PCS, Jet Lag, & Korea

 While I am no stranger to the PCS world (Phil has been Active Duty for 13 years), I must say, an overseas move is a whopper!  To be completely honest, I never wanted to PCS overseas; I loved the idea of going to visit places, but I never wanted to move there.  The culture shock, the language barrier, the timezone changes, and most importantly, shipping our dogs.  I didn't want any of it.  I admired those that did it, loved following along on their adventures, but didn't want it for myself.  

We found out we were PCSing to South Korea in December 2025, right before Christmas.  At first, I thought Phil was joking: this wasn't on our radar and I had a pretty strict "no overseas move" rule.  After the shock wore off, I did what any Type A military spouse does: I began researching.  And since I'm old school, I bought guidebooks and started reading.

I also got Maple and Penny to pose with the guidebooks, because they are just too cute and I needed the distraction :)

The planning of an overseas move is a bit of a logistical nightmare and I am super lucky that we have friends that have done them and pointed us in the right directions with what to bring for Unaccompanied Baggage to what pet company we should use to get the girls over to Korea safe and sound.  Speaking of the girls, the crates we needed to get them were INSANE!  They need to have room to stand up, sit up straight, lie down, the works.  Turns out, not only could they do all of that, I could also fit in the crates with them and we had plenty of crate snuggle sessions before we left:

They felt like a doggie penthouse!

The goodbye's are always the worst, and with us moving all the way to South Korea, it felt more final, more real, and more intense.  I waffled between wanting time to slow down, let me bask in my relationships with my friends and family and breathe in my surroundings a little longer; to just wanting to go and get it over with.  As time does continue to move right along, before we knew it, we were heading out: 

And then like magic, we were in Korea! Let me tell you, the jet lag was REAL!  I have actually never experienced jet lag, and so it was a completely weird sensation for me to just fall asleep at 1pm and then be wide awake by 2am.  I didn't know what day it was, what time it was, and what timezone anyone else was in.  

We have been here for a couple of weeks now and it is going pretty good!  It is still a little overwhelming, especially as we haven't lived anywhere before that is on the same scale as Seoul, but thankfully everyone here is so kind and understanding...I feel like they know we are from out of town ;) 

And most importantly, the dogs rocked their first flying experiences and are adjusting quite to being Big City Dogs and having Big Dog Elevator Etiquette:

If you have any recommendations of things to do and things to eat in Seoul, please send them my way!

Has anyone else ever flown their pets before?  Were you as terrified as I was? Let me know in the comments!

Max, Penny, & Maple

It is true what they say: there is never enough time.  I am one that will focus on time in an abstract way such as, "in two weeks this stress will be behind me", or "three more days until vacation".  It is always on the forefront of my mind, but never the actual focus.  

This time, there just wasn't enough time and there would never have been enough time.  We lost Max on December 10, 2023; two days shy of his 10th birthday.  We woke up that morning and took a walk like we always did, and after the walk he acted a little strange.  Given the fact that he had ACL surgery January 4, 2023, Max acting strange post walk was not unusual.  Sadly, we wouldn't know until it was too late, but a tumor had ruptured on his spleen.  

I often joked that Max was my support dog as no one understood my moods quite like my boy, but it was true.  After we let him go it felt like I was off balance for days, my constant was gone and I was feeling overwhelmed by grief.  He had helped me through 3 deployments, countless field times, 5 moves, fertility struggles, teaching, school, the works.  His loss felt like a tangible entity, a companion that I was not happy to have.  Penny would sit on the couch and just look sad and to be honest, Phil and I weren't much better.  We arrived at my parents house for Christmas looking like the lost souls we felt like. 

But, the saying, "time heals all wounds" is also true and we began healing day by day, little by little.  After she got to spend time with my parents dogs, it was clear that Penny really needed a friend.  Penny is not meant to be an only dog, she has never been one, and that adjustment was not going smoothly.  I probably overwhelmed her with my love and devotion, but what can you do?  

We brought Maple home January 27, 2024 and boy what a fun time this has been! She is the sweetest, cuddliest, goofiest little girl around and we just love her to pieces.  She gets into enough mischief and butt wiggles so big, that I think Mr. Max has been dropping a few hints to help her handle her new humans ;)

She adores Penny and we are in a constant state of canine chaos in our house and I could not be more grateful.  Thinking of Max always gives me a pang (that whole time thing again), but sweet little Maple is definitely helping all of our hearts heal and love fully again.