I knew what I was getting into when I married a Marine. With two wars going on it’s just expected that Andy and I will spend significant amounts of our marriage on different continents. Even so, I’ve been in total denial this last month, which is why I’ve avoided writing this post. However, now that things are actually going forward at a Flash-like pace, I guess it’s time to spit it out.

Andy and I are moving. Roughly 3,000 miles. In opposite directions. Andy to Japan for a one-year unaccompanied tour and me to either DC or Charleston.

This all started a couple months ago when Andy was told he didn’t have enough time left on his contract for recruiter duty (as we had initially planned) and was told he couldn’t extend his contract. We later learned this was misinformation, but by then it was too late to do anything about it. In the meantime, orders to Japan came down, likely because the monitor (aka the guy who tells Marines what units they are going to) figured he wanted to leave here. The way overseas tours work for married guys in the Marine Corps is it’s either one year without your family or three years with them. Since Andy doesn’t have three years left, he has to do the one without me. This is a total bummer, though there is one bright spot: he might be deploying to the middle east shortly after arriving. Worse than him going to Japan without me would be him leaving me alone in Japan while he goes on a deployment. And the reality is I should probably consider myself lucky. I got my husband for 14 whole months (16 by the time he leaves), which is more than many military wives get. And we will soon be celebrating our second anniversary and while it’ll be spent on the road (more on that later), at least it’ll be spent together. So far we are 2 for 2, which doesn’t happen often in our world.

So on to the plan. When I said things were going forward at Flash-like speeds, I wasn’t kidding. We will be on the road and leaving California in 26 days. Transportation will be packing up our house in a little over three weeks. My car will likely be stored here in California as the USMC will pay for that because Andy can’t take a car with him to Japan. Unless we can find an affordable method of shipping it east, which seems unlikely based off quotes I’ve already received. Andy and I will be driving his car across so that I have a vehicle while he’s gone. Andy has about three weeks between the time we leave and when he’s due back to catch his flight to Japan. Our plan for that time is to drive to Minnesota so we can spend a week with his family, then head off to New York to spend some time with Jason and Amanda. By this point our anniversary will have just passed (likely on the trip from Minnesota to New York), but we’ll also be an hour train ride from New York City, so I’m sure we can find a way to celebrate. (Note to my friends in the city: let’s find some time to meet up, maybe dinner at Juniors?) After New York, we’ll head to Maryland to stay with Maria and Kevin before Andy has to head back to San Diego.

Transportation will be shipping all my things to Maryland and they will be in storage near Kevin and Maria. I’m sending it there because Andy and I are hoping that after Japan we can settle in the DC area. On top of that, I’ve been looking for work in the DC area. If I have a job offer by the time I get there, I’ll move forward with looking for an apartment in that area and getting settled. If I don’t have a job by then, I will instead move down the east coast to Charleston, S.C. where I’ve been wanting to live since the first time I ever visited. Hopefully this, along with a couple visits to Japan to see Andy, will make the time fly by.

So that’s where we are at right now. At this point there is a ton to do to prepare. I have pages of to-do lists to start working on so everything can be ready. What an exciting way to start the year, eh?