After over six years in the Mauve-Colored New Town on the Potomac, we are getting ready to pack out once again. And, I am actually thrilled OK with it. No, really, I am. For various reasons, which range from being not all that well-suited to cul-de-sac life, to being on the cusp of empty-nestiness, to possibly experiencing some very preliminary hormonal changes of which we will not speak further, I am ready for a change, big time.

OK, so it took 2-3 times the length of the average FS tour to get to this point. So what? Who made up that stupid two year tour rule anyway? Not anyone who had to organize a packout, that’s for sure. I have my own clock, and it didn’t start ticking until about a year ago. So there.

And then there is the fact that we are not moving to Bangui. Nothing against Bangui (though I am not entirely sure where that is) or posts like it. Been there, done that. There are times in life when you are feeling adventurous and there are times when you are not. This was a time when we just wanted a post with a decent school for the teenager and not a lot of barbed wire or guns lying around.

Granted, I was not really planning to end up in Vienna. If there were an Old Folks Home for diplomats–a Happy Meadow where they were sent to run free at the end of their careers–it would be there. Vienna has opera, boring classical music, tons of fine art, stuffy beautiful Baroque architecture, a docile well-behaved population, very few children, little yappy dogs, and lots of carbs.

I am sure it will be very restful. Just don’t mention the war.