I’m joining the 170th A-100 class. You read that right. More than two years after landing on the register, I am finally joining the Foreign Service.

It seemed like everything was all set back in October when I received my new medical clearance, but when we told the Powers That Be that I was ready to be called for A-100, we learned there was still one more hurdle to get over. Did you know that your final suitability clearance expires after two years? No? Neither did we! And to get your final suitability clearance renewed, you have to get your security clearance updated, even if you have an active security clearance that is valid for three more years.

So we frantically went to work getting my security clearance updated, knowing that invitations to the January class could go out at any time. Thanks to the efforts of some great colleagues on all ends of the process, my updated clearance came in just in time for a late invitation.

What’s next? I’ll head back to Washington the second week of January to prepare for the start of A-100 on January 14. Sadly, Alex, Flynn and Abbey will have to stay here. I’ll miss them, but we’re hoping in the long run this will be the right decision to get us posted somewhere together. It feels like we’ve overcome quite a few obstacles already. With just one more big one left, we’re optimistic we’ll be able to overcome that too.