... And There You Go

My Travis is amazing. No doubt, from what you've read you can easily ascertain that for yourself, right? If not, please accept 50 lashings with a wet noodle or other lashing tool of your choosing- and keep it to yourself. I don't want any of your lashing stories to muddy up my blog or nothin'. Pervert.

Several years ago, my dear friend and former partner, Mr. Randy, made an observation of Travis. He has one mood. This one. Oh, yeah, you can't see my impression of him. Basically, the one mood is one where he sits, quietly and takes everytihng in. There may be an occasional nod or hand gesture, but the mood remains the same. If there is a beer close by, the eyes may be slightly buzz-fuzzed, but the mood- you got it, unchanged. I am sure there are many a baby Soldier who would beg to differ from Mr. Randy's interpretation and prolly a useless NCO as well, but for everyone else there is just the one mood.

It has always kind of made me giggle a bit to myself that I can be a bit timid around Travis or when I have something important to talk to him about. I am NOT afraid of him in any regard and we can talk about anything. I just hate anything that would jolt him from The Mood, and I forget that there is not much that will cause the jolting. But, this weekend, after mulling it over and over and over in my own head for the last two weeks, I just kind of said it.

Travis called Sunday and it was the first time in a week that we had actually talked. We text almost daily, but it was a super-crazy week for him and with the time difference and wrestling every night and the tourney on Saturday, there wasn't much time for an actual conversation until yesterday. And boy, did we talk.

Phoenix's death opens up a lot of possibilities for us, as you may have heard me mention. Travis had purchased a car for Amanda at an awesome price and had intended to put a little money and a bit more time into it, but the time has yet to open up and the money... Well, you know. So, he decided to sell the car. Even without a working catalytic converter, it is in great shape and worth every penny of more than the $500 he would take for it (but we are asking more). It will be very easy to sell. So, sell it is. He wanted to use that money to put into the truck that currently lives with him and then finance a trip to El Paso with the possibility of taking the kids back with him and enrolling them in school there, leaving me here to finish with the house.

So, the discussion yesterday that I was afraid to initiate started with his trip here and taking the kids back and our summer plans, then I asked him how he would feel if we all came out and then we could get the kids enrolled and I would leave them there and come back to El Paso in August to finish up here, if the house hadn't sold. Then he said it, in his one-toned, one-mooded way, "Screw it, if you're coming here, you're staying here (not really exactly what he said, but I am trying to be gentle- remember, he is a crusty ole Sarge)." He told me to forget about El Paso alltogether and once we make the trip there, to stay there with him.

Our purpose for staying here was that without selling the house and all the money we lost on investments last year, we wouldn't really have the $2-3k we would need to set ourselves up in a rental house (deposits and the like), monthly rent, and pay the mortgage here. But, his apartment complex wont make us pay another deposit if we choose to upgrade to a larger apartment and they are dog friendly. And, leaving here means the utilities will go down a bunch and we wont have the $200-250 in utilities for the EP house, so we can put that toward the higher rent for another apartment. And cancelling the cable here will cut our cable bill by half, since he has it there too. So, if we are careful, keeping the house (if it hasn't sold) and moving into a larger apartment will actually wind up being slightly cheaper than the two full sets of household bills we are paying right now.

So, change of plans (if the house hasn't sold by then)- instead of Travis coming out (or maybe in addition to it), the kids and I will be relocating at the end of July or early in August permanently, or as permanent as Travis' assignment is, at least. I am so excited, in spite of the negatives. What are those? not a long list and it is really just trivial at this point, but- reduction of 1000 square feet of living space, no yard, trying to recalculate our finances AGAIN, leaving the house here empty, and the location of the complex is not exactly where we want to live and not in the school district we want. I can deal with all of it. Imagine, my family will be in one place again. I can actually be a wife again. I can move into my new ready-made life.

Closed doors. Open windows. With pine trees right outside.

Fort Jackson, SC- "Victory Starts Here"