Oh, Come ON!!

So. Lately my thoughts have been mostly consumed with our impending move to Germany. Not surprising, since it's a big undertaking to move your entire household to another continent, even if the Army does do most of the leg work. I've been hearing mostly positive things from my friends, they're all excited for us. Except for one lady I spoke to the other day. They are brand new to the Army, only been out of basic for a few months. We were talking about different duty stations and I mentioned to her that we are on assignment to Germany and she just couldn't believe that we are actually excited about it. She told me that I won't like living so far away from my family. I told her that yeah, that part kind of sucks, but truth be told, I'm always far away from my family, so it doesn't really make that much of a difference. She tells me that I must not realize how different Europe is from the States. I tell her, well, actually we've already lived there for four years, I know exactly what Europe is like. I'm starting to get slightly irritated at this point. When she hears this, she about has a heart attack.

"You've already been over there once and you actually want to go back? Are you nuts?"

"Ummm...no, I'm not nuts. Europe is great. Granted, it's probably not for everyone, but we happen to love it there. Honestly I could live there indefinitely and be very happy." Not to mention getting away from narrow-minded Americans like yourself...

"Well, I think you're crazy. You really don't know what you're getting yourself into, being that far away from your family. What if he deploys? What will you do over there by yourself with your kids?"

EXCUSE ME? Just who are you to look me in the face with your 3 months of Army experience to my 10 years and tell ME that I don't know what I'm getting into? Do you really think I'm some baby-faced 18 year-old with no idea how to take care of myself? Do I LOOK helpless to you?? Deep Breath. Deep Breath. "I'll be fine. I've gone through several deployments already, and my husband deployed twice last time we were overseas. And I'll do the same thing over there that I do over here. Take care of my house, take care of my kids, take care of my husband. Oh - and TRAVEL. Europe is a big playground, it's gonna be great!"

"Still...it's SO different over there. I mean, do they even have Walmart?"

It's Europe, not Mars. "Yeah, they have Walmart, - not that I find that any great comfort - and lots of other great stores. Ikea is even more fabulous in Europe. Plus, you know, you still have the PX and Commissary."

"Well...whatever. I would totally HATE being far away from my family. And not having all my stores and restaurants to choose from. I mean, that would suck."

Uh huh. Welcome to the Army, sister.


Can I just say one thing? AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Okay, I feel better. I'm not trying to say that everyone has to agree with me on the whole Europe issue, I understand that living overseas is not for everyone. There are drawbacks, and for some people the cons outweigh the pros, and that's fine. I get that. However, please, please, please, do not tell me that I'm crazy for wanting to go back to a place that I loved, and that I don't know what I'm getting myself into. It's a big world out there, and I don't have a "stay-put" personality. And if you're in the Army, I hate to break it to you, but you will not get to stay 5 miles from home for the rest of your life. Try not to get too worked up over it, I mean, a little open-mindedness never hurt anyone.

Okay, venting over :-)

I posted the other day that we are moving back to Germany in December, and I CAN'T WAIT! Waiting until then is going to drive me nuts! And although I'm excited about the big move across the Pond, I already know that getting there is going to be a pain in the butt. For starters, I have to get the boys passports, of course. No big deal there except their birth certificates have to be amended first because wonderful Alabama printed some wrong information on them. Seeing as how I live in California now, that's not going to be easy. I have called to see what I need to do, but nobody in the records office seems to be able to tell me exactly what I need to do/send them. It's beyond frustrating. So we'll see, I guess I'll have to call every day and bug the crap out of them until they find someone who knows what to do.

In other news, I'm a full-time FCC Provider now. I had 6 children, but I'm now down to 5 at the moment. All full-time. Of course, 2 of those are mine, so they're 24/7...:-) So I'm pretty busy during the week, but it's really nice to have a good second income. Especially since I don't have to pay for childcare for my own kids out of my paycheck. My plan is to save, save, save as much of my money as we can after paying stuff off, so we can have some traveling money once we hit Europe!

We are going to be getting rid of a lot of stuff before we leave, we only want to take the minimum with us and put the rest in storage. I do want to take our outdated big screen TV though. Maybe it will get broken?? Then the Army will give me money to buy a new one....:-) If it survives another move unscathed, I'll be seriously impressed with Sony craftsmanship. After all, it's already been across the ocean once, and across the country. How much more can it take?? I'm hoping it doesn't take as long as it did last time to get our stuff. When we moved out in '01, we had two shipments - one from Korea which shipped in June and one from CA which shipped in August. They both miraculously were delivered on the same day in December. Chris was in the field, and I had the flu. It was a fun few days.

We're half-considering Paris for Christmas this year...not sure if we'll be in country yet or not, but it's a thought. The Eiffel Tower is beautiful anyway, I can't imagine how it will look at Christmas-time. Listen to me, I feel so cosmopolitan...considering Paris for Christmas this year....I LOVE living in Europe!!

Anyway, I'm rambling....TV Time is almost over so I guess I'd better get back to the grind...

Homeward Bound

It's official - after 5 years, we are finally headed back to Germany in December. It's been our favorite duty station so far, and we've been trying to get back ever since we left. This time we'll be bringing along something we didn't have last time - two curious little boys. Aiden was just a little twinkle in my tummy when we left. I can't wait to show my kids Europe. I want them to learn German and experience something besides McDonalds and the fast-paced life of the US. I want to take them to the top of the Eiffel Tower and show them that the whole world is spread out before them. I want them to see Grecian ruins and Venetian canals and tulips in the Spring-time. I want to experience the Green that is Ireland and the Majesty that is the Alps in Winter. I'm so glad to be going back to my beloved Europe, and to be able to share it with my children.