As you can probably see by the “day” number of this posting we have reached a milestone. Today is my one year anniversary of entering the Foreign Service. That’s right, one year of this mad crazy ride. But the fun doesn’t stop there… tomorrow is my 3rd wedding anniversary! In fact, it will be my third wedding anniversary not spent with my wife which is probably some dubious honor that the Guinness Book of World Records probably follows. That’s right, I am 0 for 3… for those bookies out there, I have a 100% dining alone record. As sad as the history surrounding our anniversary may sound, I find it all very funny. So, on this dual anniversary, I thought I would share the story… as briefly as possible.
2007
The circumstances surrounding our first wedding anniversary are probably the most humorous… and I almost forgot about it when I started this blog entry. At first I thought this was going to be the second we’ve spent apart… but alas… I remembered.
Of course as any young married couple would do, we made pretty elaborate plans to go downtown in Atlanta for a great meal and maybe some dancing… you know, paint the town red. But, before I continue… I should fill you in with the following: shortly after our beautiful wedding at my parents Lake House; Serena began studying for her doula certification. So, around the beginning of 2007, she began attending births. Only about two our three a month, but as you can imagine it was always very unpredictable. On the day of our first anniversary I left work early, raced home to change clothes. My brother-in-law was living with us at the time, so we had a built in sitter for Grayson at the time… it was going to be a great night out. We jumped in the car around 5 or 6pm and started making our way downtown. We weren’t even five minutes away from the house when my brother called Serena. You see, my sister-in-law was prego with her fourth, my third nephew. And well… labor started… so I turned the car around and took Serena home to change close and she was quickly out the door. I spent my first wedding anniversary watching a hockey game with my brother-in-law… and my Serena spent the evening attending to her sister-in-law. Funny huh?
Well, it would have been much less funny if my sister-in-law had actually given birth that night. But, we Schutz’s love humor… it was a false alarm. She ended up having the baby a few days later. But, luckily… my brother and sister-in-law had the foresight of saving their fourth born from a life of torment from his loving uncle... they named him JohnPaul. How awesome is that! The hockey game was totally worth it!
2008
The months leading up to our second anniversary Serena and I had given up on our dream of joining the Foreign Service and were living our lives as if we were staying in Atlanta. But, on June 28th, we were taken completely off guard when we received the phone call. The dream life was ours… and I had to report to Washington, DC by July 21st. The day before our anniversary. The kicker was this… we were given such little notice that we were unable to schedule the movers until about two weeks after I had to report. So, we had to split up for three weeks while I started training and Serena cleaned up all of our loose ends in Atlanta.
Being that I was only in DC for a couple days, I didn’t really know anyone… and I had just received the list of possible locations where we could be spending the next two years… so I spent the evening weighing the pros and cons of moving my family to Hanoi, Montevideo, or Belgrade.
2009
Serena, Grayson and I were entitled to a trip home from Belgrade back to the States. We were all very excited, and we spend a lot of time planning. Serena and Grayson were going to leave about three weeks ahead of me to visit family in Indianapolis. I was going to fly in and join them there for a few days before we all flew to Atlanta for two weeks with family and friends. I was so excited since it had been nearly year since I’d been home; the longest I had ever been away from Atlanta. I wanted to take Gray to a Braves game and Stone Mountain… the World of Coke… as well as a glorious week at my parents Lake House (where I spend the better part of my childhood and where Serena and I got married). The plan was to fly into Atlanta on July 20th… and I had been working overtime trying to plan the BEST anniversary ever. My brother had agreed to take Grayson for the night for his first sleep over without his parents… and Serena and I were FINALLY going to paint the town red. Glorious! Airfare was reserved… reservations arranged… and then…
Serena got pregnant with our second! I know right? Double glorious! Very exciting stuff! And as our planned trip grew ever closer, I started running the numbers to be able to join Serena and Gray in the States for the arrival of our new addition, since Serena will be giving birth in Indianapolis. As I crunched, it became glaringly obvious, being within my first year of service, I did not have enough leave to do both the pending trip home and the birth trip. I was forced to make to the right decision. To wait, in order to maximize my time with the baby.
So, here I sit, on the eve of my third wedding anniversary… with my two kittens… and a cold beer… but don’t feel too bad for us. For some reason Serena and I have always been more inclined to celebrate the day we first met: March 6th. And luckily, we have always been together on that anniversary.
Serena, Grayson and Little Bugger, whose gender is not yet know? I miss you guys! And I will see you soon! Only 178 days left!
-JP
