Really?

So a blog is a lot like writing in your diary. You get excited about it for a few days, and then maybe keep it up for a few weeks, and then it just withers away like the plant you so futilely tried to keep alive. I'd like to think that I can use the excuse of being too busy to actively blog, but wasn't that the whole point of reviving this thing? Posting about all my crazy world travels and even crazier military move? But here's the real reason (and call it a cop-out if you want): when every single family member you travel with has a camera that's infinitely better than yours, and you suddenly come home with no pictures because you figured everyone else was taking much better pictures than you anyway, and you counted on being able to get pictures from said family members but haven't yet, it's hard to post blogs about your traveling adventures with no pictures.

So, we'll just skip straight over Africa and Italy (I'll post about them when I get pictures) and talk about the ultimate patience tester called IPAC and TMO (aka: offices on base you try very hard not to yell at when you're trying to move to Japan). So, to make a very long story not so long, they told us when Chase finished training that we were going to Japan, then the squadron in Japan said they didn't know when they wanted us so to just wait until we heard from them again, then the squadron in San Diego said they didn't know if they wanted to send us to Japan anymore, then they said that they wanted to keep us in San Diego but maybe they couldn't change our orders. So at this point I left for Italy not knowing if I was even going to move to Japan when I got back. On my second day in Rome, I got an email from Chase saying yes, we definitely were moving to Japan and that we could take our time because they didn't need us right away. About a week into Italy, they came back and said, um, no, we actually need you here in three and a half weeks. So poor Chase is running around trying to arrange everything while I'm fretting around in Italy. Chase scheduled our express shipment to be picked up the day after I got home, our long shipment three days after I got home, and our storage pickup the day after that. Then he went back home to Utah for three days to see his family since he had no other time to see them. I came home, we pretty much didn't sleep for a week while we frantically sorted and fixed the rest of our house, we had awesome neighbors and friends that kept us fed for a week, we found out the cat was not going to be able to come with us unless I took a commercial flight out later, and then Chase got on a plane last Wednesday and flew into Japan. I came to Utah to visit friends and family while I wait to get issued a ticket, which I just got yesterday. The cat now has her confirmed seat on my commercial flight, and I'm driving back to San Diego this Sunday and flying out next Wednesday.

I once told someone, I am no longer an excellent event planner. I am now an excellent contingency planner. Because when you have to deal with changing information and and shifting situations and your plans keep changing every 12 hours, you can't plan anything in advance.

So, please forgive me for not posting anything about Italy yet, since some days I'm lucky to have showered and eaten by the end of the day.