CONTRIBUTED BY MEREDITH NOVARIO
On February 1st of last year, I wrote the first Okinawa hai! post. In just shy of a year we have put out 310 additional posts and received 1515 comments. We haven’t broken any world records or lined our pockets but we’ve reached out to each other. We have created a place for people to share their experiences, ask their questions or lurk behind the scenes. The team of us does our best to share everything we know about how to live well in Okinawa.
What we haven’t shared much about is how to leave Okinawa because none of us have done so yet.
I want to do that. I want to use this Tuesday space as a corner to document the details and emotions of what it takes to leave the scene.
Let’s say this is a six month countdown. Likely, maybe, possibly it will be shorter than that. I am both elated and horrified at the time that is caving in on me.
We know very little about what’s next for us only that NEXT is upon us. I like to say we’ll be headed to DC. But I have no reason to believe this will happen. I just want that to happen.
I have a fantasy that we’ll get orders by April and then when Joe deploys I can pack out of our house and leave with the boys and the dog by myself. That way my last two months here won’t be spent waiting for him to come home so that we can turn around leave. I picture buying a car, renting a home, sleeping in, visiting each and every living relative and shopping daily at Target before Joe flies home to join us in some balloon-filled reunion. I mention this to people as if it’s a plan.
It sounds like a plan and sounding like I have a plan is a great way to forget how uncomfortable I am with all the unknowns that will be my life in six months. Or five. Or four.
What I do know right now is that Joe will e-mail his monitor with a handful of billets that match his rank and desire when the FULL list comes out. When I ask him when that list comes out he tells me that it should have come out already.
So here I am waiting on some FULL list.
Stay tuned next Tuesday for more riveting details about a girl who waits very impatiently.
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All the posts in Meredith’s “Me & My Big PCS” series: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX
For posterity’s sake we have left this universally euphoric, terrified, confused, “what am I doing?!” series on Okinawa Hai. However, we have closed comments for future readers. If there is relevant information for all readers to benefit from, we have taken elements from this series and created new posts, which we’ve linked to from the original text. Thank you for joining us on this ride.