Beach or Bust! (a must read)

OK, so here's the story. Most of you know that Nick and I have been looking forward to a change of scenery. I don't have many bad things to say about Albuquerque - in fact, life has been pretty good to me here. But part of the adventure of being in the military is to experience new places - places you would otherwise never have had the opportunity to visit or live! Yet, month after month we received little indication that they'd ever ship us off elsewhere, so Nick and I decided to buckle down for the long haul here in Albuquerque. I applied to UNM with a 2-year plan to finish my degree. I was quitting my job here to go to school fulltime this Fall. The foundation was laid, the doubt was gone. We were here to stay and finally, and quite truly, I was at peace with that.

Meanwhile, Nick decides to accept another job offer at Kirtland AFB which would lock him in to stay for the remainder of his enlistment, congruent with my plans to be here and finish school. At the same time, however, he checks the online job listings and decides to apply for a job in Hawaii. His coworker had applied to go to England a few months earlier, using the same online job list at which Nick has applied for many such jobs, and is there with his family now, leaving Nick all alone and feeling luckless while his friend frolics the hills of England.

Well, interestingly, the other job at Kirtland AFB turns out to be a 4-year commitment position which would have extended Nick's enlistment to eight years , leaving us here in Albuquerque for a total of 7 1/2 years! No, thank you! Nick declined the job and said that perhaps the job fell through because he would be chosen for the job in Hawaii! Ha! Pish posh. No such luck is ever on our table.

So, on a perfectly normal dripping hot summer day, I come home from class to find my husband home. He shoves two printed pages in my hand and says, "We're going to Hawaii!" Now, I'm not one to jump the gun (I hate disappointment) so I remained calm, especially because, frankly, it is too good to be true and therefore must not be true. Most likely this paper means only that he's being considered for the position. I read carefully the writing on the paper, looking for clues at to whether the growing sense of anxiety within me was justified. A phone number! Call the number, Nick! Call and let's get this settled right here and now! He makes the call, he's saying his social security number, I'm on the phone with Mom who's already screaming with delight despite hard concrete evidence, Nick hangs up, I give him the raised eyebrows...

Yes, we're moving to Hawaii...