Drumroll...Orders Are In!

So big things are in store for the Johnsons this June!

Back in July, Bryan began emailing his detailer regarding our next orders. While we have loved living in Japan for the last year and a half, we have not loved the life of deployments. Bryan is just ready to work in a clinic with other dentists and have access to numerous specialists just down the hall!

So July comes and goes with a few back-and-forth emails. Bryan reminded his detailer that he volunteered for these orders with the "promise" of Europe (or the closest we could get to a promise)...if you know, you know. That's just how it goes with the military!

So Bryan's asked to supply a top three list. And what does he send?

One choice. Rota, Spain.

We get the email back that Rota isn't an option. Try again. So after more back-and-forth emails over the course of several months, we receive verbal orders to Sigonella, Italy!

So we pop the bottle of wine we were saving for this big news and snap a few pictures! With every set of new orders, we always wait to share the news with family until hard orders drop, so we quietly celebrate one evening on our couch in early October! We are going to Italy! Europe here we come!

Or so we thought.

So the days pass while we quietly wait for hard orders.

We were told the ship was holding back clearing the orders until a replacement was found for the ship. Then we were told the orders were waiting for approval from PERS (the detailing people); essentially some higher-up was sitting on them until this critical operational billet (hint: my position) was filled. It was always something. So we tried to patiently wait, while still waking up every morning to these stunning Japanese sunrises, where Bryan drove to work and was welcomed with an empty email inbox. (Well, not empty, just full of unexciting ship stuff.)

While waiting, we distract ourselves with more traveling. A weekend trip to Tokyo Disney followed up with an amazing Thanksgiving Break in South Korea. We figured we are in the short rows, so we better fit in as much traveling as we can in our few remaining months!

When we return from our Thanksgiving trip, Bryan has an email from the detailer waiting. While we were gone, another dentist turned down the Rota orders. There was a vacancy at our #1 choice and it was ours if we wanted.

I get a call from Bryan at work and my immediate response is to ask if the offer still stands. Not wanting to change our plans without discussing it with me first, we both agree to send the email- change the orders. Send us to Rota!

We get an email back the following day (curse these time differences!) saying an order modification has been submitted and that we are now on the list for Rota, Spain! So we bump back to the bottom of the list and start the waiting game all over again.

First: Verbals to Sigonella, Italy. Then: final orders to Rota, Spain!

Two days before we leave for our huge winter trip to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand with Ryan and Cady, Bryan gets notified. Our hard orders have dropped. We are officially going to Rota, Spain!!!!

Not wanting to take away from the huge vacation ahead of us (and honestly, as a way to ignore the impending stress of moving again) we both agree to wait and share this news after the holidays.

So early January, we call up those closest and share the big news! We are headed to Rota, Spain in June 2023! Bryan will be at the shore clinic, where he will work with seven other dentists and with specialists: endodontics (root canals), periodontics (gum surgeons), oral surgery, prosthodontics (think prosthetics: dentures, partials, bridges) & pediatrics.

The best part of these orders? Bryan won't be deployed and we will be there for three whole years! Three years to experience all of the Spanish life on the Mediterranean! Now, knowing it's really happening, Bryan endures a final photoshoot with our Spanish fútbol scarves and a glass of Sangria in hand! Check out the last pic to see how he really feels about my shenanigans!

Now the real fun begins! Knowing that Bryan is preparing for a big deployment, I snag a last-minute vet appointment for our two fur children to begin their pet export paperwork with Japan. With updated shots and smiling faces, both Hugo and Reynolds have no idea what they are in for in the coming months!

But look at those smiles- as long as we are together, it will all work out!

post vet visit exhaustion

So for now, I'll just continue practicing my long-forgotten high school Spanish with the help of Duolingo while I begin scheduling movers and housing and flights and ...everything else!

Here we go!

Adios for now,

Katie