November is Military Appreciation Month. I have been an Army wife for over 9 years and was an Army girlfriend for three years before that. It is a life that I have chosen, because I love my husband and this is the life he chose for himself. I knew what I was getting myself into when I met him, although we met before 9/11 and a lot has changed since I met that cute redhead at a party in Hawaii.
The military is a lifestyle, and it is one I wouldn't give back for anything. For all of the hard times there are always the good. I have moved places I never imagined I would moved to, such as Monterey, California and Washington D.C.. I have made friends who have touched my life in such a way that I am forever grateful. I have had tears and laughs with so many of those who share this lifestyle. I have had to let my guard down and be able to put myself out there to build new friendships because I have had to leave friends behind at our last "home." I have been blessed to be reunited with those friends at new "homes" and to feel like we were never apart. My military friends understand a part of me that my friends from home can't. They know I am going to have days that I just want to scream. Days when I want to know what time my husband is coming home. Days when I just want to know where I will be living in a years time.
We all have our days that we just can't take anymore, but those days give us strength. Strength is what makes military spouses so special. We have learned that we really can do anything. We can be a wife, a mother and fill in all of the gaps a father usually would. We can be a single parent when it is called for. We have learned how to accomplish everything in a household and then to go back to only having to do some of it when our lives are turned upside down with the comings and goings of a deployment. We are unnoticed and are okay with that, because we know that we are what holds the foundation of our family together when we have no other choice, but to kiss our loved one goodbye and just hope and pray that they come back to us. We have had babies by ourselves, spent holidays without our spouses, and know the car maintenance schedule better then our husbands. All of these things make us better and stronger. It gives us a perspective that most cannot understand. Under our strong exteriors we are all afraid that at some point we are going to get that knock on the door. We have had days that we jump at the sound of the doorbell and pray that it is only the UPS man, because we haven't heard from our spouse in days and our minds our filled with the worst. We have cried when we wash a piece of our spouses clothing on accident and did not realize it. We have also refused to wash just that one thing that might still have his smell on it, so that at some point you can hold it close to you and feel that much closer to the one you love.
It always amazes me that these things seem to be shared by so many. For all of our differences we have in common the military. This will be with us through the rest of our life. I am proud to be a military wife and sometimes worry how I will transition to the civilian world someday. This is what I know. It is who I am and how I live my life. I don't want pity. I chose this life and am proud of it. It warms my heart when I see people thank our soldiers, but I always try to go one step further and thank the family, because they are sacrificing too.
