May 24 2006
The deal, yo
I thought I was being cleverly obvious with my clues yesterday, but after reading my comments, I guess not so much! I wasn’t intentionally leaving you with a cliffhanger, I promise!!
So. What I was trying to tell you was this: On Monday, 8 May, I posted that gorgeous picture of Italy, and talked and talked and talked about it, and when I woke up that very next Friday, there was an email from John in my inbox that had some alarming information in it, which in turn led to the 16 May post. You know, the one where I voiced my hatred for work? Well, it wasn’t WORK so much as the military in general that I was hating just then.
See, the base we were being stationed at apparently doesn’t have many people stationed at it - or, not many people with school age children, at least; the enrollment at the High School this year is 26 kids - and that’s the WHOLE school, grades 9-12. As a result, after this upcoming school year, there will no longer be a high school at Camp Darby. This obviously is a problem for us, because hello! The last year and a half we are there, Lindsey and Taylor? High school age. What’s that, you say? Surely the military would provide us with alternate solutions? Well of course! Here’s the options: YOU pick the best one. Will it be:
A. Homeschooling
B. The International School in Florence
C. Boarding school. In London.
Are you having a tough time deciding? Well, let me give you a few details to help. Homeschooling? John and I both work full-time. But the Florence thing sounds cool, right? Well, I thought so too - until I found out that it is 70 miles away and the military is NOT providing transportation, and as I just pointed out, we both work full-time, so 2-hour round trips twice a day are not an option; not to mention the annual tuition to attend is $14,000+. And okay, boarding school in London…you guys, if anyone thought, "well, THAT doesn’t sound too bad…" I secretly hate you. (But only for one second - and now I’m over it.) But listen. I have already been away from my girls for 7 months and 19 days. I won’t want them more than 25 FEET away from me once I am with them again, let alone boarding school in London. (DEAR MILITARY, you will NOT force me to send my girls away AGAIN.)
You guys, this resulted in a STRESSFUL TIME! There was much panicking (in Korea) and many calming and soothing emails being written (in California, being SENT to Korea). Fortunately, John is very good in exactly the areas I am not good in, meaning: he remains sane. So he promptly and efficiently wrote one very professional email to the First Sergeant at Camp Darby, who responded back with: "…if I had high school age kids, I would not come here. Sorry 
" and yes, he even included the frownie face. That was the deal sealer for me, because y’all, if you throw the frownie in…that’s serious stuff, is all I’m sayin. This started a chain of emails that ended up including five separate Chiefs at five separate bases, one of whom is the functional manager at USAFE HQ, and resulted in us basically turning down our assignment to Camp Darby.
Phew…this is long, and I’m afraid, a little…disjointed.
Anyway, so now, we have no idea where we are going, other than the fact that since we already belong to USAFE (USAF-Europe) we will stay in USAFE. Our options are: Aviano AFB (Italy) Spangdahlem AFB (Germany), Ramstein AFB (Germany) or Lakenheath RAF (UK). The thing is, we don’t really get a choice…the functional will just put us where we are most needed.
To be honest with you, at this point I don’t even want to go overseas. Yeah, yeah…I know it’s just because I don’t know where we are going but…I’m scared, is all. I was cool with Darby not only because it’s supposed to be the best assignment in the Air Force, but because we’ve known we were going there since last May. One year…an ENTIRE TWELVE MONTHS I have been planning on going to a certain place, and now…nothing. In four months I’m moving to <randomly insert one of THREE foreign countries> and I’m not adventurous or brave or ANYTHING, I’m NOT.
I know the other bases are great too, and I’ll probably relax a little once we find out where we are going, and that things will be fine when I’m with my whole family again, no matter where we are. I realize all three countries will provide us with endless opportunities for travel and multi-cultural discoveries and lifetime memories. I KNOW all this stuff, I do. But…I am away from my husband, I am away from my children, and now, I have no idea where we will be going. You know, I have to struggle to maintain control of the anxiety that constantly threatens to overtake me, and usually I do just fine, but this latest thing is sort of the last straw for me just now. While I’m not floating away on a sea of tears or anything, I’m not exactly overwhelmed with happiness here. It’s more like…trying to get through each day without having a nervous breakdown. Not the funnest way to spend my time, and thank god I have my upcoming mid-tour to focus on, or else I’d be a mess.
And that’s it. I’m sorry if anyone was really planning on visiting us in Italy. I promise where ever we end up, you will still be welcome. As soon as I hear anything, I’ll let you know.
Oh, hey family? We haven’t told the girls yet…so if you happen to talk to them, please don’t mention anything, okay?
I’m sorry this was so long and potentially boring and/or filled with self-pity. I tried to make it funny…sort of…but lightening bolts of anxiety keep slamming through my brain, and if you weren’t aware, the ol’ l.b.a. aren’t exactly conducive to humor.
In the meantime…Auf Wiedersehen, Ciao, and Cheerio!
