Ten Years Have Really Gone By

Yes, that title is a favorite Less Than Jake lyric of mine. But this month, it is most definitely true. February holds my favorite day of the whole year—the day my husband and I met. And this year, we’ll have known each other for 10 whole years. More than a quarter of our lives, by just a smidge. Gosh, I love that so very much. Congratulations to us!

Lucky for us, we chose to celebrate with a staycation last year—before COVID really hit full swing. This year? Even if COVID wasn’t lingering, things still change. This is the military, you guys (as if you didn’t know). And, at least for right now, that’s what I am thinking about—change—and not in the most positive of mindsets either.

This year, February is also month one of “Panama Schedule Shift Work 2.0” (and…night shift). Congratulations to us! Sheesh. I hope you laughed. I mean, I did. While crying. I don’t even know for sure how much of it was laughing and how much of it was crying, but that about wraps up every stressed-out emotion that could leak out of me when I started thinking about this “new normal” for us.

It’s version 2.0, which surely you have guessed, means we have gone through this type of schedule before. I don’t expect that to make it any easier, though. But there it is. Year 10. Plus, you betcha that the anniversary of when we met falls on one of his new “on” weekends.

Really, I don’t think my husband minds this kind of schedule too much. The biggest downfall is that I don’t work odd hours. I work a regular, daytime, Monday-through-Friday job. And, I love my job. So, while it’d be nice to just mimic his schedule, it’s not happening, and we’re in for a good amount of time apart even though he’s not deployed or off at a training or any other also less-than-desirable situation.

I’m sure we’ll both adjust just fine. We did it before. But, right now, on night one, I can’t say I’m there yet. There will probably be chocolate. I’ll likely fall asleep on the couch. I do wish I knew how to flip a switch and already be past the adjustment phase.

Instead, I’ll tell you something my good friend’s mother told her to do when she was upset or having a bad day. Say “thank you” a certain number of times. I think it was maybe five or seven. But since it’s the big 10 year for Husband and me, I’m going to go with 10 thank you’s and do my best to frame them in the context of thank-goodness-for-our-military-lifestyle.

1. Thank you that we got to meet! If the military hadn’t placed him in Tampa, Florida, where I was living, we might have missed each other.

2. Thank you that I am writing. If he wasn’t in the military, would I really be writing about Army wife life? Or working as a writer and editor for a military magazine here on Okinawa?

3. Thank you that we are living on Okinawa. That definitely would never have happened without the military.

4. Thank you for the friends we’ve met. Military affiliated and civilians alike; we are so blessed to have met good people wherever we’ve landed.

5. Thank you for the boot snakes. I’ll let you read and enjoy that one for yourself.

6. Thank you—to night shift specifically—I might get to take the car more often now.

7. Thank you that he is home.

8. Thank you for growing my vocabulary. DSN, Panama schedule, and such utterings like “Why don’t they just call Charlie?!” are no longer surprises.

9. Thank you for installation services like the commissary, mail room, and Exchange. They’ve all managed to bring me some good stories.

10. Thank you, Husband, for your service always. I hope your night goes well, and I love you so much.