Wedding Blog: Post-wedding update

[gsabc]

Yeah, I know I haven't finished the wedding day itself yet. But I wanted to go over what has happened since they departed New England.

BD and SIL drove across the country, MA to CA by way of KS, where they paused to visit my MIL and whatever other relatives could gather. Good way to introduce SIL to that part of the family. MIL was most pleased, both by SIL and by their visit. We don't get out there often.

BD and SIL did have enough time for a side trip to the Grand Canyon. It wasn't that far off their route. Spent the money on a helicopter trip (not cheap!), which BD said was less scary than a regular plane take-off or landing. They were there just after the flooding, but didn't see that section of the canyon. They have not sent us the photos yet.

Arrival at Fort Irwin was relatively uneventful. The biggest problem was that they were misinformed about the temporary housing arrangements, much to SIL's annoyance. Rather than staying at the hotel on the base, they ended up at a place in town. That's 40 miles each way for SIL to get to work. They do get a housing allowance, but even with BD's high mileage car, that's $8-9 a day in gasoline.

Fortunately, the housing situation improved after a week. One of SIL's friends offered part of their house on base. He and his wife have a four-month-old daughter. They're not accepting any money from BD and SIL, which may be some "pay it forward" thing. The wife takes care of some other young children (official or unofficial day care, I don't know which), and knows the school system there. She has helped BD with introductions at the school, so we'll see how the job situation goes. Good to put a face to the name on the résumé. One oddity on the application system, as it was explained to me: according to the wife, unless they get ten online applications for a job, they don't even look at them, but purge the system and start over. That makes no sense to me at all, so I think I'm either misunderstanding the situation or BD is. In any case, BD brought some hardcopies with her to the introductions, and started the process for being a substitute. She may be over-qualified for the available jobs.

BD has time on her hands, with no job and no house. This is a good thing. She hasn't had any down time since spring break of 2007. Even then, a trip to WDW with another Disney fanatic (MoH) isn't exactly what you would call down time. So she has been writing thank you notes, polishing the résumé, reading and other relaxation stuff. Since moving over to the friend's house, she has been helping out there. Also working with the wives group on some volunteering stuff.

I posted about the possible dog ownership. For those who didn't see it, the friends feel that they can't give their ten-month-old dog enough time now that the kid has arrived. (Child OR dog, not AND!) The dog seems to have adopted BD and SIL to an extent, so it may end up with them. That will be nice, at least unless or until they get moved to another base.

Not having their own housing means they have no mailing address. We have several important items that BD could really use, like stuff with her new name on it. Also a belated wedding card or two which may contain checks. We are trying to get the friends' address as a temporary location. Latest news: they have moved up to #24 on the waiting list, from #38 at the start. They are allowed to reject two housing offers but must take the third in that case. Some housing is not too good, according to the friends. BD informs me that those are the ones being knocked down and replaced, so maybe they're concentrating on moving folks out and not putting more in.

[sunflower]

I don't know the cost or if there is a commitment involved, but could they rent a PO Box? Either from the post office or something like mailboxes etc? That way they could get mail and shut it off when they need it.

I almost feel like something in the area must have a short term solution like that, I have to guess there are a lot of people coming through there in the same manner as BD and SIL and that they want to get their mail!

[gsabc]

I don't know the cost or if there is a commitment involved, but could they rent a PO Box? Either from the post office or something like mailboxes etc? That way they could get mail and shut it off when they need it.

I almost feel like something in the area must have a short term solution like that, I have to guess there are a lot of people coming through there in the same manner as BD and SIL and that they want to get their mail!

It's such a short-term thing that I don't think they want to bother. I've got access to her local bank account, so for now, I'm paying her bills (school loan and car insurance) and taking it out of her account. The other stuff can wait. Once she gets an address, though, it gets handed off quickly.