I closed my eyes today.

I closed my eyes today on my run. The sun was hot on my face, even though I was one of the first runners on the trail. I had to work a bit harder to breathe through the humidity. But with the flora to my right and the ocean to my left, my eyes closed and I pictured what my morning run will be like in two weeks. My breathing became rhythmic and my senses opened to the smells and the sounds. The birds, the lizards in the path. The conflict of the poverty asleep in the park and the wealth that even I have that allows me to be here in Miami on {a working} vacation. In two weeks, I may get up to run in Guyana and my nose will fill with the same smells of spice, sand and heat. I may be surprised by how different it is. But, today on my run, when I closed my eyes, I was almost there.

From sea to shining sea...

We are officially nomads, starting our multi-state journey before officially heading overseas. Despite a short stomach bug that made me miss the official July 4th fireworks, we did enjoyed our little starting reprieve at the family mountain cabin in the Smoky Mountains. There certainly is no better way to celebrate the beauty of this country than to leave the expansive ocean and to travel to the drama of Appalachia: the white-streamed rivers, water falls and mist in the morning! The drive from the mountains down to Florida featured white-columned homes, red barns and fruit stands. {We definitely made a stop for some Georgia pecans and peaches...}

The next leg of our trip heads north to Ohio...certainly there is no better way to say goodbye to the United States than to be able to road trippin' down the highway.

Monday Morning

Common, a photo by June Vintage on Flickr.

When I worked, I dreaded Mondays.

(Although, in law enforcement, there was no actual "Monday" that began your week...just a technical day that began your strange rotation of days and hours that we called a "work week.")

Now, I rather look forward to the week beginning. It brings a organized schedule and a prospect of goals accomplished. The weekend and its cleaning, family chores and later bedtimes comes to an end and Monday is a reprieve. Monday is the cool down from the last game and the warm up for the next.

This week is our last in this place and the hard work of the pack out and clean up is done. The next weeks bring fun (Disney World! Road trips!) and family (we get to stay with both sets of grandparents during this time.) So, I feel like I am sitting on a bigger, theoretical Monday for our journey to Guyana. The not so fun stuff (traveling on a plane with a 3 year old and two Jack Russell Terriers top the list, closely followed by the having-to-live-in-a-hotel-when-we-get-there) is coming. But I have my calendar all written out, my to-do lists are in order, and I, like on every Monday, feel prepared.

I know that, by Wednesday or Thursday, I will be ready for the weekend. Goals and plans may have had to be altered. So, in this parallel/theoretical week, it will be right about the time that I am flying solo from one state to the other with the kid while the husband is eating out on the Navy's per diem in DC.

But that is how the week rolls sometimes, isn't it? And that is what makes me good for this "job" of "trailing spouse." I organize and plan. I write lists and take orders. But I am equally good at learning to be flexible when the time comes (although I recognize that it takes more effort to maintain that flexibility the older I become.) I can take command as easily as I understand how this (often rigid) process goes, moving via the government.

Just like I know when I write on my Monday morning meal plan that I intend on making a 3 course-dinner on Thursday, I most likely will be eating, exhausted, over a bowl of cereal. That may be how this next "week" goes before we get in Guyana. I have goals: I aim to exercise through each little move, to blog this transition, to take more pictures. Maybe it will happen, maybe I will just get an A for Effort.

But, the best things about Mondays? I will get another "beginning" at the start of next week.

From where I sit...

Today, I sat in my house observing, changing from sitting on the bed to various chairs as the movers took pieces of furniture out from under me. I filled out my calendar with important dates for the months to come. I planned last playdates, doctor appointments and dinners with friends before we go. The bittersweet excitement that comes with change was poignant in these quiet moments of merely being present as the movers worked.

Tonight, I sit in a {very generous} friend's home, our temporary residence until we head through three different states for my husband to get prepared through schools and meetings for this new job. Two of the military bases happen to be next to both of our parents. One meeting may allow for a short getaway alone for my husband and I. We may even fit in a couple of days at the Happiest Place on Earth. Despite the upcoming whirlwind, despite my worldly possessions being put on a container shipment headed south, despite being essentially homeless, from where I sit, the view looks pretty good.

Monday Move Status Report

Sam's Club haul for our consumables shipment...I now know how the Duggar's food bill must make them feel.

{Screencast} Organizing the Move with Springpad

This week's Foreign Service Blog round-up's topic is {the dreaded} paperwork of moving. I am beginning to think a military move is worse because they seems to think it is fun to make military members play "guess the rule" when it comes to move protocol. However, I am keeping things straight and my list-making under wraps using Springpad. I decided to get all tech-y and make a screencast to show you how I am using Springpad to keep on top of my paperwork...enjoy!