This is guaranteed to be a long drawn-out post, full of wordiness and no pictures until the very end...if you make it that far and are still awake.
Sorry in advance.
For those of you who don't frequent my blog and catch my incessant whining, let me recap:
Our family of 5 is living in Forest Grove, Oregon while my husband Dylan attends optometry school at Pacific University. It is a
Oh, and it rains nonstop.
And we're poor.
The end.
See what I mean about the whining?
The 4th year of school is dedicated to clinic...but it would be FAR too easy to have the clinic in one set place. So instead, the students (and families, if applicable) move every 3 months for the entire year.
Awesome.
I've broken it down:
12 months + 4 moves + 3 children under the age of 5 = crazy.
Last week was the lottery for the rotations. That's the other fun part...we lottery for the spots we want.
So there is no way to plan, no guarantee, and they are worldwide sites.
Double awesome.
We decided to move out of Forest Grove and operate out of Boise. So we would move to Boise in May of 2012 and be at the Boise site first, then Utah 2nd and 3rd, and Idaho Falls 4th.
Wishful thinking.
The first night of the lottery I was huddled next to my cell phone waiting for Dylan's call/text.
We LOST the lottery for our 2nd rotation.
Instead of Utah, we were assigned to be in Forest Grove. This changed our entire plan for the year. The thought of moving the kids to 4 different schools, living out of suitcases, and paying double rent were all things that made us feel...uncomfortable? Violated? Ghetto?
We decided that we would operate out of Forest Grove instead of Boise, and secured the following sites:
Boise, May-August
Forest Grove, August-November
Tacoma, Washington, November-May
The last rotation is a 6 month rotation. Dylan can live in Tacoma on base where he'll be working and I will stay in Forest Grove with the kids. Alone. Eeeeek.
I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.
We feel good about it.
It's exciting really.
Because whenever we start a new phase of our schooling, it's one step closer to being done.
And a normal life.
Not that I'm complaining (again).
Or thinking about the life we left behind.
Or our families who are far away.
Or counting the 6 years of schooling we've already done.
Or the 2 we have left.
All I know is:
I must really love this guy....
...and even though this is one of the hardest things I've ever done, it certainly is no cake walk for him....
because he's made a LOT of sacrifices for our little family:
 |
| signing for his commitment to the air force. |
 |
| first day of clinic...have some equipment. |
 |
| white coat ceremony. |
And that our rotations are ironed out.
So we can finally relax.
And plan.
I'm also grateful for cute children...
and a beach that is close. 
xo,
tracy
Holy cow. Well at least you know what you'll be doing! I wish it was Boise though. You'll come back to Boise after he's all done, right? You can do it. I know you can!
ReplyDeletei love reading your blog - your style of writing is fantastic! - and your family is too cute - good luck!!
ReplyDeleteI HATED those stupid lottery nights. Sure, without kids and family it's a great opportunity for the optometry students to explore the United States and go wherever their whimsical desires take them for rotations. For those with kids it causes grey hairs to emerge, 10 lbs to be added to hips/butt/thighs due to the chocolate and cakes eaten to ward off the stress of how you're going to move 4 times in a year, and sleepless nights thinking about not only the work of moving but the cost of moving...4 times in a year!! AAAAHHHHH!!! Good luck to you guys. Sounds like you have it figured out. You'll make it :)
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