I am a planner, plain and simple. And there is a reason why I was an event planner....I am really good at seeing all the details and being in charge of pulling all the pieces together. And I love it! Our new life however is a constant exercise in letting go and going with it. (Ugh, I can barely type this without my chest tightening!)
But I am learning (slowly) to roll with the punches and being okay with planning only the things within our grasp. (Okay so maybe I have even gone overboard with this, but let me tell you, we have had some fabulous dinner parties as of late. And every single personal item that we own has been catalogued and re-catalogued, ready for our next move.)
But back to the serious business of our next assignment. As you know and so sweetly followed, we poured over the list, weighed out all the pros and cons, tried to picture our life in these (some of them beyond fabulous, some of them not exactly ideal) places, then we sent it off, hoped for the best and were ready to end the emotional roller coaster of the bidding process. (It really is such an intense process and so hard to not know what you might get.)
We waited 2 weeks in limbo and then when everyone got the "congratulations you are going to xxx!" note, we got one saying "well, I know we said you should bid now, I know you double-checked and checked again, but you are actually on the next bidding cycle, sorry."
What?!?!? Really?!?!?
As you can guess, it was a bit shocking and disappointing. In fairness we were right on the cusp, so we can see why this is the case, but still not very fun to hear. We put so much faith in the process and when there are a few bumps it is upsetting, but we are just one small piece of the huge puzzle that is the Foreign Service and considering, we are more than fine. Maybe we even avoided a huge disaster. Waiting longer and having to rebid is a way better alternative than being sent to our last ranked place!
And now that I have had time to digest all of this and the fact that we will not know where we are going next for a few more months, I am confidant that the system does work and that it will all work out for the best. (I can of course say this a million times and I do truly believe it, but it does not make turing over the fate of your future any easier!) Also, I like to think we that we got a few brownie points from this little snafu that will possibly turn into something ridiculously great!
And just to reiterate (mostly to myself) that despite the few bumps in the road, things keep turning up in our favor. For example:
1) On flag day when Craig was only one of five people left to be called and I thought I was going to die from anticipation and the fact that I didn't recognize any of the flags left, he finally got called, obviously for Guatemala. But the funny part was, we had no idea Guate was even on the list!!! We had lumped it somewhere in the middle and full on forgot about it. We were too excited about our top top favs and too worried about the scary places to even think about what might be in between. We were totally, 100%, confused. But turns out, as we would find out later, this post was also one of the best jobs on the list. (We didn't bid by job, solely on location thinking we would just get consular anyway! Funny how that works.) And Craig has had some of the most incredible experiences that are rare at the entry level. It is truly amazing the things he has gotten to be a part of and totally worth those initial moments of pure panic.
Guatemala? GUATEMALA?!?!?!? What do we know about Guatemala?
2) When our move date kept getting changed. We planned and unplanned our pack-out three times, I quit my job in anticipation of leaving, and then our landlord decided he was tired of dealing with the uncertainty of our departure and kicked us out. Yes, we were totally homeless!!! And I am not going to lie, there were definitely a few freak out moments, but some how we were able to think it through rationally (not one of my strong suits) and it actually turned out amazingly well. We sent our stuff ahead of us, knowing we would one day make it to post. And of our stuff got here right on our heels, where as most people wait weeks and weeks. Making our transition super easy. My mom was having crazy back surgery and I actually got to go home and take care of her. Something that would have been really hard to swing if we had already left for post and something that was so important for me to do for my mom. I cannot even begin to explain in words how much this meant to me and I know would not have been possible had we not been delayed. And Craig got to really spend some quality time with his family as well and got the the peace and quiet he deserved before his test. Absolutely incredible that something so stressful turned into something so great and easy. Crazy disaster totally diverted!
3) We could not find an apartment to save our lives that fit all the housing requirements. In Guate we get to pick our own housing, which if you can ever get a LQA post, I highly recommend it. It can be a total pain in the ass at first (we are the perfect example of that), but so worth it and so nice to have a say in where you call home. A rare perk. Anyway we kept falling in love with places that wouldn't work. And when I say we, I mean me, because I took this task on like it was my full time job and somehow got emotionally invested in every place I saw. (Not hard to believe for those of you who know me!) Anyway they wouldn't work for silly and irrational reasons and it was beyond frustrating. We ended up living in the hotel for 7 weeks, talk about awful, in total limbo, almost exceeding our allotted hotel stay allowance, unbelievable. But by some miracle the most gorgeous apartment, on the top floor of the most fabulous building, came available, just in time. And the funny part, all the silly and irrational rules that were working against us, somehow flipped and worked in our favor, when they hadn't for others who wanted to live in this building. Our first home together could not be more perfect! Once again solidifying the the idea that sometimes with the FS if you wait it out, if works out for the better.
Anyway I think I more than made my point and you all think I am some sappy, optimist (well I am), but really, thanks for indulging me.
It really does help to remember these little bumps. And our life is absolutely ridiculous. We are on the adventure of a lifetime and have so much to be thankful for. The world is seriously our oyster and you cannot get much more fabulous than that!
So...here's to rolling with the punches, waiting a little longer for something better, and knowing in the pit of my stomach that everything really does work out for the best!
Stay tuned....one of these days I will be able to share the exciting news of where we go next!
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