Orders out West

Fox in a box!

Oh my god!!! I PCS’d back out west. Never in a million years did I ever think this would actually happen.

Tennessee had become home in so many ways. I started putting down roots there, even though my heart never fully settled on the idea of spending the rest of my life so far from my family. It made financial sense, sure. But deep down, I knew it wasn’t where I wanted my story to end.

Life has a way of changing drastically in just a few short years. Mine did, and I changed right along with it.

I got married. Cory and I talked, and talked, and talked some more—until there was nothing left to say: it was time. I picked up the phone, made the call, and the distant end sealed my fate.

Orders. And not just any orders—the kind I had hoped for since the very beginning of my Army journey. I was going west.

We packed the house, the movers drove away with our life in boxes, and we were just one day out from hitting the road when my phone rang. It was the mammography department; they asked me to come in first thing the next morning.

Scary doesn’t even cover it. We delayed the road trip, spread a blanket on the floor, and curled up with the dogs. Time slowed to a crawl. I swear, 0730 would never come.

There’s nothing like walking into an office and having the receptionist look you dead in the eye with a soft “thank you for coming in on such short notice.” That’s when you know things aren’t routine.

They moved me straight to the front of the line. Everything around me was moving fast, but I felt like I was in slow motion. New images. More waiting. Then a sonographer. Another dark room. More images. More waiting.

Finally, the doctor saw me, we spoke, and I asked the one thing I really wanted, which was, 'Can I get on the road today?' He said, “Make an appointment when you get to JBLM, in the meantime, you can hit the road.”

So I did.

I walked out, got back in the car, and we drove. And what followed was one heck of a cross-country road trip—equal parts relief, exhaustion, and excitement for what lay ahead.