Month: March 2018

Having imagined what the retirement process might look like for the past few years, it’s interesting to see it unfold now. While we were living in Bahrain, Josh had his sights set on his current assignment in Abu Dhabi anticipating that he would retire from here with the goal of beginning a second career in the Middle East. He knew that the job market was much larger and more diverse here than in Bahrain and felt that it gave him the best chance of staying the Middle East after retirement from the Marine Corps.  Continue reading a vague update

My girlie is a bundle of contradictions — she wants someone nearby as a security blanket when going to kid’s church or school, but she leaps at the opportunity to stay home by herself. Hmm, anxious about stupid stuff and loves to be home alone? Yeah, it’s the whole apple/tree thing. Everything that I think is weird about her is exactly what I could say about myself. Continue reading Miss Independent

Josh has been back in the US for a couple of weeks now and that’s probably why I haven’t even thought about writing. We’re doing fine, though Camille misses him desperately and mourns that her daddy, “has to travel all the time for work.” Oh girl, good thing you weren’t around for the early days. 3-4 weeks is a piece of cake, especially with iMessage and MarcoPolo (FaceTime is blocked here). Back in the Dark Ages it was 7 months with handwritten letters and the occasional email and I had to take photos with a film camera and get doubles printed and mail them so Josh could see how his kid was changing daily during his first year of life. Continue reading Day to day

We are at the time of year where we have to make plans for next year, even though we don’t know where we’ll be 5 months from now. April 10th, I’ll be here in Abu Dhabi, finishing up spring break with my sister Carrie and nephew Jack. On May 10th, I’ll be here in Abu Dhabi, not looking forward to Ramadan starting in 5 days and whining about how not being able to drink water in public during the day always makes me super-thirsty. On June 10th, I’ll be here in Abu Dhabi, happy that Ramadan is almost over, that we are in the last week of school before summer vacation, and thinking about packing for our trip to California. On July 10th, I’ll be in Southern California as Josh is finishing up his Marine Corps career and completing all of his discharge paperwork.

But on August 10? I have no idea. Continue reading betting on my favorite horse

Josh has traveled a lot for work. Sometimes his accommodations are nothing more than a shack in the desert and a plastic bag as a bathroom, but for a stretch of time his work travel meant a lot of nights in a hotel. It wasn’t the most fun being apart, but I’m reaping the benefits now. Because of all the traveling he did when we lived in Bahrain, Josh accumulated a bazillion hotel points and on special occasions we’ll go spend the night at the Intercontinental or (another hotel in the points pool) and get pampered as if we were high rollers.

He doesn’t actually spend the points (It’s a points thing, I guess. You want to keep your balance high to get the perks), but if he books a basic room he gets an automatic upgrade to a suite based on his status and we get club/lounge access which is the entire reason to go. We show up and bypass the lines to check in on the 18th floor, no need to mix with the riffraff. (We laugh, but once you go club, you never go back).

Continue reading VIP