Hello. My husband and I refuse to quit honeymooning. These are our stories.
You'll never guess where I am right now. Starbucks. I know I should be going local, I'm a huge advocate for local businesses, but Starbucks will always be the exception because if there's one thing I've learned in our travels thus far, its that this coffee shop will always have English-speaking baristas. That, my friends is gold. Solid gold.
But today is my first day at this Starbucks "office". Because I'm in Alaska. Yep. Alaska. This transition was a pretty wild road, starting with a lot of waiting followed by a week or two of flurried (read: exhausting) activity and now finishing up with more waiting.
We were actually back home in Texas, waiting on our visas to get us back to Russia for our last few months of Hubs' assignment and planning one last sweet European Christmas. One month turned into two, which then turned into three, and suddenly we're reading our friend's posts on Facebook about snow in Moscow and falling temperatures. Where had the time gone? Anxiety was starting to set in because we were on a deadline ourselves and couldn't extend our time in Russia, but Hubs had certain obligations to finish with his program and it wasn't looking good. I have to admit that my anxieties got the best of me, yet again. Planning, timelines and to do lists became an obsession and none of it was working.
In the back of my mind (way, way far back of my mind…) I knew everything would work out. Life happens and it keeps going. And I knew no matter how difficult it was, we would be ok because we're just like that. I had no idea it would work out as intricately as this…
It came in an offhanded comment from one of Hubs' bosses in the Texas office that they were looking for people in the Alaska branch. Hubs, about as excitable as a puppy dog thought it sounded pretty cool so he got in touch with the hiring manager. Which led to a visit a week later, which led to a job offer two days later, which led to an official transfer approval three days later, which ended with a pack up your things, we're moving to Alaska in four days. At this point, realize we've both been waiting for our visas back to Russia for almost exactly four months. Suddenly, our well-rehearsed speech about how long we would be in town changed overnight to, "yeah, we're leaving for Alaska on Monday!" Most of our friends were shocked at first, but then remembered who they were talking to. This is kind of what we do. I swear we're not trying to one-up ourselves, it just happens naturally.
So here we are. Alaska. "The final frontier" and they are not joking. It's been a real shock, my emails to friends who had lived here did nothing to prepare me for this strange land of personalized license plates, chattiness, military discounts, fleece and mountains. But we jump in nonetheless and adapt as best we can. Together, with lots of laughs, lots of plans, lots of dreams. It's our official tried and true method.
As crazy as it sounds, this move did more for my peace of mind than it probably should have. My anxieties about our timeline and transition after Moscow are laid to rest. Rest assured, they've been replaced by others, but at least I have hope that no matter what the anxiety, my prayers are heard by a God who is extra creative in putting them to rest. And part of that is having a handsome, silly, fearless partner by my side.
And so the honeymoon continues.
Cheers to the things and people that make us fearless.
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