PCSing

Friend: "Ugh. I still have unpacked boxes."
Me: "Girl! What's taking you so long? You've been there 10 days already! I'll drive down this weekend and help, okay?"
Friend: "You realize that's not going to make me unpack any faster, right?"
Me: "Yeah, but the margaritas will sure make everything better!"

I have plans for the weekend! A true military wife knows not to sit on her thumbs at home the day before The Husband comes home.

Why Civilian Families Sometimes Just.Don't.Get.It.

I think I'm sensative to this right now because I had a long conversation with one of my civilian friends this weekend about the differences in civilian/military friendships. Before I begin, I should make it clear that I think civilian friendships are a very important part of life as a milspouse. This weekend I was explaining to my civilian friend how excited I was that one of my old friends from Pope AFB/Ft. Bragg has been assigned to Ft. Riley and I can't wait to see her. She's an hour away! My civilian friend was wondering why military spouse friendships are "different" than those with civilians. After much "uh... well... ah..." this is how I explained it: A civilian hears a knock on their door when their husband is at work and they don't think anything of it. A military spouse hears a knock on their door while their spouse is "at work" and their pulse quickens, sweat peaks out of their hairline and they take a deep breath and open the door. A civilian wife is upset with her husband for spending $75 on a new video game and argues about it explaining that the $75 could have been put to better use, etc. A military spouse sees that her husband has spent $75 on a video game and she thinks, "there's repreive for my love at the end of the day. $75 is a small price to pay. Besides, it's not worth the argument." This friend that recently moved to Ft. Riley had undergone extensive treatments trying to get pregnant while stationed at Ft. Bragg. When they PCSed to Georgia a few years ago, they gave up the fight and stopped treatments. She called me early one morning and said, "You're going to the bathroom with me." "Great. Good morning to you too." "Guess what I doing" she said. "Uh... peeing?" "Yeah, but I have something with me" she further explains. "Really? What is it?" "Guess!" she teases. "Uh... don't know." "A pregnancy test! I didn't get my period this month!" she exclaims. So she was with child and she was talking to me when she found out. That's a military wife. Don't get your husband excited until you know for sure. Don't give him any reason to be distracted from his duties in the day. A civilian wife would not likely call her friend to share the anticipation with. I explained further to my civilian friend; military families move about every three years. We plunge ourselves into our next duty station, eager to meet the women of the squadron and immerse ourselves in community activities. We start "living" in our new home within a week. Civilian families can move accross the country away from their families and have to start over, but they rarely form the bonds that make their neighbors and community members "family". I explained that as a military spouse, you forge friendships with other women that are almost an extension of your own body. The friendships you make as a military spouse are more than mere friendships, these women become your family.

Since PCSing to Kansas I have taken a position with a company with 100% civilian employees. This is quite unusual for a milspouse. We're usually working beside at least one other milspouse if not mulitiple military family members to include retired/seperated military servicemembers themselves. I actually found employment with a group of nine other people with no military affiliation at all. This makes me subject to great scrutiny. People are curious as to how we live. They have questions that they feel since they are so "close to you" they should be allowed to ask. The Husband is away learning to be a Parachute Dude right now. He left a few weeks ago and will return this weekend. Of course, the woman I share an office with is ever so curious if not a bit spiteful. She asks me today, "How's The Husband?" "Oh, he's doing great! The Husband is crazy, but he's having a wonderful time. He had two perfect jumps on Friday!" "That sounds great, I'm sure he's having fun" she says. "Yeah, he's certainly enjoying himself." She continues, "When I was younger I had a friend who wanted to learn how to parachute. So she went up and learned all there was to learn, jumped out of the plane... but she didn't have a perfect landing. She died. At eighteen years of age." Shit. I know she wasn't trying to upset me and honestly, I took it with a grain of salt and rolled my eyes behind my computer monitor. I guess when you aren't confronted with military families everyday, you don't realize that there are certain things you just. don't. say.

Something to add to the conversation with my civilian friend about the difference of military friendships and civilian friendships. Military wives know when to keep their mouth shut.

The Women We Love

One of The Husband's and my first dates was to my brother and sister-in-law's wedding. I'll never forget dancing with The (not quite) Husband in his Air Force dress blues, he looked down at me and said, "you aren't going to be this crazy at our wedding are you?" That was five days after The Husband and I met.

Of course, The Sister-In-Law and I have had our moments. No baby sister wants to look at her brother giving all of his love and affection to another woman. Who's going to take care of me now? Regardless, I used to fight my brother screaming, "Treat her better you asshole! You're going to loose her if you don't stop acting like such a jerk!" She became my rock. I'm grateful that my brother married a woman who is probably one of my best friends on this earth. She's a Marine's wife and has her own set of worries, yet when I hear her voice on the other end of the line I can feel her smile and my world begins to relax. I often get family pictures in the mail and I think: 'wow, The Brother and I don't look anything alike' and then, 'my God, she's beautiful. The Sister-In-Law should be on the cover of a magazine.' I recently realized that her beauty doesn't just come from outward appearances. I look into her eyes and I see a beautiful soul shining out from a camoflauge of aqua marine blue. She is a woman who will love me no matter what I do, she'll smile that gorgeous smile of hers and tell me everything is going to be okay. She has the patience of Mother Theresa which is evident in the mild (but incredibly adorable) temperment of my nephew. The Sister-In-Law and The Nephew are those mom/son combos you see at Target with the child asking ever so politely, "Mom? May I please have a new toy car? It needs a home and I'd be ever so grateful to give it one." HUH? The Nephew is (almost) four years old, but he's so sweet and grown up, he behaves as if he's forty, not four.

The Sister-In-Law is my rock. She grounds me. She took The Brother, just a boy and made him a man. The Sister-In-Law is a woman who demands respect. A woman of faith, stature and a pillar of strength. The Sister-In-Law told me the other day as we were driving through the Country Club Plaza that she admired my strength... huh? I'm a mess and this woman who I admire without fail is telling me she's proud of me. Wow. Mark this day down for one of those breathless moments in time.