When It Is Time To Say Goodbye, To A Place You Called Home

The day is finally here, and you can’t really believe it. The movers will be here at 7, or maybe 8. Hopefully no later than 9. They will come to pick up your household goods. You will see them again soon, after a five day trip across the county.

You can’t help but wonder how this happened so fast. Sure, you were ready to get out of here, four years is a long time in one place. Sure, you couldn’t wait to PCS, you had been dying to move closer to your family ever since your husband joined the military 10 years ago. But now that this move was really happening? You are a ball of emotions.

You wonder how you will say goodbye to the best friends you have made here. Will you ever see them again? Will they ever be able to visit?

You wonder how you will get to know a new community. That took a while when you first moved here. Will it take that long again?

You wonder how your kids will do. They have to start over in a new school. You know they are scared, how can you help them through?

You are not sure what you should do once you get there. Should you look for a job? Is it worth taking a few classes to get your license in a new state?

As you drink your coffee, waiting for the military movers, you hope you will like your new home. Your current place is the only home your three-year-old knows. There are so many memories in this small home.

You might hate how small the closets are, or how much in BAH you are giving up but this place is home, and now it is time to move to another one.

It is time to say goodbye to a place you have called home, and you know that is never easy.

You have gone through a PCS before, you can do this. You will shed a few tears and then move on like you always have. You will be on the road soon and this duty station will become a memory.

In the years to come, you won’t miss the traffic getting on post, but you will miss all the playdates you had at the park by Starbucks.

You won’t miss how difficult getting a well-child appointment for your kids was, but you will miss the little cafe you would meet your husband at for lunch sometimes, waiting to pick up your son from pre-school.

You won’t miss how hard making good friends here way, but you will miss the friends you did meet, the memories you made, and all the fun you had together.

A PCS is an emotional time for any military spouse. You have to say goodbye to a place you have called home. You might never return, and you might never see these people again.

We are so lucky to live in a time with Facebook so we can keep in touch very easily. We can text our friends as we head our separate ways. We can watch their kids grow up through photos, even though we probably remember them the ages they were when we said goodbye.

We can look forward to starting over in a new place. We trade humidity for Alaskan summers. We trade being close to home for overseas experiences. We learn to live anywhere and bloom where we are stationed.

And after a few years, it is time to move again. To start the process all over. To watch the moving truck come and go.

To clean the house one last time. To pack the car. And watch your past fade into the future.

And there will be tears, and there will be laughter, and there will be hope. Hope that in your new place you can feel at home again soon. That this PCS will be a little easier because you have been through it all before.

You have hope that you will make new best friends, ones you will make some amazing memories with.

You have hope that you will get to know a new community, and your new duty station will soon feel just like home sooner, rather than later.

You have hope that your kids will be okay, and will look at this as an adventurous part of their childhood.

It is time to say goodbye to a place you have called home, and you know that is never easy. But you also know that this move is apart of your military life journey. And that no matter how different your new place is from what you knew before, you will figure everything out, as so many military spouses have done before.

Are you PCSing anytime soon? Where will you be going???