The day that we had been hoping and praying for, for months and years, had finally come.
It’s not like we absolutely hated where we were living at, but we felt as though we were ready to go. With my husband being stationed here for 7 or 8 years and myself for nearly 5, we had outgrown this place. Plus, I don’t like dry heat, so there’s that!
But since we ready for a change and a chance to see family a little more often, we had hoped for orders to the East Coast and that’s what we got! And it’s pretty crazy to think that this is the place that our relationship started, where we started a family, and grew. It’s where we had our first home and this is the house we brought our kids home to. It’s a bit surreal, a bit sad, exiting…emotional. I was quite emotional on the day we finally said “goodbye” to our “home.”
So, the packers came one day and packed up our entire house. They even brought little boxes for the kids to use to pack up some things they wanted to travel with and crayons for them to decorate them. I thought that was adorable. We filled that house with a ton of stuff over the last 3 years and it was crazy to see it all packed up in less than 8 hours. I think it was even 5 hours if I am being honest!
The next day, the moving truck came and the movers started loading all of our things up. That also didn’t take very long. We spent the night in a hotel on base and the next day, we blew that popsicle stand! We did the final check out of our home and said goodbye to a few friends of ours. Friends of our kids too. Friends that became family.
I remember, when I joined the Navy, that I always heard about those you served with becoming your family. And it’s so true. But in my own life, it wasn’t JUST the people I had served with who had become my family, it was also the people who were serving along their own spouses that became my family. We know this life and how to be there for each other. And as moms, there are some of us that just…clicked.
Seeing your kids saying bye to other kids is really emotional. At least it was for me. Plus, I am saying bye to my own close friends! All I was thinking about is:
Are we actually going to stay in touch? Or are we just going to say we will talk to each other all of the time and not actually follow through?
Either way, I knew I was extremely blessed to have been able to have those friendships during the time that I did.
Anyway, enough of the emotional stuff! Ha! We headed out towards Las Vegas but not before we stopped at Old Navy to use our super cash! And sure enough, my best mom friend (that’s what I call her) ended up finding out we were there and met up with us! She was the absolutely last person to send us off. It was so funny and sweet. Her boys are the sweetest and her oldest was crying the night before about us leaving. And her kids asked if mine could sleepover. Ah! I thought I was done with the emotional stuff! I guess not!
But seriously. It was the cutest. And I was happy to see my friend again before I left.
For those of you that do not know, this is our first time PCSing anywhere. We left our first ever duty station. It’s so crazy to think that wherever you end up, that’s automatically your new home. And you don’t ever know how long you’re going to be there for sure. I mean, I was convinced that I was going to be doing a 20 year career there, but it’s amazing to see what God has done in our lives. And I look forward to seeing what MORE he has in store for us.
