A plan, a plan, we finally have a plan!

I am so excited I could squee, as it is it's nearly midnight and I can't sleep due to the wheels churning in my brain. Struggling with what to do after retirement has really been weighing on us and stressing me out. Do I do what makes me happy or do what is perceived to be the best for the family? As it happens the topic of what job would you do based on fulfillment not money came up totally random with the husband on the very day I was thinking about it. Which lead to a lot of soul searching.

Then tonight a friend of mine mentioned where they were moving (her husband was just released form the military) and it happens to be a city we were looking at -- ok ok that I was looking at, husband doesn't want to be near the coast, me I am a coastal girl. Anywho, it got me to looking into the real estate in the area and I already knew this town was ranked #5 of the top ten cities to start a business. Now since business is what we want to start, living in one of the top 5 cities is perfect! The real estate is mind blowing, everything I want for under $200K plus good school systems plus a great city in a great state and not to far from my hometown, winwinwin! Schwing!

So looking at the houses and thinking about the town got me to thinking hard and the plan started to unfold. Over the next 2 years I work on getting my child birth educator certification (now to decide if I want to go through ICEA or CAPPA) and possibly breastfeeding counselor/educator. Then 2 years from now (spring 2012) we get this house on the market and hopefully sold by summer. Our possessions sold, trashed or stored and me & the kids head to my dads house in SC. From there I will be able to make trips up to NC to look at homes and hopefully husband will be able to take leave and look as well. This will leave him with about 18 mths left in the service and frees him up to really go anywhere to finish out his sea duty time. Bonus for him because it means more (better!) choices than staying here. Other pluses is that we wont have to stay here an extra year waiting for the 2 older boys to graduate (meaning husband trying to find a job here for a yr), me moving ahead of time gives them 2 yrs in their last high school, gives us time to set roots and be settled, and gives me time to scope property and locations to open our business!

The downside of course is being alone and without my husband for 2 yrs. On a boat isn't really that different except I do get to see him occasionally. Really, though this is the only downside I see to this and he seems to agree. So now that we have an idea of what to do we can set more permanent goals and plans to work through over the next 2 years to get us where we need to be. I tell you I feel a million times better now and really excited. Now who wants to tell me which company I want to certify through?

OH!! I totally forgot to mention one of the BEST parts! Ok remember about 2 months back we were having the have a baby or not to have a baby debate and we decided to put the decision off until July 1. There were 2 options on the floor, A) get pregnant next year or B) take permanent step to prevent any more pregnancies, but then he tossed out option C) have another baby in 5 yrs (which I pretty much tossed off the table) but tonight option C is back on the table and part of our retirement plan! Can I wait 5 yrs? Yea probably. Will I still want another one in 5 yrs? Who the hell knows and for now that doesn't matter. The debate has been settled and I know it puts me at ease, I hope it does for him as well since it was his option after all.