Road to New Bern...Pre-Day 1

"Farewells and Surprises"
Friday was the day. The movers would come and haul our stuff away and we would hit the road mid afternoon. Friday failed to go as planned and we found ourselves not getting on the road until evening. But the important thing is we got everything moved, cleaned and finalized. I can't even explain how relieving it was to be done and on the road FOR REAL. Especially after thinking about it for so long and imagining that very moment. It's like the gun shot at the beginning of a race. We were just anticipating and waiting for that first big bang. The last two days were extremely stressful for both of us...but they were also good for closure...and contained a surprise. While the packers were busy wrapping our possessions up, we went out for our 2nd to last lunch in Oak Harbor, WA. On the way back, John stopped randomly...in a jewelry store parking lot? I was thoroughly confused but I find myself thoroughly confused by men on a regular basis so I just sat patiently in the passenger seat and assumed he had some errand he needed to run that he hadn't mentioned. He gave me that sheepish grin of his and I realized it wasn't an errand. This was a surprise...for me. And I instantly knew what it was. Giddy as a school girl, I walked inside with John and we asked where the flight officer wing pendants were. John said he wanted to get me something special as a Goodbye Washington gift as well as a Pre-Deployment gift. Every flight officer spouse seems to have a pair of wings in gold. And I had been wistfully hoping for some for awhile...the lady in the shop lead us over to the glass case and we began looking at the different sizes. I had almost decided on the size I wanted when she pulled out something entirely different in addition to the wings: a gold Prowler charm/pendant. The Prowler is the aircraft John flies in. I had searched online for flight officer wings before but I had never seen a prowler...well...ANYTHING. It's just not that common of an aircraft to be used in jewelry. The wings and the prowler were the same price. I instantly knew what to choose: the prowler for the simple reason: it was original. I know I could always buy the wings some other time some where else. Needless to say...I'm stoked beyond stoked and haven't taken my prowler off since we got it.
We left Oak Harbor for the last time at 5:30. We were both sad to go but ready to start this new adventure. Whidbey Island bid us farewell with a magnificently beautiful day and a breath-taking view from John's house as we left. We stopped briefly for dinner at a Thai Restaurant near my friend Jenna's house (sadly we just missed her and weren't able to meet up) and I was able to have Mango Sticky Rice for the first time in 4 1/2 years. The taste brought me right back to Thailand.
We arrived at John's friends Chris and Lindsay's house in Portland, Oregon around 11pm. It was great seeing them and catching up a bit...but I quickly found myself fading, exhausted from a full day of running around and cleaning. And I was soon off to bed. To be continued...