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| We made it to Alaska! Stay tuned to see how it's going! |
I know it has been way too long since my last post and I am sorry. Its been a whirlwind since the beginning of the year. After finding out we had orders to move from Florida to Alaska I have to admit I have been pretty frightened. Truth be told I was all about the potential adventure before it was official, but it was as though the day we found out my brain went in reverse. See in my mind we would leave after one last magical and memorable summer as me swimming as a mermaid in the warm clear Florida waters, and our transition would be simple and exciting. We would drive across country together with ease seeing amazing views and laughing the whole way. Only to arrive in Alaska during the Fall and have plenty of time to ease into winter with time to explore, then find an amazingly cute little cabin with lots of land for the girls and to watch the snow fall, and after our 4 years are up get stationed in Hawaii or Guam. (So the last part I'm still holding out hope for)
So this all sounds fantastically amazing, you would be down for that picture perfect adventure too right? Well its not that things didn't go according to plan entirely, its more like there were things I didn't take into consideration. Leaving the friends I had made for one was so much harder than I ever anticipated, leaving the beach was as hard as I imagined but I was much more emotional about it than I should have been, leaving our house which I was just starting to have it exactly how I wanted it, and the number one thing I didn't anticipate was how much work moving was going to be. It didn't help that we decided it was best if we drove both vehicles cross country, so getting ready for the move I wasn't always looking forward to driving the whole way.
Leading up to our big move we decided the best choice was to rent out our home while we were gone, which I loved over selling so we could have a home to come back to not far from my beloved beaches. We were due to leave Florida on May 4th, just before the start of summer, and Florida did not play nice and give me warm weather leading up to that date. Mostly it was cold and rainy, which made me sad. However honestly with all we had to do if we had spent time on the beach we would have never gotten everything done. The one thing I learned about our first married PCS was we had accumulated TOO MUCH STUFF!! The amount of stuff we got rid of was crazy, and the fact that we were one couple living in a four bedroom house and all the bedrooms were full only goes to show that we were spending too much of our time picking up after stuff instead of fully living outside. A lot of our stuff was because of our side business American Made Gifts and Photography, but we have gained a new perspective on how we live our lives moving forward.
I have to say my husband was so amazing and I fell more in love with him through all of this, because he took care of so much of the paperwork and small detail that went into renting our house and prepping us for the move. The stuff that I couldn't handle because it made the move real. I was heart broken about missing out on one last summer at the beach, but I also know myself well enough that I knew once we were underway on our journey I would be ok. But not getting up at sunrise to walk on the sand or looking for shells or snorkeling to swim with sea life was a difficult realization to come to. Then all the unknowns of what its like to live in Alaska gave me a lot of anxiety.
But my friends at work made my last memories in Florida extremely special. My last day at work I had a surprise send off from my co-workers and the kids, I will admit that I shed a lot of tears that week. While working with kids was not really planned for when I thought of my career path, it has been one of the most amazing jobs I've ever had. And I can't say it was just because of the job it was the people I worked with and the program that we had. However the thought of not going into work everyday and seeing the kids did bring tears to my eyes many times over. There is something special and honoring to work with military kids, being their for them when they are hurting, sharing their successes, understanding how difficult the military life is for our youth, and even standing by while someone else connects with a kid in a better way than you can and see the impact it has on them.
But my co-workers didn't stop there, they threw me a surprise beach party my last Saturday in Florida, which they brought my husband in on to ensure I was where I needed to be. I can't begin to express my love for this group of people, and the respect I have for them. Or my desire to lovingly chastise each and everyone of them, because they know how I hate attention and surprises! So a quick rewind to that Saturday on the beach. I am relaxing, snorkeling, getting some awesome underwater video of the snorkeling reef off the shore line, talking to lady next to me, and dozing off as I attempt some sort of tan. When all of a sudden a few hours into my beach adventures (with my little pineapple man I brought with me, he can be seen in the pictures, I brought him to keep me company, little did I know I had plenty of company on the way) I hear my name being called in unison by a very large group of people. I'm not kidding when I said my blood ran cold, I instantly recognized all of these voices, and quick peek over my shoulder confirmed the reason I did my best to make no sudden movements in hopes I could blend in for a few more seconds before being spotted.
I laugh now because of how incredibly touched I am by their love, kindness and by the sheer genuineness (such a weird word) of my friends. For a group of people to give you that loving of a send off when they know how difficult the idea of the move is for you, really humbles a person. And this was a full blown going away, they brought food (to the pavilion my husband and I had our wedding reception at), drinks, gifts and a projector, audio and a video that my counter part at work Mr. Alvin directed and edited. I wish I was better with words, to be able to share how touched and how much I appreciate them. I know in any job everyone is expendable, work goes on without you around and as a whole everyone functions just fine in your absence, nobody is that critical that life doesn't go on without you, but friendships are what last. And for that moment I was overwhelmed with gratitude, love, and respect for my friends. Its crazy to think that a little more than a year ago I could count the number of people I counted as friends (locally) on a few fingers at best, to gaining a whole family of friends.
These people supported and encouraged me as I found ways to make this move easier for myself. One thing I really wanted to do was to document our transition and our travel across country. One silly way I did that was through photographing Lego people. You know people really love you when they encourage your extremely silly little ideas instead of just laughing at you. And my husband has been a real saint about how I choose to deal with our move. I mean can you imagine being ok with your wife/husband carrying around Lego figures everywhere you go and taking pictures of them, let alone special ordering them online for this project? I realized if this move was that scary for me, how scary and difficult must it be for our military children, and since April was the month of the Military child I thought if I document my move through Lego figures maybe it will make the whole process seem that much more fun and less scary. Truth be told while that was my attention I have done little with the photos than post them to Instagram, Facebook and now here. So my intentions were great, but I probably won't do much more with them.
Saying good bye to family was a difficult thing to do also. We planned a visit to Massachusetts in January to visit Matt's side of the family, and it was such a fun trip, and it gave me a preview into what winter months I will be looking forward to here in Alaska. There was a crazy snow storm for us drive through on the way up and we were greeted with about 3-4 ft of snow at his parents house and snow drifts as high 6-7 ft. But we were able to visit his grandparents, spend time with his parents and I finally was able to meet his cousin. It was a great inspiring trip, and it does make me excited to play with photos in the winter. But saying good bye wasn't easy, knowing we will be so far away from everyone really began to hit home for us.
My best friend and basically my adoptive brother James and his new beautiful wife LK came to visit us before we left. Its crazy how much time goes by and how hard it is to actually meet up with loved ones once you are no longer in the same state. But I was so happy that we were able to all spend some time together for a long weekend. And they got to bring their fur-babies along Booker and Bear, so we had a full house and it was simply awesome! As always we had tons of laughs, unfortunately they shared college stories with Matt that I would have rather never been mentioned again, and we got to explore Destin, FL together. I miss them already but can't wait to see them up here in Alaska. Love you guys!!
My mom was the last visit that we had to make and we decided to do it Easter weekend right after her birthday. As always hanging out with my mom is so much fun, but it was doubly difficult to leave her because we not only said bye to my mom but also my cat. But he is keeping her company and I love all the updates. We went out to explore St. Augustine for the day and took tons of pictures, shared lots of laughs and reminisced. My mom and I share a special relationship and it has only grown stronger over the years. I hate the we are so far apart again, but I look forward to our Skype dinner dates. Driving away the morning we had to leave we both played it strong and the second we were out of sight Matt had to pull over and give me a hug because I couldn't hold back the tears. I hate good byes!!!
Fast forward, its been 24 days since we left Florida, and we are staying in TLF on base. We have made 3 hotel moves since we arrived 12 days ago, and fingers crossed we get to move into our rental house this Friday. I plan to post a few mini blogs throughout this week about our trip across country, and then finally I can stay up today with things as they actually happen instead of playing catch up.
Home Sweet Alaska!!
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