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| Probably one of the best things about Alamogordo: White Sands. |
Can you believe we've been in Alamogordo one year?! We arrived 11/2/2015 and I think I went to our first playdate the very next week. I can remember so many details about this time last year. So much change and now we are awaiting more change. I'm beginning to realize that with kids in the picture, life will never really slow down anytime soon. But I want to feel settled, I want that stability. It's something I crave, and I hope it happens soon.
I miss Colorado everyday. I miss my friends, my gym, my job, my house. I love Denver, and I hope to be back there one day.
As much as I dislike living in Alamogordo the one thing I absolutely love are the friends I have made. I have met some amazing women! I have some great friendships that have made living here tolerable. I knew once we moved having friends would be crucial to my mental health and that's why I jumped in and got involved with various groups. Mops, playdates, book club, bunco, etc. And when we leave I'm going to miss these ladies so much. They've been there for me more than they will ever know.
Let's talk about the bad. One of the things I hate the most about living here is the lack of food options. We go to either Chili's or Applebee's once a week (not that often, but that is what it seems) and we are so sick of it. I know that once we move it'll be at least a year before we go to either one of those restaurants again. There is a good pizza place and good mexican food. But the local places are closed on Sundays. As someone who enjoys good food and a good meal out, to not have endless options is still a big adjustment for me.
The weather here is so hot. I definitely miss seasons. It's the beginning of November and our air conditioner is still going off. The spring winds. They are brutal.
I would say that there is nothing to do, but truly that isn't true. I would say there's a lack of things on the weekends, but there's usually always stuff going on at the library. Or there are parks to go to, but the parks are sand covered which I hate, and over the summer a handful of parks got a shade covering, which was great!. And a lot of the parks don't have a place for the parents to sit at, which sucks. There are a shortage of sidewalks which makes going for a walk outside of the neighborhood tough. There are no splash parks which made this hot brutal summer super hot and brutal. The pool was only open for afternoon swim, which sucked.
The lack of shopping. Thank goodness for online. But really if you can't find it at Wal-mart you might as well click at amazon. We go to Wal-mart at LEAST twice a week.
Because we are so close to Air Force base they have these random sonic booms, and they are so scary, it's like a mini-earthquake. Sometimes they are twice in a row, those ones are super scary.
The lack of visitors. My parents obviously come down frequently, but I had more visitors the first two months I lived in Denver, compared to the year I've lived here and majority of my family is only 3 hours away. This shows me that people come visit the place that you live, if that makes sense? I get that there is nothing to do here, but honestly it makes me a little sad that not more of my family has come down.
Let's talk about the good. There is no traffic. You can drive from one end of town to the other end in 15 minutes. White Sands, it's amazing having such a beautiful National park literally in your backyard. Helena loves it, and it's a lot of fun and a great sight to see. Everyone has a story. I love hearing people's life stories, and the fact that Alamogordo is a military town just about everyone has a story. Since living here and various people moving away I now know people who live in: Hawaii, Japan, Germany, San Antonio, and that's all I can think of for now. Mountain towns: Cloudcroft and Ruidoso. Cloudcroft is about 30 minutes away, there isn't much to do there but in the summer it's 10 to 15 degrees cooler. Ruidoso is fun and also cooler!
Alamogordo will always hold a very special place in my heart mainly because of Bennett. This will always be known as his first home, even though he won't remember it. I like to think we came here so I could have my VBAC because I feel had we stayed in CO who knows if I would have done the work to find a new doctor because I did really love the doctor who delivered Helena, but I think had I stayed with her care I would have ended up in a repeat c-section with Bennett. Moving forced me to "shop" for a doctor that I really liked and would give me a true try at a VBAC, and because of that I did get my VBAC. So for that reason alone I'm thankful for the move to Alamogordo.
Living here is obviously not my most favorite thing, one of the hardest things is not having pride in where I live. I know it is sad to say but it's true. Being in a small town is just not me. Up until I left driving around Denver I would just get this rush. Going up and town I-25 I would think to myself "I can't believe this is where I get to live." I felt that appreciation up until we took that final drive out of Colorado on 11/1/2015. I never thought I would live in New Mexico again, let alone in Alamogordo. I miss having that pride in where I live. That feeling of getting teary eyed of living in such a beautiful place. I guess because I did the work to get myself to Colorado. I did the work to keep myself there. Moving to Denver at 22 I didn't know I would love it so much. At the time I was moving away just for the sake of moving away. But being there for 13 years I went trough some really low lows and some amazing highs. And along the way it truly became my home. One day I hope and pray to go back home.
