Our summertime plans this year consist of a PCS and moving our family from California to the Washington, D.C. metro area for my husband’s new assignment.

We PCSed in 2021, and 2022, and now we will again in 2024.

He went to school at Fort Leavenworth and then he had an assignment here in California that was two years, and now the two years is up, and we are moving on.

We have never lived so far East, the furthest we lived before was Michigan and Ohio.

Also, we are going from a very rural area of California to a big city.

We intentionally chose to live in an area of Virginia that is near the Potomac River, so it has water, trees, nature, and many walking/biking trails.

Since I grew up in Michigan, a beautiful nature state, it is so important to me to live near nature to help keep myself calm and peaceful.

When we lived in Colorado, the mountain landscape was beautiful, but it lacked greenery and water, therefore I found myself struggling with depression.

I love nature walks and being near any type of water, these things are an essential part of my mental wellness plan.

Another bonus of living in Virginia is that the ocean is a short distance away which is great because I know I will miss being near the Pacific Ocean. 

Before every move, I try to do a whole house purge.

I ask myself, “what have I not used at all at this house and know that I will not use at the next house?”

I am sentimental when it comes to memorabilia like photos and special books, but not for décor or excess stuff that just collects in the garage.

I would prefer to pass it on and forget about it.

I am not a fan of holding onto things that I might use “someday” so it can just collect dust waiting for the “someday” to happen.

There are others (who shall not be named) whom I live with that are more prone to hold onto stuff than I am, and it can be a bit of a battle to control the amount of stuff we hold onto. 

Every PCS is bittersweet for us.

Bitter because we leave behind friends we have made, stores and restaurants we like to frequent, and beautiful spots we like to visit or that were on our bucket list, and we did not get the chance to go because life happened.

Not to mention, leaving behind a house that we have worked hard to make a home.

The sweetness is that we get to wipe the slate clean when going somewhere new. We get to make new memories in new places.

We get to make new friends and find new favorite interesting spots at the new location.

We also get the adventure of traveling to your new assignment and seeing all the sights along the way.

So many things to be sad about leaving, and so many things to look forward to. 

My family is all nearly grown, but all of them still live at home.

This makes my PCS a little more challenging. Finding the right home, in a good neighborhood, with the right amount of space, and within our budget range was a bit more difficult than usual.

I spent two years in a Facebook group for military spouses who live in the D.C. area trying to learn about where and how to find housing because my husband felt this was the inevitable assignment for him.

The group was very helpful, and yet the chore of finding housing and the right area to live in was a bit daunting.

We spent many hours, days, weeks, and months pouring over the rental ads and maps trying to figure out how to make it work.

I have been feeling that it is a lot like the Hunger Games because it is so competitive and not at all like a normal rental market.

I think the housing market in general is like that right now everywhere, but D.C. has its own unique challenges, especially for military families moving to the area.

We finally found a home we felt could work for our family, in a beautiful area, for the right price. 

It’s a great time to remind myself and other military spouses that a PCS is a stressful life event.

It is important to prioritize our own mental health and to wrap support around our families as well so that they have the safeguards necessary to get them through this time.

I am not sure I always did this well.

I am trying to make time for the kids protests and negative feelings, as well as try to point to the positive things.

Once we found out about where we are going, I encouraged them to make bucket lists of places they want to visit and things they want to do while we are there.

My husband and I put great thought into the location in Virginia where we thought our family would enjoy living and we are hopeful that they will see the beauty and benefits of our choice.

Nothing is perfect though, so we are mostly just trying to cushion the blow of another move. 

It won’t be long now, and our home will have movers packing our stuff up in boxes, and then loading it onto a truck.

We will scrub down the house and restore it to clean and empty conditions for the next family to enjoy.

Then we will make a mad dash across the country in our vehicles and pull our travel trailer along, too.

This is our biggest move yet, and the longest, too.

Bidding farewell is hard to do because we have loved this base so much both times we have been assigned here, but it is time to say hello to new things, new places, and new opportunities! 

Editor’s Note: We wish Anna and her family a “stress free” PCS, and we look forward to her future posts about her new home in Northern Virginia. Check out a past M:M post about the DC Area PCS Hunger Games!

*For more from Anna, click HERE!