As the year comes to a close, its normal to look back on all that has been accomplished or what we overcame. Military spouses are particularly good about measuring years by number of duty stations, deployments, separations, and other crazy things that occur in our lives. My life as a milspouse changed a few times this year, as I’m sure yours did. Here’s what my fellow milspouse friends and I put together.
The Good – We’ll start with the positives. It seems as though milspouses are getting stronger, braver, and not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Here are a few examples.
1. Gail stayed in one place long enough to become a foster parent.
2. Rachel found the courage to go back to school after 15 years.
3. Mindy feels like it got harder to get a job as a milspouse. Moving didn’t help, but she did find entry into a new program at her new duty station to further her career.
4. One family has moved twice, with a TDY en route, putting their son in three separate schools this year.
5. Asia left active duty and became the spouse, beginning her milspouse journey.
6. Cassandra is grateful to mark this year as the first time her husband was home for the holidays since her son was born.
7. Technology has brought milspouses closer together, e-newsletters, Facebook groups, and Google docs have made exchanging information and staying organized easier.