If your husband came home from work one day and told you that he got his first choice of duty assignments to Italy, you'd be excited, right? I was, and then the reality of the whole move and duration of time finally set in. A 3 year assignment, overseas, new schools, new friends, new cell phone, a whole new lifestyle. I mean this isn't like moving to another city in another state, been there, done that several times already. I'm a military wife after all. But this is different, it's OVERSEAS, a whole new country, a whole new continent with new values, lives, culture, peeople, etc. If you sit and think about it for awhile, the opportunities are endless, the cultural aspect is fantastic and the kids will really flourish. It's a wonderful adventure. But, the excitement slowly loses out to the overwhelming daunting task of getting there.
This blog is more about the gearing up to get to Italy and the trials and tribulations every military family endures during the move. Once we get settled there, in 2 months or so, I hope the blog will grow with all these new adventures to embark upon in Italy. First things first, we have to get there.
This adventure started about a year ago when my husband found the job he wanted and went for it. He's in the Army and a Major to boot. We've lived in Florida, Maryland, West Virginia, Nebraska and Maryland again. We've visited many places with our two girls, Morgan (9) and Sydney (6). I like to think are resilient like any military child should be. Heck, I think to I'm resilient too, but i know moves aren't easy for everyone. When my husband told me where were going to italy, i was super excited but you know, as a military family, you never get too excited until the official orders are in hand, and even that can change with the needs of the military. Then our official orders came through and I was even more excited. Of course, shortly after that, i began to realize how much stuff we need to do to prepare for this move.
Let's start with the movers. We scheduled this event so it would coordinate with the kids getting out of school for summer break. I kept telling my husband there were three shipments and he kept looking at me like I had a third eye growing between my forehead. Us Army wives talk, so we get the low-down from each other and what to expect. I knew about the 3 moves but couldn't quite explain it right to the hubster until he finally sat down to schedule it.
Here's the schedule and the new terminology. First we have the unaccompanied baggage. They will be here first to collect the items we will need immediately when we get over there. Seeing how we'll be living in temporary housing for about a month, I'm curious what we should include in this shipment. My guess would be clothes (aside from the ones we are packing up in the suitcases for our 2 week go visit the family adventure), sheets (maybe), and I guess dishes and cookware. I am not sure.Shoot, I'd like a cruise like that, but I digress.
My husband had all this planned out and tentatively scheduled 1 1/2 months ago. Apparently yesterday, all the info was finally put in the computer since the government bids for movers was finally approved. Wouldn't you know I get a phone call about the shipment and a problem with the scheduled dates? This lady called and told me that her moving folks were booked and couldn't do the dates we scheduled and asked if we could do it the week before. Totally taken off guard, I replied "And which shipment are you?" She told me they were the big shipment. Then I told her, "Um no, i don't think this would work because then she would take everything and we'd have nothing in the house for a week." As much as I like hotels, I don't want to stay in lodging any longer than need be. I told her I would call her back after I spoke with my husband. After two failed attempts at calling him, I texted him to call me immediately due to moving snafus. No sooner did I send that text then than the same lady called me back to tell me everything would indeed work out for the week we planned and not to worry. Yippee, crisis averted. (Migraine too for that matter, it would have been mess to fix all the moving stuff.)
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