Wings and Roots!

I started off today HATING the Air Force and by noon, I was LOVING it!  So hears the story....

6 days ago Scott put in his application to get out of the Air Force and we got a real estate agent.  So over the last 6 days I have been busting my butt working hard at getting our house as ready to put on the market as possible.  I had dejunked, dejunked, and organized every cupboard, closet, cubby, pantry, etc including the basement.  Scott had yesterday off and we tackeled a few fix it projects, cleaning the ceiling fans and windows that require a latter to reach, deep cleaning, and the daunting task of painting the wall above our stairs which also led to painting the hall and the trim around 5 doors.  Which means I have now painted every surface of this house!

Yes daunitng, because that's a 17-foot ceiling with a staircase (a fun place to put a ladder!)  but it looks SO much better- why didn't we do this a year ago!

This morning we both woke up sore and tired, but still had to do the regular cleaning and other jobs before our agent came to see the house at 1:30.  But wouldn't you know it, it was the day Scott gets a call at 8:30 a.m. to notify him that one of his troops (the one who was arrested on Christmas and is a general pain) didn't show up for his meeting with the commander and wasn't answering his phone.  Which meant it was Scott's job to go to the Pete dorms and find this kid and get him in there.  Which left me to do all the work alone!  But hey, its mission first right? (I am saying that bitterly!)  So, I furiously set to work and again busted my butt to get our house ready.  Scott called at noon on his way home and said that his application for early separation was APPROVED, but they changed the rules.   Instead of the airman picking the date of separation, it was now changed to everyone getting out May 31st!  Also, they added a severence pay for those who have been in over 6 years for giving up a significant portion of their lives.  So now Scott will get a $13,000 payoff to do what he was begging willing to do for nothing!   His date that he had picked for separation was Aug 1st and with 31 days of terminal leave he would be able to move to Idaho Jul 1st, but now it will be towards the end of April!  The girls and I are moving to Weiser about the 7th of March so it certainly shortens our apart days!  Gotta love the Air Force!

So bottom line, Scott is officially getting out.  There is no going back, no changing our minds, no reenlisting... this is it- hopefully it is what we wanted :)  It is, but it is bitter sweet.  We will always love the Air Force even though we leave with a bit of madness for Space Command.  We are very grateful for the years in and the opportunities and growth it has given us, for the places we have been able to see, and a there will always be a very very special place in my heart for all the wonderful incredible people that we have met (but that deserves a whole post of its own!).   I can't emphasize all that enough and am crying typing it!

We have WINGS.  We are independent.  We have our own traditions.  We can and have survived many moves, deployments, and everything else the Air Force and life has thrown our way.  Now it is time to grow some ROOTS.  Weiser, Idaho here we come!

P.S.  The realtor said our house looked great, super clean, and he couldn't believe how organized I was!  However, he thinks we will take a loss $25-30,000 on the house :(