Tag Archives: military spouse

The Not-So-Glamorous Aspect of Military Life

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If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.
~Attributed to Claudia Ghandi

As much as I love Army Wives, and as much as Hollywood glamorizes the life of a military spouse, it’s just not like that. Sure, we do get to see our men in hot uniforms and there are the joyous homecomings. And sure, you do usually get to become good friends with the spouses around you. But there are also times when your hot man in uniform is nowhere around, joyous homecomings seem worlds away and you are too new, or just haven’t met enough spouses yet.

I’ve been here in Washington for nine months (okay, well, 6 1/2 since I was gone for 2 1/2 months at Fort Meade). I’ve met some great wives and even one, who is quickly becoming my best friend. But she has a two year old and a two month old. So it’s not easy for her to drop everything and go if something happens.

You see, I blacked out today at the grocery store. As in, I was getting ready to pay for my stuff and the wave of blackness just roared in and I had to sit down before I fell. I vaguely remember hearing the cashier call for a manager and one shopper stopped by and told me I needed to put my head between my legs (though I know this, there was no way my legs were functioning at this point). A manager (or three, ha!) came over and were fussing over me. Luckily, I was feeling better… enough to start getting embarrassed.

They brought me some water and asked me if they could call someone to come and get me. That’s when the waterworks started. Because Huzzy wasn’t here to come and get me. And because the only other people I knew I could call have their own stuff to deal with (the two year old and newborn and another family that has four kids). I was also near the base, so they would have had to drive a short distance to where I was, and then a 40-45 minute to my house and then the same distance back. I couldn’t ask anyone to do that.

They asked if they could call me a taxi. Um, no. Do you have any idea how much a taxi would cost for that distance? Besides, I knew I was feeling better. So I just went out to my car and waited a bit before leaving.

I was fine. I made it home with no problem.

And before you worry about me, I’m fine. It all started with me having two fillings on Tuesday and I started feeling nauseous that evening. I was fine the next day until the evening and then I’ve been feeling icky ever since. I’ve had a headache, too, and my gums have just been ACHING. Even 800mg of ibuprofin haven’t helped.

So I went back to the dentist today. I totally wish Huzzy was here to drive me because I wasn’t feeling well.  The dentist ended up saying he didn’t believe the nausea and headaches were linked to the fillings, but that my gums WERE inflamed quite a bit. He rinsed out (BENEATH my gum’s ya’ll… can we say OUCH?!) the area with an antibiotic rinse and instructed me to rinse at home with salt water. Yum. I’m also supposed to watch for any additional swelling. If it swells more, I’m to call their answering service this weekend. If it isn’t better by Monday, I’m to come in again.

Did I mention I have a sincere fear of the dentist? Going in twice in one week (both of which were PAINFUL) was horrendous.

So yeah, military life isn’t glamorous. Don’t believe Hollywood. They never get it right.

So what was your least glamorous moment as a military spouse?

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #5

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A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
~Arnold Glasow


MilSpouse Friday Fill-In
(please feel free to use this!)

I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers. So I created a weekly meme. Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday (like today!) and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky below so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs. Please leave a comment too! And please feel free to use the button above!

(Please forgive me if I can’t get to visit everyone’s blogs the next few weeks. I get only a few days with Huzzy–first since early spring!–before I head off to two months of school for the Navy on the opposite side of the country… I’m gonna be a bit busy!)

1. Besides the horizontal mambo, what do you miss most when your spouse is deployed?
Oh gosh, I can never stick to one on my own questions! I miss laying my head on his shoulder at night. I miss him grabbing my hand every time we get in a vehicle and holding it no matter if he is driving or if I am. And I miss back rubs. Oh my Lord does that man give fantastic back rubs.

2. What do you miss least?
The absolute thing I DO NOT MISS is him snotting in the shower. It’s disgusting. I hate it. Don’t miss it. Drives me up the wall.

3. You only get three crayons to finish your picture… which three do you choose and why?
I would use yellow, blue (and not because they are Navy colors) and pink. Yellow is sunshine and everything light to me. Blue is a color that can represent everything from sadness to a gorgeous summer sky… from the calm ocean waters to raging winter storms. And pink, well, I love pink. It’s girly and cheery and reminds me of flowers and everything good.

4. If you could have your own fragrance, what would it be called?
I would call it Summer Lovin’. It would be a mixture of orange blossoms, amber, orchid and some more citrus like honeydew.

5. If the shoes make the man (or woman), what do your shoes say about you right now?
I’m not wearing shoes right now. So does that mean I’m nothing? LOL… well, my socks are white and clean, so I guess that means I’m clean and practical? I’m very comfy in my home (when my dumb @ss landlords aren’t doing their “monthly” inspections). But generally my shoes are practical and comfy… which is the type of person I am. I do love my girly shoes though… so practical, comfy and girly would describe me!

Please don’t forget to add your blog link to Mr. Linky below. But also if you are not participating in MilSpouse Friday Fill-In this week, please do not put your link on there… I will remove it. It is unfair to others who do participate.

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #4: Questions for Tomorrow

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A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
~Herm Albright, quoted in Reader’s Digest, June 1995

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In
(please feel free to use this!)

I love learning more about my fellow MilSpouse bloggers! MilSpouse Friday Fill-in is taking off even better than I could have ever hoped. I learned so much about my fellow bloggers and can’t wait to learn more… and hopefully even MORE will join in as we go.

Here’s the skinny for newcomers about MilSpouse Friday Fill-ins (and when I say MilSpouse, I mean significant others, too!):

Each week, I’ll post a list of questions on Thursday (so you can have your blog ready on Friday). Come back here on Friday and enter your blog post into Mr. Linky so others know who else participated and we can all visit other blogs.  And please feel free to use the button above!

This week’s questions are:

  1. What food reminds you of your spouse?
  2. Who would you rather sit next to in a cross-country plane ride: an irritating non-stop talker, or a quiet stare-er?
  3. What are your best tips on how to save money?
  4. What is your favorite summer memory?
  5. Do you believe in ghosts?

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with tomorrow!

Please note that this post (and tomorrow’s) is auto-scheduled because I’m supposed to be in South Korea right now!

The Navy is Going to Beat the Type A Personality Out of Me Yet

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The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family.
~Lee Iacocca

We military spouses all know that the only thing you can count on is that everything will change when it comes to the military. But sometimes, it gets ridiculous.

I’m a Type A person. Always have been. I’m not the really uptight kind, but I like to plan things out. And I don’t mind if there is more than one way of how things might go (see, not up-tight Type A), but I like to know all the possibilities and plan for all contingencies (there’s the Type A again).

I haven’t been posting much about the craziness that has been happening in the Wuzzy Household (Wifey/Huzzy… I just made that up. Yes, I’m a dork). Mostly because I every time I sat down to write about it, things changed.

Let’s see, back when Huzzy was still here. I was supposed to be sent active duty to Hawaii for six months. Yeah, torture, I know. So we spent days that should have been spent enjoying one another (since Huzzy was deploying soon), preparing the household to have neither of us around. We had one friend who was going to watch the dogs until he moved in June and then we were going to fly Huzzy’s brother out here to watch the dogs until Huzzy came back. Because, of course, I wasn’t supposed to be back until October.

That was the beginning of April. We were told that I’d need to leave by 30APR, or, at earliest, on 15APR.  On 29MAR, I found out I’d have to leave in four days on 1APR (no joke!)…

Cue ensuing chaos.

Then, on 31MAR–the day before I was supposed to leave–it was all canceled due to lack of funding.

Now that Huzzy is gone, I’m sitting on possibly being sent active duty again. This time, to San Diego and then on a ship that will deploy to several countries in an international networking mission.  I’ve known about this for 2-3 weeks. Yet, I still don’t know if I’m going. And I would have to report 15 days from today.

People are telling me that they’d be frantic with not knowing what is going on. Right now, yeah, sometimes I feel that way and sometimes I’m like “eh, whatever happens.”

I also recently learned that the unit I drill with in Northwestern Washington will be dissolved and I will soon be drilling in San Diego. Eh, just another change.

I’m not there yet, but between being a Navy wife and a Reservist, the Navy is eventually going to beat the Type A personality out of me.