We've Got Orders

Every seasoned military spouse simultaneously dreads and anxiously awaits those three little words: “We’ve got orders.” Those three words mean so many things, bring on some many feelings. It’s a mix of excitement for a new adventure, new things to try, cultures to experience, the possibility of seeing old friends again, decorating a new home. Sometimes those words bring on feelings of devastation of leaving friends, a home with memories you’ve created, frustration of finding new “favorites” again (restaurants, grocery stores, etc), and the dread of the tears your child{ren} will inevitably shed when they have to leave their school and friends. Again.

Moving is hard. It’s exciting. It’s terrifying. It’s the beginning of new adventures and the ending of a chapter. We have moved three times as a military family (four if you count when I moved from Mississippi to North Carolina when we married). We were excitedly waiting for our next orders. We had a guarantee (ha) from Jake’s boss that he would talk to the monitor and get us orders to North Carolina. We were so excited. We were going to buy a home, I was going to find a great job with my shiny new degree, B was going to a great new school. We were ready for the slower lifestyle of the East Coast. We had it all figured out. Until Jake came home with those three. Little. Words.

“So…you know how you’ve been wanting to go to Europe?”

I was cautious. He seemed…anxious. My only response was a very slow yes? His idea of being funny was, “How about a 36-month-long vacation?” I was stunned into silence. My brain wouldn’t comprehend what he was saying. And then, there they were, “We have orders...to Germany.” When my brain finally rebooted (I had been staring at him with my mouth wide open) I immediately accused him of lying, ha! He handed me paper orders and I accused him of making it up and printing those to trick me. I legitimately thought he was just being funny. Germany was never on our radar. Neither of us knew that Germany was an option for Jake’s job. We had never known anyone, personally, to ever be sent to Germany (in the Marine Corps). We were both shocked. I think I immediately went to Google to find things out about Germany. Sadly, there isn’t a lot of information on PCSing to Europe. I cobbled together info about the area and the base we would be living on. I began to get excited. The Mckenzie’s were going to Europe!

Honestly, Jake thought I was going to have a fit. He thought I was going to refuse to go. In the beginning of our marriage, that would have been my exact reaction. After ten years, though, my home is where he is. It’s been seven{ish} months and I’m still reeling. Like I said, there isn’t enough information on PCSing to Europe online, and a lot of the time, I’ve felt like I’m drowning. There are medical screenings (which have check-lists in themselves…dental, immunizations, appointments with regular doctor, appointing to get the medical packet signed off on) not just for myself, but both kids as well. That was probably 6+ appointments alone. There are hoops you have to jump through to get your pets overseas. You can ship a vehicle. That’s a process. You have to check into overseas insurance, drivers licenses, renters insurance, cell phone plans. It’s SO MUCH. We are slowly getting there, with just over three weeks left stateside. It’s intimidating. It gives me crazy anxiety, but we are getting there. There have definitely been times when I wished we were just there and it was over.

I’m super excited that just after we found out we were heading to Germany, our lovely photographer found out that her husband has orders there as well! I am so excited to already have a friend that will be there and someone that takes fabulous photos to continue taking photos of my family {if you know me, you know how particular I am about photos…DeAnna M. ruined me in VA}!

We leave in 26 days. There’s still SO much to be done, and we are anxiously awaiting our adventures. I have researched and researched incredible things to do while we are stationed there. We are going to be an hour and a half from France (specifically from a chocolate factory that I found), an hour and a half from Switzerland, four hours from Prague, six hours from Vienna…and a very cheap train or plane ride from places like London, Portugal, Greece, Italy. I could not be more excited to for this next adventure. I am going to try to keep a blog going to keep family and friends updated. So, until next time on The Mckenzie Clan Chronicles – The European Takeover!

#MckenzieClanChronicles #EuropeanTakeover #PCS #MilitaryLife #PCSGermany