clean up any mess we made. Their house was the destination for weekend visits. Being able to make real food that wasn't on a bun, prepackaged or the product of a mobile food truck was something to looking forward to.