Government layaway

Time again for a little government layaway. Didn't we just do this for Hawaii? All that we have to do to get to Japan is put our continental United States life on hold. We'll come and pick you up in 24-36 months. Hope the country doesn't go bankrupt by then and sell our things in a fire sale. I'm holding on tightly to my receipts Uncle Sam. A few notables:

• Family and an incredible network of friends. I find the words lacking in how I will miss this everyday part of my life.
• Weekly, who am I fooling, sometimes daily, runs to Target. At least I ranked family and friends above Target on my list of priorities, though most of my friends and I enjoy each other's company in those heavenly red and white aisles.
• Our church. Mark and I finally agreed on one, it only took six years of marriage, one pink church, one very gay church and a one mistaken Methodist church to find you.
• The poorly timed (how were we to know) and newly acquired travel trailer. We thought we'd use you more than twice, dreams of crabbing off a pier in Maryland, instead you get to sit, covered all nice and tight in a gated lot.
• The minivan and truck. We can't even enjoy you now that there are no payments left, all the while you'll be depreciating like the state of our stock portfolio these last several months.
• *Sniff, sniff* Our house.
• Our happy red couch and most other worldly possessions
  

Just some of the things that we must leave behind and put on hold.

Holy Batman, Japan

In case you've stuffed your ears with cotton balls to drown out the noise your children make, like I do every day, and haven't yet heard, we're picking up shop and heading westward, way-way-westward to Japan. Consider it a "gift" from the Navy. Years of dedicated service, countless sacrifices for the "mission" and promises of greener pastures (within the great forty-eight) be damned. Okay, so maybe my attitude is a little sour since these orders aren't even close to what we wanted or assured were coming our way, my usage of air quotes was your first tipoff, right? I would have preferred some other kind of gift, like maybe a KitchenAid mixer or riding lawnmower, how cute would I be on a John Deere! Lawn equipment aside, I know what you're thinking, how can you be upset at the opportunity to live abroad, to experience such a wonderous culture? I have to say it though, to get it out of my system, we've already done our overseas tour, remember Navy, we volunteered for that one. There's a Yogi somewhere saying, "cleanisng deep breath...Ommmm, Ommmm." Through countless meditations to reveal my inner peace, I've to come around to this eventuality. Yogi would be so proud. We are moving, no amount of talking will change that, and being upset will get me nowhere. So in the spirit of being adventurous and channeling my once audicous self, I've decided to embrace all the amazing things The Fegley Four are going to be exposed to in Japan.

We just gotta get there. I checked, a cruise to Japan is out of the question. Something about pirates at the Horn of Africa. I thought Johnny Depp wasn't going to make another sequel. *Yes, Husband, I know you'd never cruise in that direction to get to Japan, you'd cruise by Hawaii, but I thought the whole pirates off the coast of Africa showcased my knowledge of current events better. Anyways, we're going to have to rely on the lovely folks at PSD *insert snickers and sneers* to lead us the right way.

Memphis-->Dallas (7 hours driving) to drop off the van in vehicle storage
Dallas-->Seattle (4.5 hours flying) staying overnight
Seattle-->Yokota Air Force Base (14 hours)

They're known as the friendly skies, though I suspect that moniker will change after having Georgia up there for 14 hours. Have you ever seen Georgia sit still? Or be quiet? The child is in perpetual motion and so is her mouth. She is seriously cute and adorable but that wears off around hour 4. Throw wild card Olivia into the mix, who rather run than sit still in your lap, and those skies could get downright warlike. Can you say Benadryl! *no MOMS friends, I would never drug my child, I was talking about myself.

Sorry for the aside, back to the trip...
Yokota AFB-->Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka (3 hours driving)

Good times.