Day 127

Finally some good news to share. We found out that next summer we will be moving to Sicily, Italy! This exciting news should help me survive the final months of this deployment...daydreaming about European adventures, Italian delicacies, and the thrill of living overseas again. This is one of my favorite "stages" in the military wife cycle. This is the stage of anticipation and research. We finally move out of the limbo of not knowing where we will spend the next three years and move into excitement and preparation. Still too early to have to deal with all of the realities and stress of moving/PCSing, but not too early to start imagining all of the good things ahead. It's also the stage that prompts us to start doing all of the things we had planned on doing/seeing in our current duty station. This time it is especially bittersweet because the kids and I are in Louisiana with my family and it is sad to think that in the coming three years we won't be able to see our families as much (although we really hope we have lots of visitors...get those passports ready!). It means we will be making the most of this family time together.

Ever since we started this crazy life in the military, we have been hoping to get orders to Europe. Adam and I both lived/studied in Europe during our college/high school years but we haven't been back since that time and we have often fantasized about returning with the kids. I will be keeping my fingers crossed until we actually land in Italy. It is the military and things can always change. But for now I am enjoying the thrill of European daydreams. I have been following Karen's blog for awhile, but will now be studying it and anticipating her upcoming book. I have already put a couple of books on hold at the library and spent way too much time on-line looking at things like this and this and this.

In terms of deployment, things are continuing to move along. Feels like we have more of a rhythm . Some hard days, but most are just busy and full. Adam is enjoying a small break(R & R) courtesy of the military...that means he gets to visit another base! We continue to have pretty regular contact which has been good especially in the past week while he was negotiating our orders for Italy. When we are finally all home together, we will have lots to celebrate before the work of moving begins.

And Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all who have and who currently serve.