I can not pretend it won't happen anymore....Houston we have orders

Our life is making another twist. Brad has been offered a job to be active duty in the reserves. This means he will work with his unit during the week to make sure the  soldiers needs are taken care of the rest of the month that they aren't at drill. Every three years we will have the option to stay put, or move into the unknown that awaits us for another three years. It has been described as the best kept secret in the army because it has all the perks of the military, but with a civilian schedule. In our 11.5 years of marriage, Brad has never worked a set schedule that allowed him to be home for dinner every night. I am so looking forward to that! Since this job with the AGR (active guard reserve) is so secretly wanted it is hard to get a position because usually members of the unit that has the position will fill the spot. Brad has had his packet in every year for the past four years, and we didn't really hold out much hope for it. Then he got a call with one spot to offer him in Kansas. So, a month and a half later, here we are. Counting down the days until we leave this city we had started making long term plans in. We are so excited for the opportunity, and yet so incredibly sad.

As I was wallowing in my self-pity about moving from a place with so much culture and history, and the most phenomenal friends anyone could ask for, who are more like family, I read this quote on an amazing blog that some of my friends from our Arlington days started (check it out: doeadeery.blogspot.com), and it made me look at our upcoming departure in a different light. Still incredibly sad, but also with a feeling of being so blessed.

“How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.”

And, I do feel so incredibly lucky. 

We truly love this place. I have had the chance to have the most stellar friends that lived just seconds up the street. They were my family when Brad was deployed, and they continue to be even though a couple don't just live seconds away anymore. The kind of friends that volunteer their husband for babysitting and rearrange their evening to take you to a cheer up dinner when you find out you are going to have knee surgery just days after you sign up for a half marathon.  Friends who you know you can say anything to and they won't judge you, that love your kids so much that they throw skewers of shrimp on the BBQ because they know it is the pre-pre teens favorite, or that you see every single day and they never get annoying. Those friends are so hard to come by. 

Kansas has its work cut out for it.