Arrivederci, San Diego!

Anyone that knows me well knows that I adore San Diego. It’s such an awesome place to raise a family and we have been fortunate enough to get stationed here not once, but TWICE for 5+ years. What a blessing! With that said, this past fall, we faced our last set of orders before my husband retires from the USMC after 20 years of service (which we are 2.5 years away from now). The options were not great, as Rich’s overseas control date went way back to his last tour in Afghanistan, as his deployments since then did not “reset” it. This is military lingo for, he was due for a long overseas assignment. When he met with the monitor to discuss our options, there were really only two choices– move as a family to Okinawa, Japan for three years OR take a one-year unaccompanied tour to South Korea. For the latter, the kids and I would would stay here in San Diego and Rich would go solo. As crazy as it sounds, we decided on the one-year unaccompanied tour, as we felt like moving the kids to Asia PLUS going past retirement when we had such a great community here in San Diego and knew this was where we wanted to retire from just didn’t make sense. So, we bit the bullet and took the orders. All the preparations were made for Rich to go; We extended our lease, started making plans for a trip midway through his tour to meet up in Hawaii, and even started looking to sell his motorcycle before he left. We were set and willing to do what we had to to stay in San Diego…until everything changed.

Flash forward two months, and after a few back and forth calls with the Colonel in command out in Korea, it became clear that there actually wasn’t a job for a LtCol out there like the USMC had said. Rich reached back out to the monitor, and sure enough, there had been a mistake. Now if you know the military, especially the Marine Corps, VERY rarely do orders change for the better. So with this news that Rich’s deployment was off, we were both very nervous about what that would mean for our next best option. On Monday afternoon, Rich had a conversation with the monitor and we were given our options; Another one year unaccompanied tour for Rich, several jobs in the DC-area, or, this one Navy position that had just opened up in Naples, Italy…wait…what?! Naples, Italy?! With those choices, we had 24 hours to decide and get back to the monitor. Needless to say, the whole discussion had now changed. Rich and I had always said we would JUMP at the opportunity to do an overseas tour with our family, but the situation had never presented itself. This option would not only allow our family to avoid a year apart, but also fulfill a lifelong dream of exposing our children to a different culture and touring Europe as a family. Ultimately, as hard as it was to consider leaving San Diego, we had to say yes to Italy!

So there it is, and here we are. The cat is out of the bag and our news has spread like wildfire. We are beyond excited for this next chapter and super thankful for everyone that has reached out with words of support and kindness, despite the fact that we will be saying goodbye to the most incredible friendships for a while. But that’s the cool part about friendship…it doesn’t end when you aren’t physically together anymore. Some of the most cherished friendships I’ve made over the years are the ones that have remained despite the distance. From my childhood best friends in Canada, to the fellow Marine spouses I’ve bonded with along the way, to the civilian friends and colleagues I cried saying goodbye to when we left DC, the friendships that matter don’t need to be attended to in person, or even every day. Whenever we get the chance to chat or get together, we jump at the opportunity and pick up right where we left off, and I have no doubt, that is how this will go, too. And in reality, now we have a really amazing place to all meet up and tour together when time and responsibilities allow!

So as we begin making ALL the preparations for this huge move (selling the cars, getting government passports, selling our house in Virginia…should I go on?!), I can’t help but see God’s hand all over this. We were disappointed when Rich didn’t get command, and then really sad when our best option was a year apart, and even stumped when we reached out to buy the home we have lived in the last five years and learned it wasn’t an option for the owners to sell at this time. But looking back, I realize now that all of that had to happen in order for us to say yes to this amazing opportunity. We’ve always dreamed of touring the world with our kids and I’ve had this long-standing desire to blog about the adventure along the way, and now we will have that chance. It won’t be easy and the list is long of everything that needs to transpire between now and then, but I have a feeling it will be worth it. And I’m just thankful that God saw fit to trust us with this opportunity. I hope you’ll join us for the wild ride of #TeamArboAbroad!