Supporting the community

With fall creeping in, the birch trees are turning a vibrant yellow, the snow is capping the mountains, and the wind is becoming more and more blustery. It's the wind that made me finally pull the trigger and buy a hat. I could have gone the easy way and just gotten one at the store, but I've come across a few different ladies selling crocheted hats and other neat things on craigslist. I've tried starting conversations with them (maybe as a hope that they will fill the creative crocheting friend void that I left in North Carolina). They've all ignored my emails of compliments on their handiwork except for one. I have never had a cute hat, or even thought of myself as being a cute hat type of person, but I thought that I would give it a try. I met with the girl who makes the hats just outside of Elmendorf AFB, she's a military wife/mom with a kiddo Adi's age, and super nice to boot. You've made a wonderful impression in my book when your first words upon meeting me are, "You are so cute pregnant!" She had a basket full of hats with flowers, slouchy hats, and ear warmers. The ear warmers were super cute, but I knew that I realistically needed something to keep my head warm, not just fashionable. So we let our kids play for a while as I looked through her things, which was nice for Adi. I love watching Adeline play with other kids. She is so outgoing and social it's ridiculous.
So I planned to meet her a few days later on my way home from my biweekly non stress tests. The hospital is just one exit down from the AFB. Adi and I got there a few minutes before she did so we took that as an opportunity to play around the jet parked outside. She loved it. And of course I loved watching her dance under the airplane. When the lady got there, she didn't have change, so instead of finding a way to give me my change, she just gave my two minky burp cloths, one pink and one blue for the twins. Super neat.
It was awesome to connect with people in the community here. I'll admit, I have felt a bit like an outsider when it came to hanging out with some of the stay at home moms in town, since the vast majority of them are military. I don't know what it is, it's just a completely different life and community. But this was my way of sharing a peace pipe between myself and the military community. You wouldn't think that I would have a problem with this, since I grew up on an air force base, but I don't belong to their inner circle of deployments, commissaries, and lingo.
To come full circle back to the beginning. When I emailed her I asked her if she sold any of her stuff in local shops. She told me that she did not, then. When I went to pick up the hat she told me that she was on her way to Sweet Adeline's (I know right!) to set up a table to sell her things there.
It's the little things, the friendly encounters, and the cute crocheted hats that remind of good friends.