It's going to be so hard to say good-bye to certain things here in America, so I wanted to go ahead and do it right now.
Target, I love you so much. You are amazing and I never tire of walking aisle upon aisle of your reasonably priced goods. I know I will have access to the NEX and the Commissary; and Chris will be very happy that I take advantage of them like I never did in Florida. (I mean what did he expect, for me to drive ALL the way over the Gandy bridge to go on base to get stuff when there was a perfectly good grocery store 5 blocks from our house?! I don't think so!!) But nothing will ever replace you, Target, with your food and toiletries and clothing and toys and music and movies and magazines and sporting goods and housewares... You will always be in my heart!
Ketchup, Catsup, however you like to spell it, is a delicious condiment that seems distinctly American. (I don't know the history of catsup, maybe it was invented in Europe. I'm sure we can all agree though, it was perfected in America!) And no matter how they try, Europeans just can't seem to get it right. There's something different about European ketchup. It's just not THE SAME!! *tear*
Netflix, you have been there for me when I was bored, through sleepless nights, and when Chris wanted to watch something stupid on TV. You were on my iPhone, on the iPad and of course, on the Macbook. What am I going to do when I don't have 60,000 movies and television shows at my fingertips? I know, I know I can always use one of those janky websites where you can watch anything that ever existed in the world, but it's not the same. They aren't reliable like you. Maybe one day you'll get it together and become available in Italy. I can only hope.
We all do it sometimes, eavesdrop on some unknowing stranger's conversation. But is it something you've ever really thought about, or have you, like me, been taking it for granted? Sometimes it's just a snippet of gossip that has zero meaning in your life but makes you laugh to yourself anyway. Maybe it's a lover's spat that makes you think, "Thank God Chris isn't that crazy"! Sometimes it's actually a kind word between friends. Isn't it nice though, automatically understanding the words without even trying?! Well, I'm saying goodbye to that luxury, for a bit at least! I'll make sure to let you know the first time I actually unwittingly understand a stranger's conversation in Italian!!
People who obey traffic laws, I have something I have to admit to you *deep breath* I've never appreciated you! In fact, I sometimes yell at you from my car. I mean, I'm in a hurry and you were following the letter of the law too closely! You were making me late, dang it!! But now, as I go to a place where lanes and signs and rules are merely suggestions, I want you to know, you will be missed. I should've appreciated you when I had the chance!
Electricity, it might as well be magic for all I understand about it. You plug things in and they work. Period. A storm comes, you light candles and try in vain to think of something to do that doesn't require electricity. You rejoice when the power comes back and all your wonderful things work again. Now I will have to think before I plug. I am saying good-bye to not having to understand how electricity works! 220, 110, converter, adapter, what does it all mean?!?!?! I wonder how many flat irons I will fry before I catch on? *sigh*
Colorado, the most wonderful of all the United States. I will miss your crisp dry air, your freezing cold nights, your purple mountains majesty, your delightfully mild summers (except this past summer when you went crazy and got into the 100s, what were you thinking?!), your lovely miles and miles of trails and parks, your super fun Capital City where we got to make so many great memories this summer! Italy is going to be wonderful and beautiful, I know, but Colorado will always be my true land-love.
And, of course, my marvelous friends and family... I'm not going to say I'll miss you because we hope to see oh-so many of you in Italy, in the not too distant future. So, no tears, no real good-bye just, we'll see ya real soon! Ciao Ciao!!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Is This Real Life?
Is this really happening? Can someone pinch me? It feels so surreal. Italy? Italy! Italy.
You may be asking yourself, how did this happen, didn't you guys just move to Denver, or aren't you in Florida, or even I thought you were in North Carolina! Well, this first post is intended to answer all those questions and more. How did this happen?! Lets rewind...
It was probably around a year or so ago, we had been living in St. Petersburg, FL for about two and a half years after having moved from Colorado Springs, that Chris was having to finally, officially make a REALLY big decision: To Retire or Not To Retire. He was past his 20 year mark and as much as he felt that the Army had been very good to him he felt like the time had come to go it on his own, so to speak. It was not an easy or quick decision and we had actually been discussing it for what seemed like years. But finally, Retire it was!
Next on the Major Life Change Agenda was, "What should we do now"? Should we stay in Florida where we were, at least, comfortable and settled and where I had a decent job that I loved/sometimes hated but that was never, ever boring? (Hey J. Con peeps! Miss you!!) We had friends and I was finally sort of adjusting to the ridiculous heat and humidity after three years. The next option was to move back to Colorado. A place that we knew we loved and where we knew we had a great community of friends and where humidity doesn't exist. Lastly, we could look for a totally new and different place that we'd never been. My vote was pretty much always for Colorado, but we decided that Chris would apply for jobs in FL first and we'd kind of wait and see what happened. He was looking mainly at jobs with the Government and as it turns out, shockingly, they are in no hurry to get things done or get people hired. So as Chris was practicing his interviewing skills and learning to navigate the murky waters of job hunting for basically the first time in his life, time was a-ticking away. Before we knew it the New Year had come and gone. We realized that the lease on the house we'd been renting for the entire time we'd been in FL was up on March 1. There was no renewing it either because our landlady wanted to sell. What to do, what to do?
At pretty much the very last minute possible we made a decision: We were moving to Denver! We were lead to this decision because Chris had so much leave time saved up that he could actually quit working in March and still get paid until his actual retirement date in June. We reasoned that we would most likely never again have an opportunity to move across the country with no jobs but still have money to support ourselves. We felt it was too good to pass up. And surely we'd have jobs before the end of June; even in a down economy, right?!
The movers came at the end of February to put the majority of our belongings in to storage until we got settled. We were out of our house March 1st and got on the road March 14th (thank you Facebook Timeline) with a VERY full car. We drove up through Atlanta to spend the night with a good friend there and then on to North Carolina where we got to spend almost two weeks with family and friends.
All the while Chris was applying for jobs, mainly in the Denver area, but occasionally he'd apply for one in Cali or Boston (which drove me crazy because that was not part of the plan, dang it! I like plans!) We did agree that he should apply for jobs in Europe because in the unlikely case that he got one it would be totally worth it to deviate from Colorado for a few years. This was a frustrating time for him because, as I stated earlier, the government is in no hurry to get things done. So he would interview and be told that he'd hear from HR with in two months or he'd get an email saying he'd be contacted for an interview but it would never happen or maybe it would but it would be so long after he'd applied he wouldn't remember what job it was. I mean the poor guy must have applied for hundreds of jobs. I felt bad for him but I was also like, "Welcome to the Real World", you don't have to deploy (Thank God) but it's not as easy as it looks!
I believe it was at the beginning of May when he got an interview for a job with the Navy in Naples, Italy. Exciting, but we knew better than to get our hopes up. So imagine our surprise when, just before Memorial Day, he got a call from the Director in Naples saying he was being tentatively offered the position!!! What a relief!!! Finally! A job! And it's in Italy!!! What?!!?
Tentatively meant that there was a monstrous amount of paper work and various other things, like a medical eval, that had to be done and passed, etc. before we got the official offer. I don't even remember when the official offer came through but suffice it to say we had some serious days of nail biting due to my having Rheumatoid Arthritis (click here to learn more and see how you can help://www.arthritis.org/ ) and there was some questionable wording regarding that disease and being allowed to go. However, I did finally get approved!! Yay! I was seriously relieved because the thought of Chris not being able to get a job due to my illness was heart-wrenching to me! Fortunately, at this point, my RA is relatively mild and easily treatable so it doesn't seem it will be a problem. Whew!!
So at this point you may be asking yourself, "Wait, that was May, before Memorial Day; it's october. Why are you not there yet?" Good question my friends, good question. Remember how I keep mentioning the lack of urgency within the realm of our government. Yeah... well, there's that and then it seems there were roadblocks thrown up at pretty much every turn. So many that I can't even remember them all. I should've been blogging this whole time so as to never forget, but I didn't and maybe it's better that I forgot some things. I will say that the folks in Naples were definitely on their game and not part of the "lack of urgency brigade" that we've encountered on this side of the Atlantic.
This is my first real government move since technically we weren't quite married yet during the other moves so there was nothing I could really do or be responsible for then. This time around I feel like my head could explode trying to remember everything and get it all done and follow up to make sure every one else is doing their part, which nine times out of ten they aren't. (Here's looking at you people in charge of.... hmmm, I probably shouldn't say, but you know who you are!!) Possibly my favorite quote through this whole process is, "We run in to this problem around this time every year. You'd think we'd have an easy way to fix it, but we don't." Yeah, that pretty much sums up the last four and a half months of my life!
The good new is, Chris IS already there (as of about two weeks ago) and he's been house hunting and car shopping and getting adjusted. I'll be on my way soon and then we can get down to what this blog is really about - La Dolce Vita!!
p.s. In regard to my complaining about the complications of moving I must give a large and loving shout out to all the Military Spouses that go through this every few years, for years on end, and with children!!!! You are Goddesses and there is no way possible for you to be honored enough for what you do! There's a special place in heaven for y'all, for sure!!
You may be asking yourself, how did this happen, didn't you guys just move to Denver, or aren't you in Florida, or even I thought you were in North Carolina! Well, this first post is intended to answer all those questions and more. How did this happen?! Lets rewind...
It was probably around a year or so ago, we had been living in St. Petersburg, FL for about two and a half years after having moved from Colorado Springs, that Chris was having to finally, officially make a REALLY big decision: To Retire or Not To Retire. He was past his 20 year mark and as much as he felt that the Army had been very good to him he felt like the time had come to go it on his own, so to speak. It was not an easy or quick decision and we had actually been discussing it for what seemed like years. But finally, Retire it was!
Next on the Major Life Change Agenda was, "What should we do now"? Should we stay in Florida where we were, at least, comfortable and settled and where I had a decent job that I loved/sometimes hated but that was never, ever boring? (Hey J. Con peeps! Miss you!!) We had friends and I was finally sort of adjusting to the ridiculous heat and humidity after three years. The next option was to move back to Colorado. A place that we knew we loved and where we knew we had a great community of friends and where humidity doesn't exist. Lastly, we could look for a totally new and different place that we'd never been. My vote was pretty much always for Colorado, but we decided that Chris would apply for jobs in FL first and we'd kind of wait and see what happened. He was looking mainly at jobs with the Government and as it turns out, shockingly, they are in no hurry to get things done or get people hired. So as Chris was practicing his interviewing skills and learning to navigate the murky waters of job hunting for basically the first time in his life, time was a-ticking away. Before we knew it the New Year had come and gone. We realized that the lease on the house we'd been renting for the entire time we'd been in FL was up on March 1. There was no renewing it either because our landlady wanted to sell. What to do, what to do?
At pretty much the very last minute possible we made a decision: We were moving to Denver! We were lead to this decision because Chris had so much leave time saved up that he could actually quit working in March and still get paid until his actual retirement date in June. We reasoned that we would most likely never again have an opportunity to move across the country with no jobs but still have money to support ourselves. We felt it was too good to pass up. And surely we'd have jobs before the end of June; even in a down economy, right?!
The movers came at the end of February to put the majority of our belongings in to storage until we got settled. We were out of our house March 1st and got on the road March 14th (thank you Facebook Timeline) with a VERY full car. We drove up through Atlanta to spend the night with a good friend there and then on to North Carolina where we got to spend almost two weeks with family and friends.
All the while Chris was applying for jobs, mainly in the Denver area, but occasionally he'd apply for one in Cali or Boston (which drove me crazy because that was not part of the plan, dang it! I like plans!) We did agree that he should apply for jobs in Europe because in the unlikely case that he got one it would be totally worth it to deviate from Colorado for a few years. This was a frustrating time for him because, as I stated earlier, the government is in no hurry to get things done. So he would interview and be told that he'd hear from HR with in two months or he'd get an email saying he'd be contacted for an interview but it would never happen or maybe it would but it would be so long after he'd applied he wouldn't remember what job it was. I mean the poor guy must have applied for hundreds of jobs. I felt bad for him but I was also like, "Welcome to the Real World", you don't have to deploy (Thank God) but it's not as easy as it looks!
I believe it was at the beginning of May when he got an interview for a job with the Navy in Naples, Italy. Exciting, but we knew better than to get our hopes up. So imagine our surprise when, just before Memorial Day, he got a call from the Director in Naples saying he was being tentatively offered the position!!! What a relief!!! Finally! A job! And it's in Italy!!! What?!!?
Tentatively meant that there was a monstrous amount of paper work and various other things, like a medical eval, that had to be done and passed, etc. before we got the official offer. I don't even remember when the official offer came through but suffice it to say we had some serious days of nail biting due to my having Rheumatoid Arthritis (click here to learn more and see how you can help://www.arthritis.org/ ) and there was some questionable wording regarding that disease and being allowed to go. However, I did finally get approved!! Yay! I was seriously relieved because the thought of Chris not being able to get a job due to my illness was heart-wrenching to me! Fortunately, at this point, my RA is relatively mild and easily treatable so it doesn't seem it will be a problem. Whew!!
So at this point you may be asking yourself, "Wait, that was May, before Memorial Day; it's october. Why are you not there yet?" Good question my friends, good question. Remember how I keep mentioning the lack of urgency within the realm of our government. Yeah... well, there's that and then it seems there were roadblocks thrown up at pretty much every turn. So many that I can't even remember them all. I should've been blogging this whole time so as to never forget, but I didn't and maybe it's better that I forgot some things. I will say that the folks in Naples were definitely on their game and not part of the "lack of urgency brigade" that we've encountered on this side of the Atlantic.
This is my first real government move since technically we weren't quite married yet during the other moves so there was nothing I could really do or be responsible for then. This time around I feel like my head could explode trying to remember everything and get it all done and follow up to make sure every one else is doing their part, which nine times out of ten they aren't. (Here's looking at you people in charge of.... hmmm, I probably shouldn't say, but you know who you are!!) Possibly my favorite quote through this whole process is, "We run in to this problem around this time every year. You'd think we'd have an easy way to fix it, but we don't." Yeah, that pretty much sums up the last four and a half months of my life!
The good new is, Chris IS already there (as of about two weeks ago) and he's been house hunting and car shopping and getting adjusted. I'll be on my way soon and then we can get down to what this blog is really about - La Dolce Vita!!
p.s. In regard to my complaining about the complications of moving I must give a large and loving shout out to all the Military Spouses that go through this every few years, for years on end, and with children!!!! You are Goddesses and there is no way possible for you to be honored enough for what you do! There's a special place in heaven for y'all, for sure!!
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