A New Life Ahead

Hubby and I had a talk last night. It seems he has made the decision to retire from the military next year.

I am not sure how I feel about his decision. On one hand, I want this part of our life over with. I'm tired of living with the military b.s., and we already know how much I hate living where we are. On the other hand, I'm scared of what the future might hold. We have worked long and hard to get to where we are financially, and my worst nightmare is that we will end up moving backwards instead forward financially.

There are so many things to consider in making this decision - most of which have to do with money. I am a little bothered by the fact that Hubby is making this decision without considering how I feel about it, or the financial impact it could have on us. He is so terribly miserable, both with his job, and with the military in general. While I can completely understand and sympathize with where he's coming from in that respect, I don't think he realizes the simple fact that a job is a job. And the only difference he faces by retiring is that he'll go from working active duty military, to working for the military as a civilian. Either way, he'll still be working for the military. As for the difference in paychecks, it's hard to say right now if it will make that much difference financially. When you add that we will have to start paying for our medical insurance, and we will no longer have free housing or a housing allowance, those are big chunks of money that will have to come from somewhere. Even though he'll be receiving a retirement check, that check won't cover the funds necessary to put a roof over our head and pay for our health insurance. Not to mention the bills.

Then there is the upside to all this, and that is that I will be able to move back to Texas! That's the exciting part, but I have to look at the practical side of all this too, and that, of course, is the money.

I'm a little stressed about all this right now. With this shoulder thing I've been dealing with, and then Hubby springing his intentions to retire on me, I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

Over the next month we will be attending four retirement information meetings. I only hope, in the end, Hubby will be able to put aside his misery long enough to make a practical and responsible decision about getting out.

I'm sure this isn't the last you'll be reading about this. But for now, I'm heading to bed. My head hurts from all of this.

xoxo