Brent and I have been very luck in many ways. We have both had an opportunity to do meaningful work and, in our current jobs, we are surrounded by great people. Both of us have been able to touch hundreds of lives and hopefully make a positive impression on at least a few of those people and we’ve both forged meaningful relationships with the people that work with us. As we draw closer to the beginning of our orientation class (the start is just a little over two weeks away now), Brent and I are in the midst of the letting-go process. We’re handing over our workloads and helping our supervisors identify our successors. And we’re trying not to think about the final good-bye, although it’s hurtling towards us at an alarming rate. We’re both ridiculously excited about our future and this great adventure, but it’s hard to say good bye to aspects of our lives that have really defined us for so long.

I am sharing this because letting go is not an insignificant part of this entire process. For some people and situations it may be easier than others. For us, it will be difficult. But, it’s time to go. We have been blessed in our respective situations and we look to the future with the hope that our luck with hold out and we’ll meet more amazing people that we can’t imagine having done without in our lives! And to all of those who have meant so much and have been such and integral part of our daily routines, we will miss you incredibly and will carry you with us in our hearts.

We held our yard sale (step one of the “plan of attack” below).  It was a technical success in that we recouped the cost of the ad and our breakfast that morning.  Otherwise, it was mostly a bust.  A friend contributed some of the things she wanted to sell and her stuff went like hotcakes.  Apparently, our possessions aren’t that interesting to people who aren’t us.   Despite the slight chill, Brent, Katie and their pup had a decent time sitting outside for a few hours.

The highlight of the entire yard sale was an elderly couple that only spoke Spanish.  Brent and Katie each learned a little about their respective Spanish skills with that transaction.  Let’s just say, one of us grew up in Florida and it showed. 

The end result of the yard sale was that we donated a carload of books and clothes to Goodwill.

Meanwhile, we continue to go through our belongings, designating even more stuff to be given away/sold and throwing out ever increasing amounts of what now seems like trash.  We continue to be incredulous with the people who pack up all of their things before they get to DC.  We have the luxury of making some decisions after we find out where we are going.  I don’t know how you face this process not knowing.  We definitely admire those people.

If the thought, in the abstract, of putting more than half of your belongings in storage, taking only select items with you, picking up your entire life and transferring it to a country on the other side of the planet does not cause you to be at least a little unsettled, the booklet that makes these abstract thoughts into an immediately tangible, concrete reality probably will.  Meet your pack-out manual.  The employment packages that we received were a fount of forms and information, including the packing manual.  Brent was the first to take a crack at the booklet.   

 

Now, let me tell you a story:

One evening, Katie came home to find Brent standing in a corner, rocking back and forth and babbling about colored labels and acronyms that she didn’t yet understand.  What was all the fuss?  It’s just a little bit of packing, she thought naively.  Oh, how wrong she was.  It took a few days before Katie, too, was able to read the manual.  As she made her way through the dos and don’ts, the alloweds and not-alloweds, the admonishments about getting a written record of EVERYTHING and also getting sufficient insurance, she caught little comments like: “you should have been preparing months for this” and “packing is imminent.”  They were just little comments, pieces of sentences really, but they were enough.  Soon, Katie joined Brent in the corner, this time turned out, surveying their domain.  They had each accumulated 30 years worth of stuff.  If you add that up, it’s technically 60 years worth of stuff!!!  Where should they begin?!?!?!

 

Our plan of attack:

We believe that even if we didn’t get rid of one single item, we’d probably still be under the allowed poundage.  However, this is a great opportunity to purge much of the superfluous stuff we have accumulated.  The packing manual says that while you are allowed a certain amount of things, it’s always better to take less.  There is usually a dearth of storage at your post housing and really, who wants to traipse across the world with thousands of pounds of stuff following them?  So, purge it is.  We are dividing our belongings into the following categories: yard sale/donate, permanent storage, ship to post (household effect or HHE), and unaccompanied air baggage (UAB).  We have scheduled our yard sale for two weeks from now which means, by two weeks from now, we will have gone through every single one of our belongings and determined the fate of each one.  A daunting task, to be sure, but I think we can do it.  The next step is determining what will go in our more immediate shipment of unaccompanied air baggage.  Because we live more than 50 miles from DC, we can get this shipment from Frederick to DC (though technically not shipped by air) and then from DC to post.  Since we do live so close to DC, we can actually delay packing the rest of our stuff until after flag day.  While we might not have our household effects and our storage items packed by movers in boxes, we will have most everything designated and separated by the time that our orientation class begins.  We figure we won’t have much time once we’re living in Virginia and in class all day, to deal with our household items.  After flag day, the movers will come and pack our things.

 

A note about being half of a tandem couple:

Because we are a tandem couple, we both get moving allowances.  While it would seem like a good idea to combine all of our stuff (since it exists in a combined state at the moment), we’ve actually been advised that having our belongings packed into separate lots is the smarter way to go (one lot attached to each name).  This will make things much easier on both of us if we get posted to separate places.  The end, logistical, result is that we may have our belongings packed by two separate companies on the same day (or the same company on different days, or different companies on different days).  Since we will accomplish our pack-out after flag day, we’ll know how much dividing of our household belongings will have to be done.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed to end up at the same post.

 

Final thoughts:

The packing manual is amazing.  This is clearly a complicated process but they have managed to break it down into a way that you can wrap your mind around.  It is overwhelming at first but I already appreciate this publication.  This little booklet is one of my new best friends.

Katie and Brent received their official compensation packages, and it is a bit overwhelming. Life insurance, new health/dental insurance, the TSP, beneficiaries, and the moves (yes, that’s with an ‘s’). We qualify for a local move because we live more than fifty miles outside DC (51.3 miles to be exact). So, we’ll probably move to northern Virginia, home of the constant traffic nightmare, for A100 and other training. Then, we’ll move to whatever post(s) they send us to. The entire process should take anywhere from two months to a year. However, we might be stationed in DC for up to two years. All this, and two pay raises. Being a public servant isn’t all bad.

The wait is mostly over now. Katie and Brent have both been accepted into the October A-100 class! Now it’s two months of preparation, and waiting. But, we are relieved to be finished with the application process, it has been a long ride.

We are in awe that we are both in the same class. At every step of the process, we were told “you’re lucky to have gotten this far, let alone together.” The process is quite rigorous, and for two people to pass through it all, especially the first time, is apparently quite the feat. Every stage brought new questions and worries. But, it’s all worth it now. The new anxiety (mostly having dreams about our destination) is much better than the watchful waiting of the hiring process.

Thanks to all who helped us along the way, especially the friendly staff at State Medical and the patient registrars.

We have not posted in a few months for several reasons. The main reason was that there was nothing to report. Our security checks were in progress and we heard little, apart that the agents were talking to various people. The other reason was that we were on various world excursions. In early July, Brent had a trip to South Korea on a cultural exchange program. Then, we both went to Hawaii for two weeks in late July/early August. When we returned, there was nothing new about the FSO process to report.

But now, we have some news, albeit not monumental. Katie passed the security check last week and now she is on the management register. Hopefully, we will have a much more important post in the near future involving an A-100 class. It could be as early as October that the real fun starts. Brent is still awaiting word of his security check, and with any luck, he will be cleared in the next couple of weeks.

It’s been more than a month since our oral exams and it has been both hectic and frustrating. The medical tests, while designed for our best interests, were strict and demanded follow-up appointments (and then more follow-up appointments). Both of our security checks are now moving along and should be completed by August/September (maybe). It is pretty much out of our hands now and we can hopefully enjoy our summer of travel (New England, South Korea, Hawaii).

We’ll post more when we know more. Look for travel updates in the meantime.

The security clearance process has been a lot like a horse race. Pre-start, all the participants are standing around, nervously stamping their feet. They are led into the gate and there, they wait. They wait and wait and wait for the gate to fly open. When it finally does, the participants rush forth in an attempt to be the first one to the finish line. I feel very much like my security clearance is one of these equine participants and I am a breathless spectator also waiting for the release of the gates.

Two days ago I called and got my estimated date of completion, so I knew the gates would open soon. And it seems that yesterday was the moment of truth and now things are in full swing. I know that as it progresses, it will settle into a (hopefully) steady pace but the thrill of the start cannot be denied. I’m just hoping for a fast sprint as opposed to a long-distance haul. Come on, finish line!!!

The next horse-race on the docket is Brent’s security clearance review and that’s scheduled to begin any moment.

So today was the first part of my thorough medical examination. Mostly it was just lab work and an extensive personal and family medical history questionaire. As I walked down the street between the bloodwork lab and the x-ray office, I had conspicuous bandages. Everyone probably figured I was some kind of diseased patient that had escaped from the nearby hospital….that would explain why they all cleared a path on the sidewalk for me as I passed.

In the miniscule but exceedingly busy x-ray office, the woman behind the front desk shuffled paperwork and orchestrated patient movements like a seasoned air-traffic controller. In between stints up at check-in, I encountered a fellow FSO candidate also jumping her way through the medical hoops. She spotted me and realized, by our identical badges of honor, that we were there for the same reason. She introduced herself to me, sat down and we chatted. We had enough time to uncover not only who we were but where we were from, our occupations, and our motivations for joining the Service. She was consular track so who knows, maybe we’ll end up in the same A-100 class.

I go back in two days for my follow-up.

At least today’s outing gave me a chance to visit one of my favorite museums (National Museum of the American Indian). Have to take every opportunity now because once we’re posted, it’s going to be a very long time until I get to go back.

Our house and cars have now officially been converted to Language Labs of Fun as we both attempt to resurrect our long dormant respective language skills. If you were to visit us of an evening any more, you’d hear a French mademoiselle sweetly uttering her lines about ordering bread and directions to the nearest store floating from our computer. You’d see me hunkered over my German review books, writing out exercises with a determination I never felt in all my years of German class. We each have appointments with our more linguistically apt and practiced friends/colleagues in order to get our languages in working order for the telephone language tests. The major difficulty has been that we don’t share the same foreign language and, hence, cannot study together. Once we are assigned (hopefully at the same post, as desired) this will change and we will finally share a foreign language and can practice together. For now, though, it has to be a crazy mix of German and French with every spare second.