reason for the tears...
Ok... So I know some of you might have read my facebook ranting the other day. I have been wanting to blog about what is going on, but honestly was just angry and devastated and I didn't want to say anything too harsh and irrational in the heat of the moment.
The whole story is pretty long, but I'll just try and sum it up. Marshall and I are not allowed to be married while he is on the MSG program. We have to wait until he finishes in October. Although this might not seem like that big of a deal, its really a pain in the butt because I am not on his orders, insurance, access to military only family things... the list goes on. Anyways... this isn't my current frustration.
Marshall is supposed to be finishing his 3 year contract in Malta. We are scheduled to head home at the end of September/ beginning of October. He has been the detachment commander in Malta for the past year, and we have six more months left.
Well this past week he was told that they were sending him back to Africa. They want him to leave in the next couple weeks. If this was the only issue...it wouldn't be as awful. Of course I have to purchase my own plane ticket to get there because I'm not on his orders and it gets so expensive after all the times they move us. It's around $1000 for my ticket.
So here is the other part... My grandparents have had a vacation planned for months to come visit us. This will be the first time they have been out of the country. They are arriving on March 14th and leaving on April 18th. Marshall will be leaving about March 14th. We also have to have our pack out and be out of our house by April 1st. So this leaves my grandparents and I homeless for 3 weeks when we planned on having a home. Marshall will also miss out on their whole visit.
We also had a vacation planned with them in Italy for the beginning of April. We already purchased our tickets and bought passes for different events in Italy. Now Marshall will not be there unless he spends $1500 to get back to Europe from Africa.
We had to book 2 weeks in a time share in Malta so we had a place to stay. We also had to buy all new plane tickets to Italy to work around accommodation conflicts.
So all this just brought me to tears. I was devastated my grandparents special visit was ruined. They were having to fork out a ton of extra money. We are having to spend a ton of extra money. Marshall most likely will not even be able to spend time with us...which was really important to me.
The reason for the move is the Detachment Commander that was supposed to go to "__,Africa" (will update when we are there or I'm allowed to say) has children. This country does not allow children, so they are sending him to Malta instead and bumping us to Africa.
Now don't get me wrong...I am deeply passionate and in love with Africa. I am happy to go back there. It just saddens me the timing and everything... And I think... the $4000 that we will probably end up paying in unnecessary expenses could have paid for our wedding in Thailand that we were hoping to have. So now, I'm not sure if it will work out anymore. :( Boo...
But... I know there is nothing we can do but embrace it and figure out all the little details as we go. Sorry for the downer blog... It feels good to get it off my chest though.
I can't wait to blog tomorrow about the Carnival in Malta! I have some great pictures so check back tomorrow for a happy post!! XOXO