Did I dream of becoming a Navy wife? No! Never! I wanted to stay in the safety of my own small town world like all the other post World War II couples I knew. But man proposes and God disposes so, dragging my feet, I encountered a frighteningly unfamiliar world whose terms and conditions were created by the United States Navy. I tip-toed into it reluctantly and only years later when my husband was retiring, did I come to realize how much the way of life had become a part of me, and how much I was going to miss it. The learning process was challenging. I never grew to love the weeks and months of loneliness, but I did learn to cope with it, and grew in the learning.