I remember dreading our move from Fort Benning, Georgia, to Fort Rucker, Alabama. Fort Benning had become a place of rich family time for us. We had just come off a 15-month long deployment while in Hawaii, and my husband had accepted an instructor job at Benning, which meant semi-normal hours and the big bonus of no deployments.

Music to my ears!

My children were toddler age and so were many of the other children in our particular housing loop on post. Evenings were filled with friends chatting, laughing, and watching children play on the shared patios. We did life together, and it was fabulous.

It was one of those duty stations where the community and friendships ran deep, and it all happened so naturally. So when our three years were up, and it was time for a PCS, I was digging in my heels. I did not want to leave, and I had serious doubts that any other place would be as amazing as the little world I had made for me and my family in South Georgia.