I've been an Army wife for 13 years. (Okay, it will be 13 years on Sunday, get over it). Adam had already picked his Army profession before I met him, had already enlisted, etc., so I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. There have been many highs and many lows, but for the most part, Army life has been good for us.
That said, I'm going to try to impart my wisdom to those less-experienced wives. I forget how young some of the wives are until I look at their Facebook profile and see that they graduated from high school LAST YEAR. Um, yeah, I'm almost twice as old as they are.
I'm glad there was no Facebook and MySpace back when I was a young wife, because I have no doubt I would have aired all my mumblings and grumblings about the Army and how it took my husband away from me most of the time. I'm glad to report I'm mature now (it sure took me long enough) and realize that this is Adam's job. I have absolutely no control over his work hours, his deployments or pretty much every aspect of his job. This has been hard for someone with control issues, but once I realized this, life has been that much easier.
Here's my advice to the young wives, the ones who don't have a lot of experience with it all like myself - find a hobby, get a job, go to school, etc. Keep yourself busy. If you sit around pining for your husband, I can guarantee you're going to be miserable.
It's hard, I know. Very hard. I know this to be true. I honestly hope that it gets easier for you as the years go by.
2 comments:
Military wife of 10 years here, and BOY do I understand this post.
I just got home from a 3day weekend in another state, with friends from around the globe. I got a bit of slack from local friends about leaving my kids (with my parents who live 3 blocks away) when my husband is deployed. But I did it anyway.
And it was unbelievably awesome. I feel like my gas tank has been filled up. I needed to laugh and be silly. I needed a break from my kids. I needed to have a weekend without worry.
I love being a military wife, and I'm very comfortable with the duties required. But living my own life has made all the difference. Hope your husband's deployment goes smoothly for you. Enjoy yourself.
Please let me say that I have the utmost respect and admiration for military families. Your sacrifices are appreciated more than you will ever know.
Don't know if I could do it.
Post a Comment