Our Lives Have Come Full Circle

To say that my life is blessed is an understatement. Don't get me wrong, there have been some pretty rough times over the years, but for the most part, I wouldn't change a thing. Now the time has come to move on once again. That's right... our new assignment. I've been more than a little stressed about this one, because it means so many huge changes in our lives. Jess will be going back to the states with us, but from there she will be heading off to college on her own. It will just be three of us at our new assignment. And that makes me very sad. (I'm excited for her, but sad for me just the same.) And then I had a dream. In my dream, I looked at where we were going and told Russ "Well, I guess our lives have come full circle now." I woke up in a sweat. What does that mean? Are we going back to Barksdale, our first base? That's where Mom is, but I really don't want to go back to Barksdale. (Nothing personal, it's a lovely area, but the job...) No big. It's just a dream, right? It doesn't mean anything. So we waited. And then the news. Our lives really are going full circle after all. We are moving back to Florida. We were stationed at there for 9 1/2 years, and absolutely loved it. Who wouldn't? Gorgeous white sand beaches, teal blue water, perfect temperatures. Our son was born there. Our daughter grew up there. We made lifelong friends there. But at that point in our lives, we wanted something more. We needed something more. We needed to see the world. Russ and I grew up in the South, and even though we had wonderful childhoods, we both always wanted to see what else was out there. So we put in for orders, and ended up with the wonderful assigment of Anchorage, Alaska. People thought we were insane to leave Florida for Alaska, but we were in heaven. And a little bit sad, too. We thought we were saying goodbye to our lovely Florida forever. When our time in Alaska was up, we put in for the South. Russ didn't have that much time left before he retires and we'd given up on getting orders overseas. He'd been trying for that since the day he signed up, and it just never worked out. The Air Force had other plans for us. We got orders to Belgium. The first thing I did was go onto Google and see where the heck Belgium was. And then I jumped up and down and screamed. We were going to the heart of Europe! And it's been amazing. We've been places that we've read about in books, and never dreamed we would get to see in person. We've met wonderful people, taken fantastic trips, and learned about different cultures. But now it's time to go home again. And we really are going home. We're going back to the Florida Panhandle, and I couldn't be happier. I can't wait to see my old friends who still live there, and then head down the beach to eat at the Back Porch Restaurant. We'll get a table by the open windows, watch the waves rolling in and seagulls diving down to the water to snag a little fish for dinner, and relax. I can't wait!