Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis*

Three years ago I knew that coming to Oklahoma was only temporary. In fact, I wasn't too keen on coming here at all, but I knew my soon to be husband would be worth the less than ideal location, and anything is possible for a few years, right? Now, three years later, and of course I'm swallowing my words, and, dare I say, I'm getting sad thinking about leaving? Funny how that always happens.

After all, Oklahoma is where my new life as a married woman began.

It's where we owned our first home.

It's where I met some of my dearest friends.

And, it will always be a place I look back on with fondness, because it's where our little family began.

How can we not love Oklahoma just a little bit?

We're down to six months left of being Oklahomans. Six months. Half a year. And then we're gone. I'm having a hard time believing the end is really in sight.

And where would we be going after our Oklahoma adventure is over? That remained a mystery. For months and months that remained a mystery, as we sat and patiently waited for the Air Force to tell us our new destiny.

Well, as of Friday, the wait was finally over, and we were given our orders for where we'd be headed for twelve short months.

I don't know if it was shock, the fact that it was our 9th choice, or the fact that I thought for sure we'd be heading to the east coast in six more months, but on Friday afternoon, when John and I read where we'd be headed, I had to hold back the tears. We're going WHERE, is all I could say. Tell me this is a joke?! To say I was disappointed would be putting it lightly. And ok, maybe I cried...just a little. I was so sad. I had been dreaming of going back to the east coast since we put our requests in, and I had high high hopes that our second, or third, or fourth choice would have been honored. D.C. needed a Candrian back in it's presence, right?

Wrong.

Instead, St. Louis is where we'll be calling home for twelve months, until we're shipped off somewhere else for four years. Our fingers are crossed it's across the Atlantic!

Three days after finding out where we'll soon be calling home, and the anger and tears have thankfully disappeared and been replaced with excitement for the new adventure that lie ahead. I mean, this DOES look kind of pretty, right?

Sure it wasn't one of our top choices, and let's be honest, we're ready to be out of the mid-west, but we have no doubt this is where we're supposed to go, and good things will be in store for us. If nothing else, John got into the AEGD program he was hoping to get into, and that's all we were hoping for anyway, awesome location or not. So, whose to say St. Louis isn't an awesome location except me? After all, at least I'll have a Costco and Trader Joe's close by, and that's enough to be excited about right there. Not to mention there is a temple close by, direct flights to SLC, and professional sports teams to enjoy, that are apparently a religion around there, so they may not love that we're Giants fans. But that's neither here nor there. The few people I've talked to have done nothing but praise this city, and it makes me think, just maybe we're going to enjoy it after all.

Twelve months. One year. Starting August 2013, St. Louis, here we come!

* What's with me moving to places with musicals named after them? Meet me in St. Louis, anyone?