Just wanted to write a little something about how our PCS experience is going 3-4 months before the jump across the big pond. Everything has been pretty smooth.
We found out we got concurrent travel, meaning the boys and I will travel with Mr. Soldier to Korea (sometimes the family has to follow after the soldier is there and settled, this is called deferred travel).
Concurrent is definitely what we were hoping for! I was worried about making that 14 hour flight with two preschoolers by myself, but now we know that we won't have to worry about that... we'll be flying together as a family!
We also received our hard copy orders!
This is an important step for military families who are PCSing. Hard copy orders are what we use to schedule the movers, arrange for our car to be shipped, and schedule our flights! Often there are delays with receiving hard copy orders for one reason or another or corrections have to be made, so we are so happy to have them in hand 3-4 months out.
And today, the boys and I picked up our No-Fee Passports. These are our our official government passports that we will use while traveling on Mr. Soldier's orders to and from Korea. (Any leisure travel we do will require use of our tourist passports instead). I checked and double-checked... and triple-checked all the information to make sure they were correct. Everything looked great. But everyone involved, even the family travel clerk, found Boy 2's photo amusing.
"Sup, Korea?"
Something else exciting happened recently, Mr. Soldier got promoted! We are all so happy for and proud of him! He's been working at this for a long time.
As of right now we are 3-4 months from leaving the US. Now that we have hard copy orders, I'm it's really starting to hit me. We have started getting rid of things we don't or won't need via yard sales and posting them online. We repainted Boy 1's room back to "Fort Campbell White" (I kid you not, I was told I had to ask for that color in Sherwin Williams). We have started purchasing our luggage. It's feeling more and more real by the day. I went from feeling like we had all the time in the world so I needed to make sure I wasn't planning too far out... to feeling like I don't have enough time to get everything done. We were recently told we will be flying out sometime between beginning of January and the beginning of February. Tack on PCS leave in Ohio before that and we could be moving out of our current house in December, that's only two months away. Stay calm, Kate, stay calm.
Mr. Soldier said something yesterday that really resonated with me. We were having sort of a heated discussion about moving plans and details, the usual things you have to figure out. However, the difference between my husband and I... I like to plan for everything and really far in advance, he would rather deal with things one at a time as they happen. Different strokes. Most times we keep each other balanced, but sometimes, in times of stress, we butt heads about decisions. I was pressing him about what his preferences were for a flight date, and leave, and a household goods pick-up date, etc... and I finally said (in a not very nice tone) "What do you wanna do?" and he said
"I want to get our stuff picked up by the movers, and fly to Korea."
I had been stressing so much about all these small details that I haven't even realized that it didn't matter all that much. Sometimes I think I'm so used to the Army telling us exactly what to do that when we get a little bit of wiggle room (or they ask for a preference), I get overwhelmed with making the perfect, best, most cohesive decision.
Mr. Soldier's simple statement brought me back to reality. In the end, it doesn't matter that much when our stuff is picked up, when we fly, when we take leave, etc. We will get to Korea. Our stuff will get there. Sure, it's awesome and smart to make educated decisions, but don't let it drive you crazy. Make sure to enjoy the time you have left in the US with family and friends. You'll have plenty of time to stress about the other stuff when the time comes, I promise!
