I found this on facebook of all places and I loved it!! I have found that military wives are very strong (and yet flexible) women. I'm proud to be a military wife and proud to be friends with the amazing military wives I know!
"What is a military wife...
Each one may look different and each is wonderfully unique,... but this they have in common:... Lots of moving...
Moving...
Moving...
Moving far from home...
Moving two cars, three kids and one dog...all riding with HER of course.
Moving sofas to basements because they won't go in THIS house;
Moving curtains that won't fit;
Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours.
Moving away from friends;
Moving toward new friends;
Moving her most important luggage: her trunk full of memories.
Often waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting...
Waiting for housing.
Waiting for orders.
Waiting for deployments.
Waiting for phone calls.
Waiting for reunions.
Waiting for the new curtains to arrive.
Waiting for him to come home,
For dinner...AGAIN!
They call her 'Military Dependent',
but she knows better:She is fiercely In-Dependent.
She can balance a check book;
Handle the yard work;
Fix a noisy toilet;
Bury the family pet...
She is intimately familiar with drywall anchors and toggle bolts.
She can file the taxes;
Sell a house;
Buy a car;
Or set up a move
........all with ONE Power of Attorney.
She welcomes neighbors that don't welcome her.
She reinvents her career with every PCS;
Locates a house in the desert,
The Arctic,
Or the deep south.
And learns to call them all 'home'.
She MAKES them all home.
Military Wives are somewhat hasty...
They leap into:
Decorating,
Leadership,
Volunteering,
Career alternatives,
Churches,
And friendships.
They don't have 15 years to get to know people.
Their roots are short but flexible.
They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them.
Military Wives quickly learn to value each other:
They connect over coffee,
Rely on the spouse network,
Accept offers of friendship and favors.
Record addresses in pencil...
Military Wives have a common bond:
The Military Wife has a husband unlike other husbands;
his commitment is unique.
He doesn't have a 'JOB'
He has a 'MISSION' that he can't just decide to quit...
He's on-call for his country 24/7.
But for her, he's the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign
TDY
PCS
OPR
SOS
ACC
BDU
ACU
BAR
CIB
TAD
And so, a Military Wife is a translator for her family and his.
She is the long- distance link to keep them informed;
the glue that holds them together.
A Military Wife has her moments:
She wants to wring his neck;
Dye his uniform pink;
Refuse to move to Siberia;
But she pulls herself together.
Give her a few days,
A travel brochure,
A long hot bath,
A pledge to the flag,
A wedding picture,
And she goes.
She packs.
She moves.
She follows.
Why?
What for?
How come?
You may think it is because she has lost her mind.
But actually it is because she has lost her heart .
It was stolen from her by a man,
Who puts duty first,
Who longs to deploy,
Who salutes the flag,
And whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband, she will remain his military wife."
Showing posts with label Navy wife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Navy wife. Show all posts
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Behind the scenes...
I think that sometimes Hollywood may have given us a romanticized view of having your other half in the military.
Sure there's the beautiful reunions after months apart where a handsome man in uniform hugs you so tight it takes your breath away and there's the military balls where you gets to play Cinderella for the evening. Not to mention, of course, the steadfast pride you feel in your heart knowing that your husband is serving his country.
However, it goes without saying that having a husband is the Navy isn't always easy.
Take today for example...
My husband is already gone from 5:00AM-7:30PM every day of the week. Now he's been told he must stay at least another 2 hours each day until further notice.
The hubs usually misses seeing R by 30 minutes or so when coming home at 7:30 (except for the occasional night when R would still be up), but now he will miss him every night.
I know the hubs will do everything he can to spend as much time as possible with the baby on the weekends. I know that R will grow up confident that this daddy loves him and will always be there for him.
Still I feel sad knowing that the hubs misses out on R's snuggles, cuddles, and smiles during the week. It's the best kind after all.
Now I know what you might be thinking..."oh not another whiny military wife!"
I KNOW this is part of what we signed up for and I accept that, but that doesn't always make it easy. I am, after all, still entitled to feeling bummed now and again.
Now, with all of that said, I am still ever grateful for the many benefits of being in the service and I plan to view this as preparation for deployments. We're a strong couple and a strong family and I feel confident we'll make it through this with flying colors and will soon be moving onto the next chapter in our Navy life.
Thank you for your service dear and thank you, as always, for being such a fabulous provider for R and me. We love you always and forever.
Sure there's the beautiful reunions after months apart where a handsome man in uniform hugs you so tight it takes your breath away and there's the military balls where you gets to play Cinderella for the evening. Not to mention, of course, the steadfast pride you feel in your heart knowing that your husband is serving his country.
However, it goes without saying that having a husband is the Navy isn't always easy.
Take today for example...
My husband is already gone from 5:00AM-7:30PM every day of the week. Now he's been told he must stay at least another 2 hours each day until further notice.
The hubs usually misses seeing R by 30 minutes or so when coming home at 7:30 (except for the occasional night when R would still be up), but now he will miss him every night.
I know the hubs will do everything he can to spend as much time as possible with the baby on the weekends. I know that R will grow up confident that this daddy loves him and will always be there for him.
Still I feel sad knowing that the hubs misses out on R's snuggles, cuddles, and smiles during the week. It's the best kind after all.
Now I know what you might be thinking..."oh not another whiny military wife!"
I KNOW this is part of what we signed up for and I accept that, but that doesn't always make it easy. I am, after all, still entitled to feeling bummed now and again.
Now, with all of that said, I am still ever grateful for the many benefits of being in the service and I plan to view this as preparation for deployments. We're a strong couple and a strong family and I feel confident we'll make it through this with flying colors and will soon be moving onto the next chapter in our Navy life.
Thank you for your service dear and thank you, as always, for being such a fabulous provider for R and me. We love you always and forever.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
These are the people...
In April, we will be moving.
Where? We don't know yet.
That's the military for you. We expect it and we're okay with it.
Moving will be such a bittersweet experience though.
In some ways I'm excited to see a new part of the country (or world) and in other ways, a lot of other ways, I'm so sad to leave the amazing people we've met here.
We truly have made a "family" here with the people we've met.
These are the people I told I was pregnant, right after telling our immediate families. I knew they'd be with me every step of the way, day in and day out, through all the joys and pains of pregnancy and birth.
These are the people who cooked us dinner for a week after R's birth and after all our family went home.
These are the people I call to hang out with when I'm having a bad day and just need company.
These are the people I will be celebrating the Holidays with this year because my husband's schedule will not allow us to get home to our actual families.
These are the people that can honestly relate to each and every step of our military experience so far...the struggles, the trials, the triumphs, the late nights, the long hours, the early mornings, the impending deployments, the joy in the precious family time we do get with our respective spouses and kids.
These are the people we will never forget.
My only hope is that we have made the same lasting impression on them too.
So I raise my figurative glass to enjoying the next 6 months with our Navy "family" and looking ahead to new places and new faces while always remembering and keeping in touch with the irreplaceable friends we've made here.
Thank you all for changing our lives for the better. We love you.
Where? We don't know yet.
That's the military for you. We expect it and we're okay with it.
Moving will be such a bittersweet experience though.
In some ways I'm excited to see a new part of the country (or world) and in other ways, a lot of other ways, I'm so sad to leave the amazing people we've met here.
We truly have made a "family" here with the people we've met.
These are the people I told I was pregnant, right after telling our immediate families. I knew they'd be with me every step of the way, day in and day out, through all the joys and pains of pregnancy and birth.
These are the people who cooked us dinner for a week after R's birth and after all our family went home.
These are the people I call to hang out with when I'm having a bad day and just need company.
These are the people I will be celebrating the Holidays with this year because my husband's schedule will not allow us to get home to our actual families.
These are the people that can honestly relate to each and every step of our military experience so far...the struggles, the trials, the triumphs, the late nights, the long hours, the early mornings, the impending deployments, the joy in the precious family time we do get with our respective spouses and kids.
These are the people we will never forget.
My only hope is that we have made the same lasting impression on them too.
So I raise my figurative glass to enjoying the next 6 months with our Navy "family" and looking ahead to new places and new faces while always remembering and keeping in touch with the irreplaceable friends we've made here.
Thank you all for changing our lives for the better. We love you.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Okay, so let's try this again...
About a year and half ago I decided to start a blog. However with our new living situation (a then recent move) and becoming pregnant with our son, I lost track of the blog. Instead of starting up again on that blog, I've decided to start over completely.
Let me start by introducing myself: my name is Liz. I am a Navy wife to my handsome Sailor husband and an extremely proud mommy to our sweet baby boy, R. I feel incredibly blessed to have been given the beautiful family and life that I have and I thank God everyday for all it.
How on earth did I come up with the blog title, you say? Good question. Herons are migratory birds and that was part of the reason I picked the name "Flying Like a Heron" for the blog. As a military family, we are constantly on the move and will be until my husband either decides to rejoin the civilian world at the end of a contract or retires from the Navy. Either way, R and I are along for the adventure and will support him 100%. We haven't been in the Navy too long yet; however, I can tell you from the experiences we've had thus far that being a military family isn't for the faint of heart. It's hard having your loved one gone on birthdays, holidays, and special occasions. It's also hard having them work strange hours that the rest of the Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00 world isn't working. I will tell you though that it is worth it. We are so blessed to have a steady paycheck and a place to live. I'm also very happy to report that my husband is doing what he loves to do and THAT alone makes every moment worth it.
I guess the other thing you should know about us before divulging too much further into our lives is that we are into natural living. To us this means that we eat mostly organic or natural foods and try to avoid chemicals and preservatives. We also take vitamins and use homeopathic remedies and believe strongly in natural birthing, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and making our own baby food (when the time comes for R to start solids). This will more than likely be a reoccurring theme throughout my posts so I may as well be forthright with it now.
Here's to hoping that try #2 is a success with the blog.
Let me start by introducing myself: my name is Liz. I am a Navy wife to my handsome Sailor husband and an extremely proud mommy to our sweet baby boy, R. I feel incredibly blessed to have been given the beautiful family and life that I have and I thank God everyday for all it.
How on earth did I come up with the blog title, you say? Good question. Herons are migratory birds and that was part of the reason I picked the name "Flying Like a Heron" for the blog. As a military family, we are constantly on the move and will be until my husband either decides to rejoin the civilian world at the end of a contract or retires from the Navy. Either way, R and I are along for the adventure and will support him 100%. We haven't been in the Navy too long yet; however, I can tell you from the experiences we've had thus far that being a military family isn't for the faint of heart. It's hard having your loved one gone on birthdays, holidays, and special occasions. It's also hard having them work strange hours that the rest of the Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00 world isn't working. I will tell you though that it is worth it. We are so blessed to have a steady paycheck and a place to live. I'm also very happy to report that my husband is doing what he loves to do and THAT alone makes every moment worth it.
I guess the other thing you should know about us before divulging too much further into our lives is that we are into natural living. To us this means that we eat mostly organic or natural foods and try to avoid chemicals and preservatives. We also take vitamins and use homeopathic remedies and believe strongly in natural birthing, breastfeeding, cloth diapering, and making our own baby food (when the time comes for R to start solids). This will more than likely be a reoccurring theme throughout my posts so I may as well be forthright with it now.
Here's to hoping that try #2 is a success with the blog.
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