Moving new experience for military wife

Jennifer Laurent

I am going on an adventure. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that my husband is PCSing and I, along with our two cats and five house plants, will be making the 1,400-mile journey to Beale Air Force Base with him.

Recently he came home from work and told me that we will need to out process before we go to visit family for the holidays. I immediately envisioned a moving truck parked in the yard, spending our leave living out of my car and panicked at the thought of completing my ever-growing to-do list before the movers arrive.

Being a detail-oriented person, I began writing lists, making phone calls, working on arrangements to ship his car and pestering him to help me clean out our over-stuffed storage room.

I will be working literally until the minute we leave, so I have enlisted the help of my husband in ticking items off our list. We have spent hours talking about base housing vs. living off base, comparing phone, Internet, and television companies, and debating the best, least stressful way to complete this process.

Thank goodness for my worry-free husband as he does an excellent job of reminding me that people move all the time, and to our knowledge, they all survive.

As I made lists and talked to co-workers it came to my attention that there are some things that military movers can’t move, and that someway, somehow I will need to stuff my compact car with three weeks worth of clothes, toiletries, Christmas packages, laptops, jewelry, two cat kennels, litter, cleaning products and house plants.

I am an optimist. I think it can be done. I just don’t know if there will be room for us in the car too.

Jennifer Laurent is a copy editor for Freedom New Mexico. She is making her first military base move and will accept any moving advice offered. She can be reached by e-mailing:

[email protected]