This time last

year, we were on the second day of our cross country trek.  At the time this was written, we were trying to drag our sleepy selves out of bed in a suite like hotel in Bakersfield, CA.  We had gotten a later start than expected the day before (shocking, I know) and were incredibly exhausted and slept in later than we should have.

It's hard to believe all that has happened (or hasn't) since then.  I keep looking back (I know, I know) and wondering if I missed some sign somewhere along the way that might have changed the year a bit.  Had I noticed things sooner, would we have stayed in CA?  Had we chosen a different place to live, might Peter have gone back to B'dad versus staying here?  Would that have helped or just pushed our dream to go back overseas even further into the future?  

It's easy to think that I shouldn't reflect on the past, but I need to in order to plan.  I still feel like I must have made a giant mistake somewhere, I just can't figure out where or when.  I also keep hoping that somehow everything happened* for a reason.  Maybe our bids from last year would have fallen apart and the ideal post would have slipped through our fingers.  Maybe we would have ended up in the DC area for a two year domestic tour post-B'dad, which would have been less than ideal.

We now have two tentative overseas plans for the next 6 to 8 years.  We have heard the softest whispers of possible postings floating around and it is all I can do not to picture a new home somewhere exotic (basically, anywhere outside the continental U.S. will qualify).  Whilst imagining our new apartment/house/garden/incredible balcony view, we have bandied ideas back and forth and come up with two slightly different scenarios that should allow us to follow our dreams of being overseas for an extended amount of time.  Our primary concern is the high school years (for Cait) and if either plan falls into place, we will be exceedingly happy.

Now, we know that things happen at the last minute and plans change.  However, for the sake of my sanity, they better not for the next few years, as frankly, I've had enough to last a lifetime over the past 7 months.  The official bid list is still not out, but I have enough on which to base a few dreams and several anxious hours on Talesmag.  I suppose that will do for now…

 

*I know some people disagree and think I should just accept that sh*t happens.  I'm not there quite yet.  There is also the off-chance that the reason is out there and only time will tell.