Decision Made

Last week it felt like I said, “I don’t know, what do you think?” entirely too many times. I’m talking about my husband’s next military assignment. He was given a choice (which doesn’t happen often) and we agonized over it… All week. We laughed, I cried, we rationalized, and we made lists. It was exhausting. He had to have a decision in by last Friday so we discussed things for a few days and finally came to a decision…

We decided that it would be best if he took the pilot training assignment. It’s definitely not as nice a location as we are at now, but at least now we won’t have to wonder about things. I think what made this decision the hardest is that we really just wanted to stay where we are, unfortunately, they don’t let you do that. So we weighed the pros and cons over and over and here’s what we came up with.

The cons to this location are: it’s a small town and there’s not much there. (I will really miss the stellar shopping near my house!) It’s a little further from home for us- Home will always be Florida and while this location is still within a day’s driving distance it is further away. It’s far from the beach-  Now, I know that sounds picky of me, but I grew up in a place where you were no more than 45 minutes from the beach. It’s a weird thing I have. It’s also not the assignment we really wanted. Unfortunately, that  location doesn’t come down often, so our chances there were slim, anyway, but this was something we could both live with.

Here are the pros to this location: He won’t be gone as often! If you know me, you know I spend a lot of time alone. Aside from deployments, my husband frequently has to make lengthy trips. This means he’ll have more of a schedule and when he’s not deployed, he’ll actually be home. (I know, what a concept, right?) It means he won’t have to deploy with his squadron when they leave in October. (So it won’t be the 3^rd Christmas he’s missed in 4 years!)  He’ll have to go away for training, but at least that’s still in the United States. It’s a small town- but close to a few bigger cities, so I may have to drive a bit further to get what I want, but at least it’s not the middle of nowhere. I even have a few friends in the area… Granted, the closest is an hour away, but hey, that’s something! I might even make it to some away games for the Florida Gators:) It’s not Oklahoma! Nothing against Oklahoma, but I really didn’t enjoy the pilot training base there.

We thought about it and how often does the military ask if you want something? Not often. How often do you get to give the finger to the Assignment Gods? Almost never. Usually you roll the dice and take what you land on. It was kind of nice to be in control and make the decision for ourselves. He loves flying, but he is tired of always being gone. It will be nice to have him home more. It’s also just nice to know now. We spent so much time trying to figure it out that now a weight feels like it’s been lifted.  I just hope it was the right decision… If not, I suppose I can live with it for 3 or 4 years.