Our New Assignment!

I love Christmas, the lights, the music, the anticipation.

“For me?”

As a kid, the month of December felt like it took FOREVER!

As a parent, the month of December flies by!

“Too much to do and no time to do it!”

The magic of Christmas can get lost. Luckily for me, I’m married to a soldier.

The Army gives us lots of surprises and one in particular feels like Christmas to me. It is that every 3 years we get to move…somewhere, anywhere there is an Army post. In some of the Army jobs, the soldier gets to pick where he goes next. Chaplains do not (at this lower level).

Chad fills out a wish list of his top 3 choices state side and top 3 choices of foreign stations. Then we just wait and see where they send us.

Wait.

Wait.

Wait.

For the last 4, 5 months people have been asking us, “When are you leaving Alaska?”

“June 16th.”

“Where are you going next?” said with eager eyes, i.e. what is in your present?

“We don’t know.”

Awkward pause, with wide eyes, i.e. how can you not know?

People just don’t know how to handle the not knowing. It’s not so bad. Chad and I went for years not knowing what his profession was going to be. It doesn’t matter where we move, Chad will have a job. Repeat, the man will have a job, one that he likes. The details are just part of an adventure. That is why it feels like Christmas. The 4 month wait feels like the 1 month wait as a kid. We asked for something from the mother Army but we don’t know if we are gonna get it. It’s very exciting.

Today at 1:00 Chad found out where we are headed off to next.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina!

That was Chad’s number 1 pick. He really wanted to go back to Fort Bragg, home of Psychological Operations. That was were he served as an enlisted soldier.

Well we got Fort Bragg (yeah) but we didn’t get Psy Op (boo).

It’s kind of like we asked for a Transformer for Christmas, specifically Optimus Prime,

“Heather, do you want to go on a date? Let’s roll out!”

but we got this guy instead.

<chirp, chirp>

It is a grasshopper Transformer. (Fun fact: I really got this for Christmas one year.)

It’s still a Transformer and it’s fun, it’s just not exactly what we asked for. However it will do and it’s way better than a Go Bot.

“Hey, racist!”

We look forward to returning to the East coast even though it may feel far away for our families and friends (don’t kill me Krystal that we aren’t coming to Texas!). After living in Alaska, where it cost a fortune to fly, anywhere in the lower 48 states feels closer to home.

We have made some fabulous friends up here, but some have left all ready and others are heading out too, so I can’t wait till June 16th.

Don’t worry Alaska, I won’t let the door hit me on the way out! Ciao!

The only state to have on it’s license plates, people leaving that very state!

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