Overcoming Challenges: PMDD and Moving Abroad

Season 02, Episode 02

"You have been brave," her mother said. "you have been very brave, for so very long. but you must be brave a little while longer, my Fireheart. It is the strength of your heart, that matters. No matter where you are, no matter how far, this will lead you home. You do not yield." ~ Evalin Ashriver, Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7); Sarah J. Maas

I have moved and I am finally done with the unpacking! For those who are new, I am a military spouse. Our family moves every two years. We are lucky in our new duty station to be here for 3 years with an option to stay an extra year ( for a total of 4 years). Our family is extremely happy to be in a location long enough to put down some roots for a while. We are still Overseas and will get the opportunity to continue traveling around Europe to experience other cultures and societies.

What I do after a PCS move

I am so grateful for my husband actually being home to help unpack with this move!

Our recent move was an absolute test of a military couple's sanity. You would think moving from one German Base to another would be easy. Especially since you already know the language, the process of checking into an overseas base, and know that the process is going to be long and tedious. What we didn't expect, is that it is excruciatingly difficult to go from a NATO base to an United States instillation in the same country when the new base isn't even your military branch. In the decade our family has been moving with the military, we have moved 7 times ( including overseas moves and cross country USA moves) and this one almost broke both of us. You would think with that many moves under our belt, we would have experienced enough that we would have backup plans for the backup plans and that nothing could surprise us. Boy were we wrong.

Explaining PCS moves to Civilians

Two Months of Organized Chaos

In the past two months we have:

• moved out of our last home (cleaned, yard word, had painted, ect).

• moved into our new home and officially unpacked

• scheduled bulk trash pick up from the move

• enrolled our child into elementary school and summer camp

• registered our child for fall soccer and cub scouts

• had and scheduled numbers medical visits

• set up our new overseas accounts with banks, utilities and postal

• bought a new car

• signed up for volunteering for the Red Cross

• applied for jobs

It may not sound like much but considering that military life is filled with nothing but "hurry up and wait", it is a lot! Also, with this list also comes all the bumps and rollercoaster rides of success and fails.

I am a Domestic Engineer

Too Much all at once

In my last blog post, I posed the question "have I bitten more off than I can chew?". The answer is yes. I did make it through the process but not without blood/sweat/tears and it was NOT worth it. I won't do that again. Slow and steady wins the race, as the tortes has proven to us time and time again.

~There's no crying in baseball ~ Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan

A League of Their Own, 1992

Stay tuned for next Tuesday Episode 03: What Now?