It's been a few months now that I've been feeling the itch. That nomadic urge that has made military life bearable and even, dare I say it, enjoyable. The feeling that I've fully experienced life here in this place and I'm ready for the next adventure.
It may seem strange that I could have these feelings when we're always on the go, visiting new cities and countries, but I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Once you've seen 28 European countries, the 29th probably is going to have an awful lot in common with at least one of those previously visited locales! And I am not complaining. Truly, I am not. We are so lucky to have been granted this assignment, and it has been a dream come true to travel so extensively over the past couple of years.
But I've got to tell you, it's been 2 1/2 years of VERY frequent travel, and I'm tired. I love so many things about Germany, but the truth is, it does not feel like home to me. It is not better or worse than the US, and I know I'll miss it very much when we're gone, but it has been 2 1/2 years of feeling like I'm on an absurdly extended vacation. And sure, that is nothing short of a first world problem, and certainly no one is holding a gun to my head forcing me to book hotels, but there it is.
This is also creeping up on the longest that I've lived anywhere since I moved away from Louisiana in 2004. The only place I've lived longer than Germany was Little Rock, AR and I'll surpass that in January. So, by the time we move, I will have lived in Germany longer than I lived anywhere else over the course of eleven years!
By this point in the past, I've always known what the future held. I've always been packing up one life and preparing for another. I'd be feeling the high of a second honeymoon, falling in love again with whatever city currently has me in its grasp before we must part ways. And I'm ready for that now. I'm ready to know! I'm ready for the next chapter.
I want to be closer to family. I want to be able to easily understand what the people around me are saying without painful butchery of their language and feeling like a total dunce because I can never remember the right words at the right moments. I want to have access to a preschool for the girls that isn't 30 minutes from my house and doesn't cost an arm and a leg. I want to take advantage of the whole slew of travel opportunities right below the US border that I never considered before because I had on Europe-only blinders!
It doesn't help that Germany is sinking into the dreary grips of fall and the time change this weekend will begin the steady slide toward a 4 pm sunset. Time to dig out that happy light and vitamin D.
But, there is hope that soon we will know more about what the future could hold for us. Right now there are so many possibilities on the horizon that it's more than a little overwhelming, but, presently, things should start seeming more or less likely and I suspect we will have more confidence in the plan in the next month or so.
And until then, we're just going to knock out the rest of our Europe bucket list, and try not to take our amazing valley for granted. It's not a bad life, this.
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