When I moved to Florida in 2009 for my first “grown-up” job,
I thought I was finally about to embark on my dream of becoming a professional
beach bum. Finally free from the clutches of college (4 years plus a victory
lap, thank you vey much) and the hovering oversight of parents, I boldly packed
up one bedroom’s worth of possessions into a U-Haul and drove south to move in
with two roommates whom I’d never met in person. I had no car, bad credit, and
a plan to live from paycheck to paycheck until I didn’t have to anymore.
For my 22-year-old self, life was great.
I got very lucky with the roommate situation (Jess and
Ashley, I wouldn’t have changed a thing!). Our little rental house was adorable
and only a block away from the beach. (Beach bum goal #1: achieved.) I bought a
car, which really came in handy during hurricane season. Come to think of it, I
can’t really remember a season when there wasn’t an impending hurricane. Work
was going well and I arranged my schedule so I could work 4 days per week,
thereby gaining an extra day for beach lounging. (Beach bum goal #2: achieved.)
At this point, I’d love to say, “And then I met Mark and my
whole world was turned upside down!” but that’s not exactly how things
unfolded. A mutual friend, Anna, introduced me to Mark, and that was nice. But
I was on the upward climb on the beach bum ladder and nobody was going to slow
me down. Nonetheless, Mark began courting me. He actually went to great lengths
to impress me by doing things such as cooking for me when I was a picky
vegetarian (those days are behind me now) and trying to get the air working in
my car. Yes, I bought a car without working air conditioning in Florida. If you
hadn’t noticed, many decisions I made as a 22-year-old were not grounded in
reason.
Mark commissioned into the Air Force in 2010 and was
promptly stationed at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi. Sad to see him
leave, I stayed in Florida and we decided to keep our relationship going,
long-distance. After all, I was still working, paying rent, and I had a tan to
maintain. So when Mark proposed to me a few months later, I anticipated a great
deal of separation anxiety between the beach and me. The “I’m moving to
Mississippi” pill was a hard one to swallow.
Fast forward to the present. Mark and I are married, and as soon as
he dragged me away from that beach and across the rest of this godforsaken
planet, my world slowly but surely was turned upside down.
Mississippi was, and continues to be one of the best things
that ever happened to me. Mark and I got lucky again with great roommates (Tony
and Sarah, we’re doing Sunday dinner again next time we see you), fantastic
neighbors who shared their home-brewed beer (Clarke and Iralyn, you’d better
open a pub someday), a new car (this time with working a/c), and a jump-start
for both of us on our master’s degrees.
Then came Mark’s assignment to California. I’m not talking
about beautiful-sunny-beachy-straight-off-a-post-card California. This was Fort
Irwin, California. Aka, the middle of nowhere. Aka, the purgatory of all
military assignments. It’s where active duty service members go to wait to see
if they’ve earned a better assignment after that one. But we made the best of
our two years in that sandbox. We made time to see a great deal of the great
state of California (all I ever wanted was a beach!), and got lucky again with
awesome neighbors (Chase and Megan, we hope to cross paths again soon!). So
next on the assignment adventure: Korea.
Which brings me to Dog on Roof.
Several people who care about us have expressed interest in
our whereabouts while we are overseas. If you consider yourself one of those
people, and you’re tired of sifting through pictures of everyone’s weddings and
babies on Facebook, then this blog is for you!
I will give updates about places we go, people we meet,
things we see, and all the food and drinks our American guts can handle. Please
feel free to leave your positive words in the comments section. And if anything
interesting happens in the future (Korea is across the International Dateline
from our state-side loved ones) we will let you know which teams to place your
bets on.
Stay in touch – Korea
is only a click away!
m & g
