Water Can Be As Thick as Blood
By Madi Balman
Moving away from my hometown was one of the most bittersweet moments of my life. Leaving your hometown is always hard, but when you grow up in a place like Charleston, South Carolina, leaving comes with even more complicated feelings. Still, moving away taught me so many things, including how important family is–and that family isn’t just about blood.
I met my husband, August, in 2020. Dating apps were perfect for a newly-single person in the pandemic, so I thought, why not? When I came across his profile (that made me laugh hysterically), I immediately knew I wanted him in my life. After the hardships and tribulations that came with that very obnoxiously long year, we made it through, moved in together, and got married.
August is in the Navy. For most of my life, that would have been a dealbreaker. But we were in a pandemic–everything was changing. Despite my original intentions of never dating, let alone marrying, someone in the military, it became obvious I was meant to be his partner from the beginning. Marriage requires sacrifices, and I needed to sacrifice my so-thought direction of my life to choose him. And in the end, I did.
Fast forward to January of 2022. It was finally time to say goodbye to our first apartment and move to Groton, Connecticut. August would be stationed on a submarine that was still being built. I have moved away from cities that I’ve known before, as my dad moved us around for his job, too, but I lived in Charleston for all of middle school, high school, and college. It was simply all I knew. I was terrified to start a life in a new city, meet new people, and try to “start over” in almost every aspect of my life. We moved in the middle of a blizzard (and if you know how Southern folk do snow… you can imagine how I felt), and got settled easily. Let me just say, they’re not kidding when they say that home is a person (or people in my case), not a location.
One by one, I began to meet our new circle of friends, being introduced to people from all over the States. The difference between this tribe and the one back home, though, is that the people here get it. They understand how hard being in the military is. They get how lonely it feels to not be around everything you know. They get how necessary it is to grow close and hold onto fleeting moments, because we’re probably going to be moving away from each other at some point. We created close connections quickly, because we had military life in common.
We’ve been here in Connecticut for over two years now, and those friendships have blossomed into something more. We’ve created our own little family within our circle of friends. They are a part of our lives in every way that “blood family” would be. In our free time, we play board games, go to the gym together, play beach volleyball, and garden together. One thing has been determined: water can absolutely be thicker than blood. My chosen family here in New England are a god-sent.
Nowadays, our tribe here loves us like their own - including my new little baby we welcomed into the world late last year. They’re my son’s uncles and aunties, and love us more than we ever thought possible. I didn’t think I would be happy being in a military family, but it’s truly the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
