We are going WHERE??????

Part of the "joy" of being in the military is the random drop of where you WILL make your home. Nothing in the world quite compares to that very first discovery that, OBVIOUSLY, you go where the military sends you.  I am a nomad at heart.  My feet start itching after 18 months...so this is a very good situation for me.  However, sometimes those itchy feet of mine have been shocked, and at times downright rebellious, when informed of where they will be heading.  Our very first assignment, to this date, has been the biggest shock so far.

I am a California girl. I thrive in sunshine and saltwater. I had moved to the Midwest on a whim.  Now, there I was, married to my engineer, living in Missouri, waiting to find out where the military was going to send us.  I had, of course, spent time dreaming of "Garden Plot" locations, working to wrap my mind around the fact that there is no way we would arrive at any of them.  Most people will say, "Everyone moves, this is no different!"  But it is.  It is very different.  With the military, you often end up in locations that you would never CHOOSE to move to on your own. 

That is exactly what happened to us.  I will NEVER forget the phone call from my engineer concerning our first assignment.  For a couple weeks, up to this point, we had known that the assignment would be released.  One night, it came.  I remember the phone ringing, rushing to pick it up, knowing it was my engineer.  He did not sound like himself.  Very apologetically, he informed me we were heading to the Canadian Border.  I had NEVER heard of the town before in my life.  "We are going where???  Can you spell that??"  I felt excited and scared all at the same time.

Of course, like anyone who is about to move, I looked it up and discovered some CHILLING facts.  I read that common pastimes include ice fishing and eating Norwegian food.  I also discovered that the average temperature at the moment was -45F...not including windchill.      As I was reading this, I called my mom, in shock.  What else was I to do???  We were heading to some frozen wasteland in the Great White North!  I tried really, really hard to sound "happy" about it.  Honestly, I was panicking! 

I searched high and low for someone to answer my questions.  I had SO MANY!!!  I had so many that I didn't even know how to make any sense of them.  There I was, a young military spouse without any military connections.  I was moving into a world that I didn't even KNOW was a completely different society with its own set of rules and norms.  EVERYTHING that I thought I knew was wrong.  Everything that people had told me...was wrong. At this point, all I could do was close my eyes and jump.  Even though we had service members in our families, they were all from a generation that had not dealt with the changes that now reshaped the military and its climate.  What I desperately needed, at that moment, was another military spouse. 

"What have I gotten myself into?"  Again, that dreaded question coursed through my soul.  This was NOT a situation that I felt like I could handle.  I loved my engineer.  But deadly arctic temperatures?  That is what scared me the most.  

The cold.  

The lack of sun.  

Dead car batteries.

I didn't know enough to understand that what I really should have been scared of were the politics, the yard nazis, the rank whores, squadron drama queens, and the countless other "issues" that are a constant part of military life that you, eventually, just learn to ignore.  I also didn't know that this pressure cooker environment that I was entering would force me to grow in ways that I would have never imagined. Or that it was because of this environment that I would meet strong, gracious, wise women who I am now blessed to call friends.  

So, there I was, with my legs crossed, sitting on the floor of our little apartment, alone, in St. Louis, looking at the USA road atlas.  My engineer was still at OTS.  My mother's response was supportive, but concerned.  I just didn't know what I was doing.  Neither did anyone else.