by: Jen Kinsella
“There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.”
--Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
I am counting many blessings this year: my family, good health, wonderful friends, and a job I love. But I am particularly thankful that my family and I have “come home” to Jacksonville.
Two years ago, we moved to the Washington, DC area because my husband had accepted a two-year assignment on the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. While it was a great professional opportunity for him, I was sad to leave a city that I had grown to love and the many friends I had made while living here.
I joined the JLJ after moving here in 2007 as a way to meet new people and get involved in the community. Over the course of the next two years, I had the opportunity to volunteer for some outstanding community projects, like CARES, and I also made some wonderful friends along the way. When I was pregnant with my oldest son in 2008, four other FYAs were also expecting their first children. Those women and I became very close while we shared the joys (and aches and pains!) of pregnancy. We found support in one another as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our little ones – with our five children being born about 7 weeks apart (and two of us actually delivering on the SAME day!).
When we moved to DC in 2009, I was able to keep in touch with everyone - thanks in large part to Facebook, email and the work travel that brought me down here on a monthly basis. And when we found out last year that the Navy was bringing us back to Jacksonville, I was thrilled!
My husband and I have often asked each other, “What is it about Jacksonville?” “Why does this city feel like ‘home’ to us?” It isn’t perfect – there are so many needs in this community, but there is also so much potential. And as members of the JLJ we are charged with helping to make Jacksonville a better place for ourselves, our families and those less fortunate than us. So this Thanksgiving, let us all count our blessings and continue our work to improve this special place that we are blessed to call “home.”
“There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.”
--Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
I am counting many blessings this year: my family, good health, wonderful friends, and a job I love. But I am particularly thankful that my family and I have “come home” to Jacksonville.
Two years ago, we moved to the Washington, DC area because my husband had accepted a two-year assignment on the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. While it was a great professional opportunity for him, I was sad to leave a city that I had grown to love and the many friends I had made while living here.
I joined the JLJ after moving here in 2007 as a way to meet new people and get involved in the community. Over the course of the next two years, I had the opportunity to volunteer for some outstanding community projects, like CARES, and I also made some wonderful friends along the way. When I was pregnant with my oldest son in 2008, four other FYAs were also expecting their first children. Those women and I became very close while we shared the joys (and aches and pains!) of pregnancy. We found support in one another as we anxiously awaited the arrival of our little ones – with our five children being born about 7 weeks apart (and two of us actually delivering on the SAME day!).
When we moved to DC in 2009, I was able to keep in touch with everyone - thanks in large part to Facebook, email and the work travel that brought me down here on a monthly basis. And when we found out last year that the Navy was bringing us back to Jacksonville, I was thrilled!
My husband and I have often asked each other, “What is it about Jacksonville?” “Why does this city feel like ‘home’ to us?” It isn’t perfect – there are so many needs in this community, but there is also so much potential. And as members of the JLJ we are charged with helping to make Jacksonville a better place for ourselves, our families and those less fortunate than us. So this Thanksgiving, let us all count our blessings and continue our work to improve this special place that we are blessed to call “home.”
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