Air Force and stuff

Wow have we had a great summer. We have had something going on every night. We have friends everywhere and have had a blast everyday. Among a million other things, we have been to the lake, floated the river, camped, traveled, swam, eaten out, eaten in, Bar-B-Qued, visited family, had our 9 year anniversary, Kaitlynn turned 3, Cody will be 1 next week...We have really had a fun time. 

Then the other shoe drops. 

Why? 

Why is that? 

Could we live on unemployment forever? Maybe if everyone else wasn't on it too we could make that work. 

Anyway, Jeremy was supposed to hear from the Air Force by September 23, so he has been applying elsewhere and seeing what comes. Then we get a call from Energy Northwest (a Nuclear power plant in Tri-cities) and they want to interview him right away and they need him to start next week. Wow. 

So we drive up there on Sunday, his interview was great and we came home. The next morning he has an email from his Air Force recruiter that says "CALL ME ASAP." 

The phone call reveals that they already did his boards and that he has been accepted into the Air Force. He will start officer training September 15. 

He will go to Alabama for 13 weeks for training. 

After that, we all will go and be stationed wherever the wind blows us. WOW! I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. Such a pivotal decision to make. Do we choose the normal Tri-cities life that we already know and love? Or...

Do we go with the adventure and servitude of the Air Force? 

Where does Heavenly Father want us? 

What is best for our family and kids?

 

There are lots of things to evaluate and all signs point to the logical choice - more money, stable living, 4.5 hours away life in Tri-cities. However, when we first applied to the Air Force we knew that it was going to happen. We knew he would get in and that it was where we needed to go. So you would think the decision would be easier, but I couldn't help but consider the normal life my kids would have in Richland, WA and how we could visit Kristi and Joni regularly, not-to-mention Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa. So I was bothered by what to do.

I went to a meeting and by the time I came back Jeremy had already made his decision. He had called the recruiter and said "I'm in." and got it all set up. He said that he really wants to do this and making sure a power plant doesn't melt down doesn't sound fun - so don't look back. Relief came but I still wonder what might have been. 

So now he will be sworn in on Monday and I can definitely say that we are taking the road less traveled. I am excited and apprehensive at the same time, but I knew that this was the answer. I just hope that it wasn't one of those times where it didn't matter which decision we made. and that either one would have been good because we definitely picked the harder one. I guess that is our lot in life... we won't take it if it resembles easy.

So Robert Frost, I hope you know what you are talking about.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference