Being an Army Wife...

Being married to a soldier is not necessarily the hardest job, but it is definitely the most rewarding. 
Civilians don't get the ability to fall back in love with their spouses because they've been gone for months.  We get to experience those butterflies in our stomachs, the tingly feeling when we kiss for the first time, and the nervousness that accompanies getting intimate for the first time.  It's like you're in high school again and on your first date. 

Imagine this, someone you've finally grown to trust and truly love has to leave for long periods of time, and every time they leave, they are a different person when they return.  It isn't always for the better, but sometimes it is, and in the end, a good woman stands by her man to help him through the rough times, she is his rock, and holds down the fort while he is gone.  Once that special person in your life returns, your world is turned upside down, yet again.  Both have to figure out how to cohabit and survive through rough times.  Whether it is PTSD, physical injuries, emotional, fiscal, or just awkwardness in general.  The army gives you about 30 days of family reintegration, after 2 weeks of job reintegration, and you're supposed to get it just right in 30 days or less before they are to return to work full time.  This is not only difficult, it is most likely impossible.

My husband and I have been married almost 7 years now.  In civilian time?? About 4.  Between deployments, training, and just ridiculous reasons to be away from home, it totals to about 3 years apart.  Yet, we do our best to make it work.  Between the kids, his job, my chores, and other miscellaneous things, we don't get much time together to grow as a couple.  Just last week I learned my husband was a band geek!!  WOW!!!

The most amazing thing about being married to a soldier is something people don't realize too often.  Most dwell on the time apart, I realize that because of it, there are things that I haven't learned about him (or even myself) during that span.  You truly do not know how strong you can be until you're left alone with kids, pets, and having to give birth by oneself.  It can make or break a woman.  This woman?? It made me.  I didn't have the support system that most do.  My family is far away (those that speak to me, that is), his family is too, the "friends" I made all ran for the hills once it got tough while the husband was away, so I went solo on the deployment. 

While it may seem like I'm bitching, I'm not, I'm grateful I didn't have anyone.  I learned to be resourceful, multi-tasker, manage 3 kids, and completely overhaul my schedule to compliment a newborn.  While seemingly daunting, I did it by myself.  I can hold my head up high and say with pride, "I AM AN ARMY WIFE.  I DID IT ON MY OWN.  MY HUSBAND CAN FEEL SECURE KNOWING I CAN HANDLE ANYTHING."  The minute your spouse has to worry about his home life, is the minute he has less of a reaction response to someone shooting, to protecting his fellow man, or himself.  And that single, solitary minute can be the deciding minute of life or death.