I Was a Navy Pilot’s Wife

A long time ago in San Diego, California, I was a Navy pilot’s wife and mother to 2 little children who have forgotten me. Since Independence Day is tomorrow, I wish they would remember that they have a mom who misses them.

I watched their dad Jeff Smith endure Officer Training School at NAS (Naval Air Station) Pensacola, Florida. I helped him study for basic Flight School at NAS Milton, Florida. I helped him get through Jet Training at NAS Beeville, Texas (the hottest place I’ve ever lived). He even let me operate the multimillion-dollar jet simulator set on hydraulics so that you felt you really were in a cockpit. I toured and flew in many types of airplanes, especially the one-engine ones Jeff piloted for fun (and their simulators). I dressed Kristen and Ryan in cute little matching sailor suits. I took care of them alone while their father was deployed for 8 months at a time on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, which we toured at Naval Station San Diego while we lived in Officer’s Housing on NAS North Island, Coronado Island. I held their hands and walked across the sandy runway to the Officer’s Club and swimming pool, where I taught them both to swim. We walked to the beach not far from there and had picnics in the sand, the sweet salt air cooling our faces. We explored the famous old Del Coronado Hotel with its dance floors and inside swimming pool. I learned to sail a boat big enough to sleep our family in its cabin, piloting past The Point and to the open sea, using a compass and map for Coastal Navigation.

I took Jessica to meet her dad at the Philippines and Hong Kong when she was just five years old. I took Kristen and Ryan to live for months in England while their father was deployed again. We rode a C-130 military transport plane with their dad to Germany and a huge C-3 transport jet all the way back to America. We sailed on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise under the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco and out to sea. We stood on that flight deck and watched a Navy jet land and catch the metal wire with its tail hook not far from where we stood. We ate at the Officers Mess and saw the glowing green mysteries of radar machines, computers, and big clear plastic war screens of the CIC (ship’s War Room). I learned to fire all kinds of guns at the Shooting Range. I stayed in the top floor of the world’s best hotels and hand-picked foreign treasures from overseas, to highlight in my china cabinet. We watched July 4th fireworks across San Diego bay, the blue bridge arcing over waves.

I tried to continue as a Navy wife, but the long separations with 2 small children were just too difficult. Jeff Smith was an honorable but quiet man, not my Soulmate. After 12 years our marriage ended. Since I was more at fault, I got the worst part of the deal (he even got the photos). I had other failed attempts at marriage and 2 new children, whom I took with me to live in New Zealand, away from their abusive dad who took them back again. I taught for 5 years alone in Russia, Turkey, and China, then returned to struggle, alone again, in expensive California. During my 9 months teaching in a desert prison, I finally found my Soulmate, and that is my happier story even though Jose is still in prison. I love the man he is, not his job, income, or possessions. True love doesn’t fail. I should have known that long ago. Maybe Kristen and Ryan would still be speaking to me if I hadn’t “abandoned ship.” But there was so much they didn’t know. We see so little of other people’s lives, not like God who can see all. Therefore, I think, as Jesus said, we have no right to judge each other. Though I have not seen Kristen or Ryan for 7 years, I hope they will remember that they had a Military Mom, and she is still alive and wishes them a Happy Independence Day!

Kristen and Ryan at Fountain’s Abbey, Yorkshire, England

On the grounds of Fountains Abbey

Kristen with her younger half-sister Jessica (a few years ago)

 

Jessica with her older half-brother Ryan (a few years ago)

Jonathan with Ryan and Jessica in 2010

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Homeless in America

All of us face challenges.  In America, our challenges are usually not as difficult as people who face civil war in South Sudan, where children walk miles each day just to find a safe place to sleep.  Yet many people think life is easy for Americans. I say, not true. Which do you think was more difficult for this American (Lonna Lisa Williams) to do:

1. Leave my California home in October, 2010 for Russia to teach English because I could not find a job in my own country even though my grandfather graduated from Yale University, was a professor at UNC, and handed the torch of education to my teacher mother and to me. Endure a long winter where I wore chains on my boots to run across the ice that coated every surface.  Teach English to 13-year-olds only to end up speaking and reading in Russian because no one really wanted to speak English and hated America. Even though my grandmother was Russian, I learned their alphabet and simple words as a child, and I look Russia, most people avoided me because I was the “Amerikanka.” Discover that Vodka is easier to get than good tea, Russian food is bland and full of potatoes, and everyone shares alcohol and violence in the 3rd-class wagons of the Russian train from Samara to Moscow. Endure the 17-hour journey with 50 bunks to a wagon, accidentally stepping on a sleeping Russian woman who screamed when I descended from my top bunk. Cry on the trash bin in the back of the wagon. Kiss a Russian stranger between the wagons, in that blessed cold, dark connector, as snow fields slipped past and a full moon shone on frozen rivers. We, Russian and American, kissed without words, like lovers from a war movie who will never meet again, showing how tragedy is really, really Russian and American.

Expats Blog Interview of Me

Thanks so much to Expats Blog for their wonderful interview with me.  They highlighted my adventures in Turkey with photos and survival tips.  Great job, Expats Blog!

“Best Moment Award”

Journeyaroundtheglobe nominated my Blog for the “Best Moment Award,” and I’d like to thank this adventurous writer and mom who has seen so many places and who cared to follow my own travels.  I’d also like to thank my children Jessica and Jonathan, who are always inspirations for my Special Moments.

I held Jonathan’s hand across a New Zealand suspension bridge above a raging river when he was 8.  The water roared down from glacial mountains, and he looked up at me with eyes the same color as the river.  He squeezed my fingers tight and trusted me.  Now he’s almost 18 and about to graduate from high school.  I haven’t always led him to the safest places, but I think he will never forget our adventures in New Zealand.

I snorkled with Jessica among brightly-colored fish in a Kauai coral reef cove when she was 8.  She jumped out of the aquamarine water and screamed, “There are fish down here!”  I held her trembling shoulders in my arms and promised her safety.  Now she’s 20 and finding her own home in California while I teach English in Turkey.  I miss her and her brother Jonathan and am trying to write my way home to visit them.

The moments we shared will always live in my heart, and I am grateful to my children for walking with me.  I am also grateful to my Blog readers who care to read about my adventures, and to the Creator who imagined such transitory beauty in far-off places–and in a child’s eyes at home.

You can read more about my adventures in my book “Fire and Ice.”

Weekly Photo Challenge: Everyday Life

Child Rides Tram in Taksim, Istanbul, Turkey

I took a ride on the tram (like a trolley car on tracks) that goes through the busy Taksim district of Istanbul, Turkey. This local boy, with some friends, rode on the back for free–a kind of Turkish Joyride. Taksim is amazing, with old buildings and trendy shops. Come visit me in Turkey!

Duden Waterfall in Turkey

I went to Duden Waterfall near Antalya, Turkey and took photos from all angles (even from the cave behind the waterfall). I love waterfalls! What do you think?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Merge

I merged a portrait of a Russian grandmother with the distant landscape of the Samara Freedom Statue. It was a rainy day, and the gray clouds and wet concrete also contrast with the colors of grandma’s umbrella. What do you think?

Homeless Couple Ask for Money in Stylish San Francisco

What’s wrong with this photo? Before I left to teach English in Russia nearly 2 years ago, I stayed a week in San Francisco to get my Russian visa. While sightseeing in an upscale shopping area of the stylish city built on hills above a lovely bay, I walked by this homeless couple, asking for food money as they traveled together. Not many people stopped to give them something.

Also notice that the woman is pregnant, and they have a little dog.  See the cup lying discarded on the street.

Do we discard the homeless people in our world?

http://www.lonnawilliams.com

Weekly Photo Challenge: Growth

Milford Sound Waterfall, New Zealand.

I journeyed by car, foot, and boat to find snow-topped mountains above water, where waterfalls cascade down green slopes in the South Island of New Zealand. This is Milford Sound in Fijordland. I captured this waterfall from a boat. To me, it symbolizes “growth” because without water, growth is not possible. Notice the little tree at the bottom right of the waterfall. It is happily growing. Jesus said, “I am the water of life; if you believe in me, living water will spring up from your soul.”

Ankara, Turkey Video

For those of you who liked my story about visiting Anitkabir, Ataturk’s Tomb in Ankara, Turkey, here is a video with more photos. I spent all afternoon walking around the amazing complex (in the snow) and was amazed at views of Ataturk’s life: his clothes, books, cars, boat, swords, pens, and historic photos of Turkey.