How I did it: Quit my job as a nurse in the Burn ICU.

Loaded everything in a Uhaul with my husband, drove from Columbia, MO to STL, MO. Unloaded necessary Items (Bed, dresser, clothing) into my childhood bedroom of my parents' home... Drove the Uhaul to a ghetto Uhaul storage center, and dragged our beautiful things up a ramp made of cheesegrater-like metal grid to our second floor "storage unit" (a plywood cubicle with a chicken wire ceiling). Covered everything with tarps to prevent bird droppings from ruining our furniture. Stopped by White Castle on the way home (because our storage unit was in "that part of town")...

...Said goodbye to my husband, and watched the recruiter's car drive away.

Three months later, my husband became a Warrant Officer in the United States Army. my parents and I drove 12 hours in 3 separate vehicles to attend his graduation. Then the 4 of us drove 12 hours back in my parents' car. Then my husband and I packed all my things back in another damn Uhaul (this time in subzero temperatures). We drove back to the unheated storage facility (which hadn't really seemed like a big deal back in october), and loaded up our stuff. We spent one last night in civilized company (my parents took us to our favorite wine bar). My sister gifted me the moroccan scarf we had been feuding over (it was my mother's).

The next morning I woke up with the flu, and waited around for 4 hours before I finally gave up trying to find a doctor who accepted my new military health insurance. My mom finally got ahold of my father, who had been in surgery since 7 am, and he called in a prescription for me. We picked it up at Wallgreens, and my best friend came by and gave me a bowl she had made in her ceramics class. We drove back to my parents' house, hugged my mom, little sister, and even the housekeeper who had been part of my life since preschool. We put the cat in her carrier under my seat, and drove away.

24 hours later, I became a resident of Enterprise, AL.

...I wish I had never quit my job.

It has now been 5 months since I have seen my family.

Lessons & tips: If you ever move to Ft. Rucker, AL, LIVE ON POST! Enterprise may have nicer houses for cheaper, but they are mostly NOT built to code, and everyone you deal with will have the work ethic of a pot smoking high school dropout.

ALSO, the cockroaches are an unavoidable part of life, and they are huge. Keeping them out of your house is like keeping water out of a submerged canvas bag. (especially if your house was built by alabamans)

DO NOT use Time Warner Cable down here, even if you have had a positive experience elsewhere. Their equipment is stone age quality, the cable has "outages" about once a week, and they find every possible excuse to charge you an extra $20. If you must watch TV, get a dish, or get netflix.

Resources: Find local farms to pick strawberries or get fresh produce. Don't try to find parks or museums. it is a waste of time. Just go on post. they have a lake, camping, bike trails, running trails, kid's parks, and an aviation museum that's actually pretty cool.

Apr 22, 2009, 10:43AM PDT | 0 comments | 1 cheer