At this point, he is finally working his job as an RP at several chapels in Okinawa. Explained simply, he is an assistant to a chaplain, running the chapel while also responsible for chaplain's personal safety. He has been going through job training at several different chapels and will soon replace several RPs. As his chapel is about an hour from where he is living, he will be issued a government vehicle. This past week, he had driver's training classes and got to drive his car- on the opposite side of the road.
He is also on commuter rations, so instead of going to chow at every meal, he is givin a monetary allotment and shops and prepares his own food. The first week resulted in a lot of Poptarts, but he figured out a system after that. Although he is skillful in the kitchen, I will be happy when I can get there and cook for the both of us. We learned in May that he passed the test and is being promoted to E4, though his indoctrination won't take place until early next year due to scheduling. Officially, he is now known as RP3 Sisson.
As for me, I have been getting acquainted with my in-laws in Michigan, which is where I am now living. They have made it very easy to be here, and we spent most of our time together. I initially did a little job hunting, but the job market here is very poor, and not knowing how long I am going to be here makes it difficult to commit to an employer.
After the first week without Nathan here, I went back to my parents' house for a week; it was a rather long roadtrip by myself, but still enjoyable. I got to catch up with some friends, purposefully spending time with them since I don't know if I will ever live nearby again. I finished a painting project in the kitchen that I had started nearly a year ago, and spent a lot of time with my family, including biking on the C & O canal in Harper's Ferry. My family is rapidly growing up, many of them moving on at once, so we were purposeful about our time together, knowing it may be the last for a long time. At the end of the week home, I caravaned with a friend to Indianapolis, Indiana, for a college friend's wedding. Catching up with a bunch of my classmates was great, especially since it was the first time I had seen any of them since grad, and it was so soon after my own sudden wedding.
Now I'm back in Michigan, spending most of my time with Nancy, my mother-in-law. I have joined a game night group nearby, which is full of great people and is a highlight of my week. This past week was busy with Independence Day plans and tours of Michigan sites led by my new family members. I've spent many days working on putting together my overseas screening, which is all the medical exams, shots, and papers required to join Nathan in Okinawa. Being new to all this, it has taken many phone calls and a lot of research, but as of now, I am waiting on a few results to come in, then I am finished. After this comes the waiting part, but I always find more things I need to handle and organize and research.
We're hoping I can go to Okinawa in a month or two, but are aware that we might have to wait six months. Nathan will be pinned as E4 in two weeks, but since the pay doesn't kick in until November, we might have to wait until then to fully apply. On the whole, things are going well. We are both settling in to our temporary lives, looking forward to our more permanent ones together in the hopefully not so distant future. As always, we spend much of our time talking about plans and schemes, wishing for the day when we can be together again.
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