The most memorable Murphy’s moment was a surprise deployment during a PCS move. Steve and I were lifting our heavy TV into the moving box for the two sweet older ladies who were sent to pack us out, and my husband’s phone rings. He answers, walks into another room and comes back with the strangest look on his face and says, “I have to go, the ship getting underway in 6 hours.” I seriously thought he was joking. But eventually I realized he was not. He packed a bag and left, and I didn’t see him for over a month. I finished the pack out, prepped our house for renters, handled the emergency logistics of driving two vehicles from Florida to Virginia, and managed to move myself, 3 kids, a crazy dog and tow a trailered vehicle (that I loaded on the trailer!) from Florida to Virginia.
This experience, when not driving, was paired with Knob Creek bourbon with Diet Coke, with a few tequila shots on the side. (Somebody had to lighten the load).
Melissa Hartley
“PCSing with a pet, is super fun” — not one person ever.
When we were moving to our current duty station, we made travel arrangements for our cat to fly under the belly of the plane. We were flying an airline that allowed pets, but only as cargo and on a space available basis. As if my life transitioning from the Mediterranean to East Asia wasn’t stressful enough, the airline’s policy of releasing space availability is announced two hours prior to the flight. So Plan A was to fly him as checked baggage and Plan B was to fly him as cargo on a separate flight if there was no room. We were told there was space available (YAY), but then laughed (otherwise we would cry) at being told, upon arrival to check him in, that the airline did not accommodate pets (DAFUQ..). So we took him to the cargo terminal to be told there was no problem (YAY), and then again told there was an error and he couldn’t fly with them based on the low temperatures at his layover (BOOO). Fast-forward to plan, I-don’t-even-know-at-this-point, and we settled with carrying him on, in a brand new cat purse I made sure to pack (yes, I am a crazy cat mom…fight me).
I immediately paired this situation with a caramel macchiato from Starbucks and later with what-ever-tiny-bottle of liquor was available on the plane.
Ciara Skiles
