Currently...

We are currently in our townhouse in Stafford, Virginia. We've been living here since September 2009 when Joe started The Basic School (TBS) in Quantico. TBS was six months of insane schedules, brutal training for Joe, and getting to know a new area, tempered with newly wedded bliss and the friendship of some amazing women who happened to be other TBS wives.

After TBS, we took a trip to Jamaica to hard-reset our brains. It was amazing! Crystal blue water, warm air, an occasional rain storm to lock us inside watching a movie together, and rum punch on the beach: it was just what the doctor ordered. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea and one of the best ideas of 2010!

While Joe waited for his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) school to begin, he was working at a high security network center for the Marine Corps. It was during this time period that I found a job! I graduated in August of 2009, but had not been looking for serious work during TBS because we (thought we) knew we'd be leaving in a few months. I was very happy to be working on a contract for HP Enterprise Services for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. I was working at a call center for defense hardware, software, and networking mostly focusing on base access technology. My job as a technical writer was to work with engineers and call center management to create articles to teach call center representatives how to resolve issues with customers. It was very interesting work, but I had to leave it when we found out we were going to Japan.

So, in December, we started getting everything ready to move and the medical screening portion of the process revealed that I needed to have a total thyroidectomy because some suspicious growths were on my thyroid that could have been cancer. Long story short: I had it removed on December 17th and found out that the suspicious growths were not cancer, but they incidentally removed some very small cancerous material. Because it was so small, I don't need radiation, but I count myself as being very lucky to have found it early and had it removed. My scar from surgery is healing very well and I'm feeling lots better.

Right now, we're waiting for more paperwork to be pushed, and we are expecting to have two tickets to (paradise?) Japan by January 26th. When we find out the exact dates, we are hoping to go to Michigan to visit family and friends, sell my sweet little Saturn, and say our good byes for our three-year tour!