Life is Good, but this is Heinous

A Brief History of Our Pursuit of the Peace Corps

August 2001. I meet the love of my life in Montana. He's a cowboy. And he's so cute I could eat him. I proceed to throw myself at him shamelessly, and he takes the bait and follows me first to New Zealand, then home to Virginia. I have scored.

October 2003. Cowboy marries me. His name is Tom, and mine is Anna, and I think we might be two of the luckiest people on earth.

January 2005. Tom and I decide we need an adventure and receive our Peace Corps applications in the mail. A friend tells us it takes longer for married couples to apply, so we should get on it.

January 2006. Tom and I submit our Peace Corps applications. Don't make fun of us, it's harder than you think.

March 2006. We interview with Matt, the local and affable recruiter in our neck of the woods. He digs us, says we'll probably be a good fit, and that we should be hearing something from the Peace Corps office in a few months. That's longer than we'd hoped, but we're optimistic at this point, and we console ourselves with the thought that it might be nice to spend one more summer in Charlottesville, take off in the fall, live a life of service, poverty, and adventure for two years, then come back home and make some babies, get a dog, buy another house to fix up.

May 2006. We get an email from the Peace Corps saying we are being nominated to serve as Health Educators in Latin America, leaving in the spring of 2007. We have 12 hours to decide whether we want the nomination or not. They can provide no other information at this time. For real? A whole year from now? Anything sooner? Nope. And quit asking so many questions, you want it or not? Um, sure, we'll take it.

June, July, August 2006. We hear nothing from the Peace Corps.

September & October 2006. We hear a little bit more of nothing from the Peace Corps.

November, December 2006. That's right, not a peep.

January 2007. Seriously, still no information about where we might be spending the next two years of our lives or when we might should start quitting our jobs, packing up our house, saying goodbye to friends? Sorry, we have no more information for you at this time, though you are still being tentatively considered for your original nomination. Tentatively? what the crap does that mean?? We start looking into appealing alternatives: hiking the Appalachian Trail, working for the UN or International Red Cross, growing beards and joining a motorcycle gang, something, anything to fill the need for an adventure. After all, we're getting old here, and we've got this narrow window of two years set aside -our last chance for childless, carefree fun. If this Peace Corps plan doesn't work out, there will be much sadness.

February 2007. We get an email. Congratulations, you are now medically, financially, and legally cleared to serve in the Peace Corps, and we should be looking at your applications in the next two to four weeks. Now really, that didn't take so long did it?