As a quick little update: I was not chosen for the Top 18 for MSOY. This is okay. Really. And for a number of reasons. First and foremost is that I have just begun the immense amounts of self work that need to be done to even start the healing process for my PTSD. I am only learning how to best be an advocate while also being a survivor. Additionally? There are some really, very wonderful people who did make it, and I don’t want anything to take away from the work they’re doing.

So, if you’re so inclined, you can check them out here.

I’ll make some coffee while you do that…

Beach photo for your viewing pleasure… 😉

Good?

Good.

Because the rest of the post has to do with the title. Chaos and moving. I’ve actually blogged about it in the past, in relation to minimalism. I may edit and restore those posts. Right now, though, I’m having to focus on the move in front of us. There’s quite the list of things that need to be done.

• Ready house for sale.
• Pack up.
• Sell house.
• Move.

But wait, Lin, you’re not being clear. Where are you moving?

Japan.

Yes. Not only are we moving, we’re moving overseas. While I’ve done my fair share of PCSing, this… is no small feat.

Especially when we’re looking at having to sell our house well before we ever thought that would be a necessity. See, the idea behind having bought a house here in VA was so we could provide the kids some stability in their lives. And we were originally planning to stay here until MarvMan retires.

And that’s… well, that’s pretty well blown out of the water, now, isn’t it?

So there’s a lot of parental guilt, and I’ll probably discuss that over another blog post, but I haven’t the time or, really, the words right now. We never explicitly told them we’d be staying here forever, and I think I’m using that to comfort myself. I think we knew in the back of our minds that there was a possibility we’d be uprooted and placed somewhere else.

I just never really thought it would be on the complete opposite side of the globe. I mean, sure, it’s always a possibility with the military, but… you never really expect it.

Even with the growing to do list, I’m pretty excited, to be honest. It’s an opportunity that many people don’t get. One that we almost didn’t get. If you’re familiar with me at all, you know I have a few medical issues in addition to PTSD. And I thought they’d disqualify us for being stationed overseas. But somehow? By some twist of fate? I was approved.

I will take that and I will run with it. Because you don’t get these kind of opportunities twice in life.

Which means we have to get grooving on getting the house ready for sale, and especially get set in the paring down department. I don’t want to take anything unnecessary when we move overseas, knowing the possibility for things to break or get lost.

Additionally, I’m going to be hustling like crazy to finish the entries for The OWL Project and get that polished up, because I’d still like to shoot for a spring publishing date. I keep saying that meaning that I’ll publish it myself, but maybe it’ll be good enough for someone to pick up?

Who knows?

I certainly wasn’t expecting to go to Japan, either. 😉