The News

We had been waiting for this day for months. The day we learned where Matt's first duty station would be. We had settled into our Virginia apartment, but we knew it was only temporary. We would only live there for a few months while Matt attended TBS. We would live for years at a duty station, and I had favorites among the military bases. The Marines Corps even had Matt rank his preferences, so I had hopes we would be stationed somewhere near the top of our list. My phone rang that evening. It was Matt! I picked up ready to hear the location of our new home. What I heard instead was...

"Do you know my password?"

"What are you talking about?"

"My password. I forgot my password to this site, and I can't see my assignment." 

"Are you serious?"

"Yep. And now I'm locked out."

That's right. We were locked out from trying too many incorrect passwords. We had to wait an hour for the website to reset so we could log on. While we were waiting I had text messages and Facebook announcements from all of our TBS friends with their new duty station locations. I just wanted to know! Especially when some of our good friends got their last choice...Okinawa. 

We were on the website! We read the location of our new home...in a cryptic combination of letters and numbers. The Marine Corps listed locations in code. Matt called multiple people until he found one who had downloaded an app that could translate the code. I was not screaming in frustration by this point, but it was close. So the app told the friend who told Matt who told me that our new home was in (drum roll please) Okinawa!

Okinawa, Japan. As in the military base that is on the other side of the world. As in the military base that cannot be any farther from home because then it would be closer. 

Matt had already researched his new unit. 

"Amanda," he almost screamed. "My unit is called the Iron Fist! How awesome is that!?"

I was less enthusiastic. However, I realized I knew nothing about this island so I turned to google and found this...

www.japan-guide.com

And this...

wikitravel.org

And realized I am moving to a tropical paradise!

Today I am so excited. I can neither confirm nor deny that a few tears were shed at the news, but now I realize the opportunities that Matt and I are afforded by this move. We will travel to countries I never thought I would see in my lifetime. We will have friends already on the island when we arrive. Did I mention tropical paradise?