Engage. Educate. Encourage. EMPOWER.
I start every military move (PCS = Permanent Change of Station) the same way: I purge, sort, and organize.
Just a couple of days ago, I found myself up to my eyeballs in all of our memories from our storage closet. We’re getting ready for another PCS in just a few short weeks, so I went to work.
I was surrounded by pictures from high school, trinkets and keepsakes from growing up, and so much military memorabilia.
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I’m not one to get fired up and rant about stuff (and really, compared to some of the hoopla we see on social media, I’m not sure if what’s coming is even classified as a rant). But, there’s one response that people give me when I’m trying to articulate the struggles of military marriage that grinds my gears:
“Well, you knew what you were getting into when you married him.”
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There’s something about a permission slip.
I remember my days in school when bringing home a permission slip was a thing of excitement. It usually meant a cool field trip or new experience that was so out of the ordinary we needed a parent’s permission to participate in said adventure.
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If we based our ideas about marriage on the movies, we would undoubtedly be shocked to discover the stuff in our everyday married lives that never shows up on the big screen: squeezing the toothpaste tube from the middle instead of the end, the hazards of nearly “falling in” when going to the bathroom in the middle of the night because someone left the seat up, how the bread is never sealed with the twisty-tie but instead is spun and tucked back under… Yeah, not the romantic homecoming kissy-kissy moments we see in the cinema.
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People might think I’m a little odd. Not, like, Steve Urkel odd (child of the ’80s here; however, I don’t look good in suspenders), but I like to think more “unique.” I do things that make good stories. Because, why not?
I’m not just “different” because I went to (and subsequently graduated from) Missouri Auction School during Spring Break my senior year of college. It isn’t that I wore duct tape to senior prom in high school (it was for a scholarship contest… don’t judge. And yes, we rocked it). My uniqueness doesn’t come from my love of inky pens and journals or my affinity for analogies.
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Take a quick lap around any bookstore and you will undoubtedly run into the Relationship Section. Thousands of books have been written on the topic of all things marriage…probably because it’s one of the most simultaneously challenging and rewarding life experiences to which we’re called. When we add in the “military” factor to marriage, that presents an entirely different chapter of information!
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The alarm went off. My bleary eyes slowly focused on the time—3:45 a.m.
There are few things that will get me up before the sun: my crying baby, saying yet another see-ya-later to my beloved infantryman before a duty-required departure, or in this case, an opportunity to screen the new Warner Bros. movie, “12 Strong,” in Hollywood, California.
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Happy New Year, folks!
If you’ve been here longer than 14 seconds, you know I’m a sucker for lists, dreams and plans. Naturally, the new year brings a great opportunity to reflect on the past year and dream for the future. It’s a perfect time to set and achieve some new goals!
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There’s something special about this time of year.
There’s combat-boot footprints of mud in our kitchen. Random winter military clothing piled in seemingly every corner of the house. Faded and mismatched green socks are hung by the chimney with care. MRE’s are roasting on an open fire.
Quite picturesque, yes? Okay, maybe not exactly.
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