And so begins the madness.

Since we arrived in Alabama just a few short months ago, Pete has had to confront a very obvious elephant in the room--his looming military retirement. As we've learned, one can pretty much do an entire military career without *too* much planning. Pete's not a planner. He's a dreamer. He is perfectly content to take life as it comes, and for the most part, that's perfectly fine. But this is one time when it's just not going to happen. There is too much that he/we simply must do--real, live legwork. We live in military housing, so at some point we're going to have to get real about finding a mailbox to put our name on outside the gates of Redstone Arsenal. Of course, then there's another biggie--his post-retirement JOB.

God is amazing us over and over when we see how well 'staged' this move was in preparation for Pete's Army retirement. But there was always the possibility of just riding out the last few years without making any real efforts at making a civilian life until he's pretty much forced out of the Army. We've spent a LOT of time the last few days talking about that, and he admitted to really not even knowing how to go about making that decision. I told him it would be a great idea to go talk to some men who have actually transitioned from the military to civilian life and get their take on things, get advice, etc., but I also asked him if he would rather spend the next few years wearing camouflage or donning civilian clothing to go to work. He finally said it--"I want to be a civilian."

Yesterday, he went and had a conversation with the installation antiterrorism head honchos to ask about the job they're advertising vacancies in. He came home with a TON of paperwork.

And so it begins!