Planning for the Unknown

My husband is finishing up his last year of law school and is applying for jobs in the military with JAG. 

I grew up in a military town and met lots of military kids as they started another new school and tried to meet new friends. I wondered what it would be like moving from place to place and meeting friends as an adult. Because I was a teen in a military town my experiences with the military involved me avoiding airmen like the plague. These underdeveloped airmen with overdeveloped egos would move into town and use the sensible local girls for target practice. They looked at all the local girls as if we had bulls eyes on our foreheads and the chase ensued. They wanted a girlfriend, a wife or someone to pass the time. It was a bit of a shock when my 30 something year old husband declared joining the military after law school was what he really wanted to do with his law degree. I couldn't picture him as the 21 year old neanderthal that would swoop in and run off with the sensible southern girl tossed over his shoulder. I admit, I freaked out. Military? Him? Wait...what? 

I did what I do best, I researched and asked questions. I talked to my friends in the military, my friends that were swooped off their feet by 21 year old airmen and are happy military wives today and I spent weeks reading blogs and researching bases. After my initial hesitation I am now completely on board with it. He did his internship with the Air Force and loved it. I could see it cement in his brain and anything that gets him this excited gets my seal of approval. How did I not see the perfect fit before? Ah, that's right, I was biased.

The application and selection process is more competitive than ever and I hear there is about a 5% acceptance rate. Hubs is a smart cookie. He's in the top 11% of his class, an editor of Law Review, on Moot Court and a long list of other things that boggle my brain to keep up with. I can't imagine him ever being an ambulance chaser or just doing something for the income. I really do think he'll make a great judge someday as he's probably the most levelheaded and fair person I know. He's started the interview process and I'm as anxious as he is to get the results. 

Since I'm a planner I've been doing lots of research on what will happen if he does go this route. Don't laugh, may as well do something with the nervous energy (other than the laundry piled up from my trip last week). There may be lots of moves...lots and lots of moves. I've already started a spreadsheet. My sister-in-law, Mary Beth, laughed and said it's my OCD kicking in. I say if there is a chance you may have to stop, drop and move to parts unknown with very little notice, you'd better start running some scenarios in your head (or spreadsheet) or it will be your own fault if you crack and get tossed into a rubber room. We have pets, a full house of furniture and have been married for going on nine years. We're established. We've got lots of stuff that needs to be sorted, donated, packed, moved, transferred to family, etc. It's not like we live in a one bedroom with a milk crate for a coffee table. I'm a very good consumer and the contents of our home are proof. 

I'm a housewife, albeit not a great one, but if I can't do anything to help with school at least I can start worrying about the little things that need consideration. Who knew some moves involving pets need micro-chipping and rabies records for 6 months prior to the move? Seriously. My pets aren't micro-chipped. It's not an enormous hassle to get them micro-chipped the next time they're in for their shots. If I get it done now I won't be wishing for a wormhole later to get those six months of records I'll need to have. No harm and no foul if he ends up doing something else post-law school. I'll just have iron clad vet records and a few spreadsheets to delete.

There are so many amazing blogs out there by military members, military wives and I wondered how they managed to do it before the internet and the sharing of ideas on blogs and message boards. Just reading the blogs has made me more comfortable with the possibilities.