One Big Adventure

It doesn’t matter what you had planned or what you want to do, when your a mom that is priority number one. The water heater could be broken and spewing water in your basement but if your child is screaming you are going to find out why first. It’s just how mom life works.

I had many things planned today but only accomplished about 1 of them. Oops. Luckily the day isn’t over yet so there is still a chance I could cross a few more things off of my to do list but mom’ing is a good excuse in my book for things not going as planned. You’re also never alone when you have kids. Don’t believe me? Go to the bathroom and wait.

Another year goes by

Today is my 8 year wedding anniversary. *Happy anniversary Kevon* I unfortunately do not get to spend it with my husband because holidays and important dates are completely meaningless to the military. We have spent more anniversaries apart than together. Most of our birthdays are spent long distance. My husband couldn’t even make it to my nursing school graduation (but here’s to hoping he makes it to the next one).

I planned to spend today with friends but as an expert on things not going to plan I spent the day with my kiddo instead. We had fun, took a ton of pictures which she loves and we read a lot. Today was a good day for me and her but it was definitely not the day I wanted or hoped for.

You knew what you were getting into

I hear those words so often I could scream. How could I possibly know what I was getting into. With so much military life in constant flux it is impossible. I only recently found out where we are moving next but I still don’t know when we are moving. So how can I possibly know everything the future holds?

Our first station was in Washington. *Hi Oak Harbor* and we had to PCS while I was in the hospital in labor with our first born. Literally he had to leave and meet the movers because it didn’t matter, we were on military time. That should have been a clue of the future but hindsight is 20/20 for a reason. I ended up with an emergency c-section which derailed our moving plans because I could no longer drive and we had 2 vehicles to move.

You should have planned better

I can honestly say that at 21 years old my planning ability is not the fine tuned machine that it is now. Luckily we had family willing to take a train a VERY long way to meet us and help with the drive because it’s not like you get stationed near family for support. You just have to make due with what you have.

Essentially my daughter and I were homeless for the next few months because my hubs was at school at it was not accompanied orders so I stayed with whatever family and friends I could while he finished his time. In a way it was nice because I was healing and recovering and most of the time I got a lot of help. I moved 4 times in the course of 2 months to Oregon, California, Missouri and then Florida to keep a roof over our heads until we could move to our final destination.

Settling in

Finally we could move to our new duty station and no longer be living out of suitcases. (not so easy with a newborn) However we didn’t know the area and trying to ‘reach out to our sponsor’ was met with mostly unanswered emails. Our first home was in the ghetto because we didn’t know any better. We had the catalytic converter removed from our car within 1 week of moving in.

So we moved. We lost our deposit and had to pay a bunch of fees because our reason for moving wasn’t ‘good enough’ so not only did we double what our rent was, we lost a ton. It took a while to recoup but it’s just what your supposed to do. Dust yourself off and try again. Eventually we decided to buy a house.

Mistakes were made

We looked forever for a house and we really didn’t know what to look for. Our realtor didn’t care about our needs only making the sale. We ended up with a pretty rough house and paid a lot of money to have things fixed that just broke again a few months later. Worst of all we also lost our first born in that time but that is a story for another day because it is just too painful still and it’s been almost 5 years since then.

Eventually we sold that house with bittersweet feelings since we had so many memories but hanging on to a money pit would have been a mistake for our family. We decided a condo would be a better fit and I will never buy a condo again. I learned valuable lessons about what a HOA is and what a pain they are too. But no place lasts forever and we moved on.

The next adventure

I went back to school and moved just after graduating nursing school. As well as getting pregnant and giving birth in that time. As a matter of fact I drove a uhaul with all of our belongings up to Oregon during a weekend and was back at school Monday morning with a newborn in tow. We lived on an air mattress for a few weeks while I finished out my classes.

I got licensed as soon as possible and got to work to start establishing work history before we moved again. We had heard a lot about nurses being needed in Japan and that I wouldn’t have any trouble and other lies like that. Don’t get me wrong Japan is great but a 2 income family becoming a 1 income family in a significantly higher cost of living area has been hard.

Actually getting to Japan we found out that there are MANY nurses that are unemployed and jobs were few and far between with most taking jobs at the NEX (department store) or other similar minimum wage positions. I considered this but minimum wage + child care expenses = whats the point. I lived that SAHM life as long as I could.

Tough Decisions

I lived in Japan just shy of 1 year before our family had to make some tough decisions. Do we A: keep going as we are going and go in to debt as our savings had dried up paying the bills we still had back in the states plus all of our new bills here on 1 income or B: do I go back to the states and work to help get our savings back up to ensure that we were in a good place when we moved again.

We chose option B. I went back to the US to work for about 18 months. We paid off debt, refilled savings. We bought another house and I fixed it up in my free time. I was near family so they got to see the baby get older and bigger and I made amazing friends. But I missed my husband terribly. I was able to visit Japan 2 times in that year and a half and my husband visited once. It was to big of a blow to savings for all that travel. As the new year rolled in the distance became to much.

Back in Japan

In January 2019 I returned to Japan. Once again unemployed but trying to make the most of my situation. I decided to start blogging. I had heard so many times talking to friends/family/coworkers how I had an interesting life. Eventually you hear something enough and you start to believe it yourself. We have big plans for our family even though we are in a sort of limbo right now with another move looming in the distance.

I have started cooking more and trying to making foods I love healthier for my family. So I hope to increase the amount of ‘scratch’ cooking I do slowly over time but any step is a step in the right direction. Also I hope to live a more farm type lifestyle next and get more in touch with nature. Lastly I hope to go back to school and finish my degree or rather get a degree since it got put on hold with the time overseas.

Life is an Adventure

I am happy to say that I am happy to be on this adventure and I couldn’t imagine being on it with anyone else. I love that we are on the same page. Especially since I have met plenty of people in my time and we were not on the same page at all. Plus a few times where I was on the same page as someone but clearly we were in different books.

I love that I get to live this mom life even though some days are more hectic than others. Today as a matter of fact was a “shit happens” day. Twice actually. But without you Kevon, I wouldn’t be where I am today. This is our story or at least the cliff notes version. Where we have been is already set but where we are going is full of opportunity and possibility. Happy anniversary again, I hope for many more years to come and all the adventures that come with it.