Crunch Time

~FYI its a LONNNNNGGGG one~

I'm pretty sure the title is self explanatory as to what this post may be about. About the last month of deployment the "PCS" talk came around our conversations more and more. We came down on orders for a duty station that I was not overly thrilled about at all nor was the hubbs but for the job reason not so much the location. Now of course we would have been a simple three hour drive from my family & living 30 minutes away from one of my high school best friends. However even with that in mind I still wasn't sold. Thankfully the hubbs was able to make some calls & pull some strings to quickly get us out of that. Now we were back to waiting to see what our future held. A few weeks later & a couple emails back & forth the orders were changed & we knew were we would be going. Now with the new location set we had to try & get our report date pushed back due to schooling that both of us were doing here on island. We would both be completely done by the end of the year & it would just make things easier if we were able to stay here & finish it out. Long story short we weren't able to get the date change not even by 30 days which was really frustrating and annoying at the same time because there was no real good reason as to why they couldn't do it. It pretty much came down to the LC of the Unit not wanting to sign any paper work because he himself was PCSing & whelp didn't really care to do the work.
I quickly came to grips with the fact that it wasn't changing & this was life as we know it. The Army life that is and the ever so changing theme of it along with the unknown. Here we are a couple months out from our PCS / REPORT date to our next duty station & we nave NO orders in hand. A simple piece or paper is all we are waiting on to get the ball rolling with this move, we can't do ANYTHING until we have that paper. I can't tell you how many times a day I would ask Gabe if he has got his orders yet or heard anything about them. The answer was always the same "No, nothing, I checked again or I talked with so & so". I seriously was to the point were I just wanted to go down to brigade & get them myself & give them a piece of my mind. I know things don't work that way & that it would be completely impossible nor wouldn't help a bit but I would be lying if I said it didn't cross my mind a time or two.
Gabe was beginning to become as frustrated & annoyed as I was with the whole ordeal. Some nights I was to the point were I was just ready to move and be settled in our next home because I hate living in such limbo. The one thing that I have a hard time dealing with in the army life is NOT ALWAYS HAVING CONTROL. I huge planner & do not do well with short notice or quick decisions I simply just don't work that way.
On my afternoon break from work one day I was checking my phone & had a text from G that said "I got my orders". Thank freaking goodness its about time. I mean don't get me wrong I am not at all a fan of leaving the life we have built here in the Land of Aloha but when the Army calls you really do not have a choice in the matter. We knew this day would come sooner or later it was only a matter of time. After work I quickly rushed home with a over loaded brain full of questions to started the "move".
As I was looking over the orders I noticed one semi important detail that was VERY different then what we had been talking about / though. Our report day was 10 days earlier than we had been originally told. The printed date on the orders from when they were cut was 6 days earlier then when we got them. To say I was a bit frustrated would be a giant understatement, words couldn't even describe what was going through my head. We had everything planned out during our PCS leave as to were we would be going, when & for how long. All of that had to change quickly with plan B put in place.
Now that we have our orders we still have to WAIT to talk with transportation about shipping our POV, packing HHG's & Flights to the ML. Unit will get that scheduled we can't really do anything as far as setting dates to clear housing yet. The only way to do that is to have a appointment or go butt early in the morning & wait in line & do a walk in. I knew in order to get anything done the next day I was going to have to take the day off work. So me being the loyal employee that I am and not wanting to call out I went up to work at 5:30 in the morning to talk to my Director about getting the day off. Luckily she was completely ok with it and there was no issue.
From there I made my way over the transportation office right across the street & was the first in line to get it when they opened at 7:30. This only mint I had to wait a measly hour & 45 minutes, no biggie at all right......hahahahaha thank goodness for my Ipad & 3G Internet. After PT Gabe met up with me & we were the first ones in the office & given a 8:30 appointment. I was starting to feel a sign of relief since we got it, just a small one though. After running home doing a few things at the house (refinancing G's car) w/n 30 minutes so we had no issues shipping it & didn't have to wait for a letter of release from a local bank, we were back at the TO (transportation office) planning our move. POV paper work done just needs to be drop it off, HHG's scheduled thankfully they were able to squeeze us in a week earlier then their "next open date". We waited on G's ticket because he was gonna give it one more try at getting the date pushed back at least to the original day that we though we had to be at our next duty station.
Once we left the TO we parted ways I went home to work on some things & he had to go back to work to finish up a few things. I wrote up my notice letter to work, gathered everything I needed to go talk to housing about clearing & was out the door again. I made a quick stop by work to turn my papers in & then to housing were I was hoping it wouldn't take to long ended up taking a hour. After going over everything with the housing lady she them proceeds to tell me once we have a 28 day out date that we want to move out we can let her know. I went from "ok we are getting some were to almost in tears", "see mama we DO NOT have 28 days." We would be off island in less than that & need to clear housing like last week but with no orders we couldn't do that. She quickly realized that the dates & times I was giving her wasn't a example like she was thinking I was for real on what I was saying. She told me that if we got a Memorandum from G's CO that we needed our move our date waved we would be fine.
This was seriously beginning to be more of a head ache then it should be & I was so over it. We also needed a Amendment saying that I was traveling with Gabe during this PCS because I am not on his orders which is a completely different story that I wont even get in to.
We finally got all the paper work issues worked out and everything had started coming together slowly but it was coming together. We shipped G's car 2 days after we got our orders to make sure it made it to the port were we needed it to be on time. We were down to one car which was hard but we made it work. ( I have to say I don't know how people do it that only have one car, I don't think we could ever do it long term.) A week after we shipped the car the movers came to pack up our house, that was a bitter sweet moment. Having to watch our entire life wrapped & boxed up was quite depressing but once again it's all apart of the Army life. I am super nervous about the shipping of our HHG's, if you remember when I moved out here one of our crates was switched by mistake & sent to Germany. It took 4 long months to get it back once we realized what happened. I also am worried to death about stuff breaking, Gabe mentions to me that if it does break the Army will pay to replace it, sure I know that BUT I would rather NOT even have to deal with that & have everything in one piece.
Nothing I can do about either issue but sit back & wait it out till we get our things on the other end. Same with the cars, when I picked up my car on Sand Island the bumpers were in pieces & the hood was bent. We both have BRAND new cars that are worth a freaking heck of alot more then the ones we came out here with so I am really worried about that. Any one that knows me know that my Chally is my baby & we are super anal about our cars.
After our HHG's were packed and taken away we moved in with my dear friend S. She was so kind to take us in and open her home to not only us but our two four legged fur babies to. I am so grateful to her during this time as well as each & every day. She has made things a million times easier on us just not having the stress of hotel living & what not during this time. I know we would make it work if we ended up going that way, this way we get to spend alittle extra time together before the big move. (so do the pouches)
My last day at work has come and gone, that as well was a bitter sweet day. I am happy to have the time off from work to be able to enjoy my time here in Hawaii. At the same time I have grown to really love & cherish some of the friendships I made at work as well as the relationships I made with some of the children & their parents. I took over the classroom with my friend C back in November of '09 & we completely turned it around & really got it up & running great so to have someone else come in & take my place is hard. Sure not like it matters what happens after I leave because I can't do anything about it, still I know it will not be the same for many of the parents due to certain staff in the room and that makes me sad.

Here I am days before I leave enjoying the time I have left with my love & friends. This is were everything started for Gabe & I. We met here in Hawaii & have had soooooo MANY firsts here including our first home & bringing home our first babies (our pups). This is our life, Hawaii is home to us and we have made a million fabulous memories here that we will never forget. I know we have both grown stronger individually as people & grown strong as a couple & in our marriage. I thank God every day for the oppurttunities he has put in our life & the people he has allowed us to meet. I know this is only the beginning of our life together & in the Army as well. As sad as I am and as hard as it is going to be to leave what we have here, I know there are GREAT things awaiting us ahead.

Here's to NEW ADVENTURES & many more memories in our future. :)

ALOHA & HUI HOU HAWAII ~ Goodbye & until we meet again!!!!!!!!!!