After umpteen military moves over the years and writing and editing about PCSing for about 10 years, you’d think I’d know all the tricks and secrets, and would have a flawless, seamless transition from one duty station to the next.

You would think.

My husband and I looked at each other in the middle of this summer’s PCS and said, “I don’t think it was this difficult the last time we moved.”

Sure, I did all the things I know to do prior to the big move—skinnying down our mass of household goods, making sure everything is in the room for which it is intended before the packers arrive, setting aside the things we’ll need in the new house before our household goods arrive—but there is always something to throw off your best-laid plans…

This time, it was a deck.

We had congratulated ourselves on finding renters for our Colorado house so quickly. The Air Force family was due to move into our house the day after we planned to be out. We busied ourselves, getting the house, the kids, the pets and ourselves ready for the big move to Virginia. My husband and I methodically went down our list of things to do before we left. About a week before the packers were scheduled to come, my husband once again noticed the nagging, dog-gnawed kicker board on our deck (a present from the home’s former occupants), and decided to replace that board to make it look nicer for our new tenants.

You can see what’s coming, right?

He pulled off the old board and…his fingers pushed into the support beam behind it. He pushed again with his screwdriver, and it went right through the dry-rotted wood. He crawled underneath the low deck and found that all the support beams were dry rotted. The deck had to come down, but what could we replace it with, and when would we be able to do it?

Luckily, my husband’s replacement had already reported in at his job in Colorado, so he could take some time off to get ready for the move. We kicked into high gear, tearing down the existing deck with a sledgehammer and our frustration. We piled the wood in the yard and tried to figure out if we should rebuild another deck or make a patio to step down to from the back door.

After crunching the numbers, we figured either way would cost roughly the same, so my husband decided he’d like to try making a patio, since he’d built decks before (I know, but that’s my DIYer!) Over the next two days, everything else went on hold while we brought in literally tons of sand and pavers, measured out the new patio size, compacted the base, laid the pavers and filled in the cracks. The final product was a good-sized patio that was pretty level and absolutely would not dry rot.

Of course, the days marched on, and we did not get to several of our “to-do” items on our list, but we were happy we’d been able to finish the deck demotion and replace it with a nice patio. We were glad our tenants did not discover the damaged deck through an accident, and that we were able to take care of it while we were still there. But of course, having a last-minute emergency like that threw everything else off-balance, and we ended up feeling drained and exceptionally tired by the time the packers arrived…but that’s another story.

In our haste to ready the house for its new occupants, I have not fully wrapped my head around leaving the place I’ve called home for nearly four years.

It is starting to hit me now.

And while I will be happy to be closer to family and old friends, I will definitely miss the friends I have made here—the friends I’d just met who went through my husband’s deployment with me only months after we’d moved here. Those friends whose children have been with my oldest daughter (now eight) since kindergarten. The friends on my girls’ soccer teams and in their gymnastics classes with whom they have grown (literally) to love the sports. The friends I have volunteered with in the classrooms and in the community. This is what I will truly miss with this move.

And now, with so little time left, I am trying hard to cram in all I can, but there’s just not enough time.

But then again, is there ever?

We luckily grabbed a spot, just as JPSO started scheduling group meetings to accommodate the increased need.

Having several moves under my belt already, and being the editor of AmeriForce’s relocation guides, I nonetheless learned a few new things at our meeting:

You can manage your entire move online through the new Defense Personal Property System (DPS)—providing you are not doing any kind of partial-DITY move (which is now called a Personally Procured Move, or PPM, and the military offers incentives for service members to utilize this system).

You can request your movers by name—so if a friend raves about the movers she had on her last PCS, you can do a by-name request for them. Depending on their schedule and yours, you will get priority in securing the company.

Spouses are now given an allowance for their “professional gear,” something I am very happy about, having 17 boxes of magazines stacked up in a closet. The weight limit depends on rank, but be sure to ask about it.

As with any meeting with transportation, come in prepared, ask lots of questions (even if they seem silly), and take notes, especially names and numbers of people to call if needed.

So no matter if you are moving for your first or your 10^th time with the military, there is always something new to learn with each move. Just be open to the lessons.

And now, with our move only weeks away, I have to clean it.

So, I’ve done what I do best. Find other things to do. I have completely organized our kitchen, I’ve deep-cleaned every bathroom in our house…a few times. I’ve organized all my songs on iTunes, and all my files on my computer. I’ve even tackled our closets, putting away our winter clothes once and for all (which is saying something in Colorado!) Why can’t I apply the same sort of tenacity to organizing my junk room?

I seriously do not understand the mental bloc that exists. I have gone down to the room several times in the past few months, determined to get it finished once and for all. But something always distracts me, and I’m all too happy to once again put off the task. I keep setting deadlines for myself—I’ll finish it this week…I’ll finish it before my in-laws come…I’ll finish it before I (fill in the blank). But there it sits, still a cluttered as ever (and probably more so, since I’ve been cleaning the rest of the house with abandon).

Now, with the deadline nearing, it’s go time.  I have seriously contemplated how to tackle the project, and I remember what my husband said when we bought this house that needed so much work: “It’s like eating an elephant. You have to take it one bite at a time.”

I’m just not that hungry.

I’ve heard this several times from non-military friends in recent weeks, now that our PCS is looming ever closer on the horizon.

Sometimes I tell them, “yes, but I have to get everything ready for the packers and the movers.” And, bless their hearts, those friends just look at me with a puzzled expression—not having a clue what I’m talking about.

Because, as we military folks know, while it is incredibly nice having people come and pack up your things, you have to organize like a crazy person before they arrive if you want to have any hope of finding your belongings quickly once you arrive at your destination.

And it’s not easy when you’re also trying to wrap up a school year, a household and add to it work and other obligations…

Sigh…

Our orders had come.

A million things rushed through my mind: I had to call my parents, to let them know we’d soon only be a day’s drive away, instead of two or three; what would I need to do to get our girls ready for a new school; and oh, what about our house?

We’d bought the house in Colorado almost two years ago, a foreclosure that needed a lot of work, but had a ton of potential. We had been steadily working to help the house reach that potential, and it was almost there—but there were a few remaining projects on our list. Should we abandon them, or hurry to get the job done?

We decided to scale back a couple, drop a few, and hurry up with everything. We looked into selling the house, but with today’s market, we decided to rent instead. That went incredibly smoothly, and we now have a military family ready to move in as we move out.

Now, of course, a few weeks before the packers arrive, the house looks great…just as we’d imagined…and we’re leaving it.

Isn’t that always the way it goes?