Some Sunday thoughts

Sometimes I think that Facebook is a really bad thing. While I think it's an essential for an Army wife (how else would you keep in touch daily with everyone you know?), it also allows me to compare and contrast my life with the lives of others who are not doing the military thing. And that's something you probably shouldn't do as an Army wife. Facebook makes me feel that as much as I would like to be like everyone else, I'm not. I'm not living your average existence. That's not to mean I'm living better or worse. It means I'm living "differently" than my fellow central Pennsylvanians. The military lifestyle is something you can't understand unless you do it. My husband isn't on-call for a weekend per month. He's on-call 24/7/365. Months of separation at a time are inevitable. I feel like I've adjusted to the lifestyle and I'm very proud of what we do (I say "we" because being an Army spouse is indeed a job). It just hits me how different we are from other couples. Who gets married and puts their spouse on a plane 3 hours later? A military spouse. Who has a wedding and then packs up their worldly possessions and drives to Alaska a week later? A military couple. Who plans a wedding in 6 weeks because it's that or wait for a deployment to be over? A military couple. Who gets married TWICE just so the paperwork will go through and you'll be recognized as a dependent? A military couple. Who becomes a single parent for up to 15 months at a time because of deployment? A military spouse.

These situations don't ALL pertain to me, but I've learned that everyone in the military has a story. The common thread is that they don't fit in with the lifestyles and time-lines of civilians. I wish I had had a year to plan my wedding. I wish I could see my family whenever I wanted. I wish I didn't miss my first Christmas with my husband or that he had been able to take me out or at least call me on my birthday.

I suppose my point is that I enjoy hearing what my family and friends are up to. Am I jealous sometimes? Absolutely. But then, would I prefer to go back to the civilian life knowing of the experiences I've had and that are yet to come? Absolutely not.


Wedding Rehearsal Dinner 9/11/09
About a week before we packed up everything and drove 4,100 miles to Alaska