The Big News

February 20, 2011 · by · in

This one has been a long time coming, a miserably dreary Sunday seems like as good a time as any. I think I’m going to feel a little relief as soon as I hit ‘publish’. I haven’t posted details before, for fear things could change yet again… I think I was right in doing so because this has been quite the rollercoaster from start to finish and we’ve been through so many different emotions in the past 3 or 4 months. I wish I could say that the hard part is over, but we know it’s only just beginning.

Back in November we got the news that this process was being started and last week, after being danced around and messed with for months, we were finally officially told that the orders had been cut and we will be leaving both the Army and Germany in 3 weeks.

We have been tentatively planning and packing the house up for some time now, being fairly sure that this would be the outcome of the entire mess. Now we have to shift up a notch, to essentially plan and make an international move in the space of 3 weeks.

Honestly, it’s difficult to not feel bitter and at least a little abandoned by the way that things have been playing out over the past few months. I’ve shed my fair share of tears over this from the stress, being sad to leave Europe and the place that we’ve called home for 3 years, the place that Mikey has spent the majority of his life. We’re going to take with us a lot of wonderful memories and I’m grateful for that at least. At the risk of alienating a number of readers who are in some way affiliated with the military, we will not be sad to be leaving the Army.

What does this mean for us? Well, we’re going to be downsizing considerably, exchanging one life for another and experiencing all the difficulties of a transition from military to civilian life as well as the changes associated with moving from one country to another. My husband is looking forward to being able to grow out his hair and he will be starting school full time in the summer, to finish a bachelors degree in communications. I’m looking forward to being able to live in a cozy little apartment in a city that we both love, close to at least some family and friends. I’m looking forward to the different lifestyle that we will have and perhaps returning to school myself. I said before, the hard part is just beginning, but nobody ever said that anything worth doing would be easy.

What does this mean for the blog? All in all, I’m not sure. Some of you who have been subscribed for a while may have noticed that my recipe and food related posts have gradually been becoming less frequent, this is likely to continue. I don’t feel as though I have the time to cook anything exciting before we move and the next few weeks we will probably be living on various unusual concoctions designed to use up any stored food we have left and reduce waste before we leave. When we arrive back in the States we are essentially going to be living from our suitcases for a number of months, whatever effect that may have on the content of this blog. I will, of course, have my camera with me at all times so I don’t think that side of things will change too much. I’ll be around in some shape or form for the foreseeable future.

Thank you to everyone who has already reached out to us and helped in some way. Things are going to be tight, but in the end it’s going to be worth it and we are going to be much happier living in Chicago!

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