Tuesday, March 16, 2010

St. Paddy's and Progress

Wishing you lots of Irish luck today and always!

I grew up very aware and very proud of my strong Irish roots and I like St. Paddy's Day because it reminds me of my heritage, family and memories of making leprechaun boxes with my sister and my mom's Irish soda bread, and corn beef and cabbage. Holidays are synonymous with traditions in my family. My parents always made them special. Now that I'm away from them I cling to these memories and think of how I will continue them with Boots.

Today I am also remembering my little cousin Connor who died in a car accident on Saint Patrick's Day. He was 11 years old. My heart still aches for him. My thoughts and prayers go to my family today, to my aunt and uncle who lost their only child. Connor was the baby of the family, a sweet boy and we will always miss him.

Connor must have been smiling down on us today because we've had some real Irish luck of our own. We have finalized our housing arrangements and will be moving in on Friday. Good bye hotels! And to top it off, both of our shipments are already here and will be delivered on Friday. I am so happy about that!

Boots had a monumental event happen yesterday. He had his first flight with his first squadron! I can only imagine what it must have felt like to have that feeling of ultimate achievement. All he's ever wanted since he was 2 years old was to be a pilot and he is done it. I am so happy for him and incredibly proud!

We are now the proud owners of two Okinawa cars:

We got the little green one today, very appropriate for St. Patty's. It is a 97 Nissan March, it is very little! The other one is small too, it's a really old Rav4. Cars on the island tend to be older, although you can find a huge range of options. The streets can be very narrow and speed limits are much slower than in the states, so some people choose to drive small cars with less power than a US car. Here, they have a JCI that you have to renew every two years, as well as a road tax every year. We were told to look for cars with AC (because I hear is gets insanely hot here) and cars with JCI's that don't expire for at least a year. We bought both of the cars from people on the island PCSing soon and it was really easy to get the title and registration transferred and the insurance set up. If you come here and are looking for a car there are plenty of car dealerships, but most people look on the lemon lots on base and online at OkinawaYardSales and JapanUpdate.

7 comments:

GUAMtastic said...

Happy St. Patty's Day!! Hope you can find corn beef at the Commissary :)

Becca said...

Oh, so sorry to hear you lost such a sweet little boy in your family. It sounds like they (and you) do a wonderful job of celebrating his life and each other. Happy St. Patty's!

Mary said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! :) I thought of Connor while driving in this morning. I'm glad he was able to bring you some luck! I want to hear all about your house. Which one did you end up picking?

Tell Boots Congrats for making his first flight! He must have been so excited. Of all the milestones you two have had recently, that is a big one. :)

Holy crap your two cars are SO CUTE. And now both of you will be able to go wherever you want -- beach weekend maybe?

Love you always!

Kaitlin said...

Can't wait to see pics of your new place!

I second Mary - tell Boots congrats!! That is amazing!!

Haha, wow those are some adorable cars! They made me smile for sure! And umm, are those steering wheels on the WRONG side?? Thank goodness the speed limits are low(at least at first...haha)

Hoping your great luck continues the rest of the year! :-)

alanna said...

hiiii cupcake! ok...
1) you and hubs are a GORGEOUS couple, i'm positive i've said this before but it's crazy!
2) bahaha your cars are so cute and little! when we stopped in guam i noticed the same thing...tiny, older cars. whatever, they must've been inexpensive! also i thought it was fascinating you had to be 'authorized' to own a car. what that would do for congestion in america...
3) prayers for you and connor's family on this day and every day!

Anonymous said...

Your cars are so cute!! That's so exciting that you finally get to get settled in with all of your stuff. I know you have got to be more than ready to get unpacked!
I'm sorry to hear about Connor, my thoughts are with you all!

PS - I know I just left a comment on practically every post haha.. I'm not stalking! I promise! Just catching up on reading blogs :)

Eve said...

Thanks everyone! haha no problem Ruffles, I'm happy to have a reader!