The military wife

I received this in a forward, and I thought this is one that sums it all up. It's a pretty good description of the military wife.

To all the military wives.

To all the wives who hold it together and those of us who
on occasion lose it...Thank you for being so wonderful!

They may look different and each is wonderfully unique.

But what do they have in common? They have this in common:
Lots of 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 or deployment; waiting for reunion; waiting for phones calls; 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 can balance a checkbook, 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.

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.
She is fiercely IN-dependent and somewhat hasty; Leaps into decorating, leadership, volunteering, career alternatives, churches and friendships.

She doesn't have 15 years to get to know people. Her roots are short but flexible. She 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 and accept offers of friendship and favors and 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' -- he can't decide to quit -- he's on-call for his country 24/7, but for the military wife, he's the most unreliable guy in town!
His language is foreign:
TDY
PCS
OPR
ACC
BDU
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.

Military Wife has her moments ---- She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and 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, and 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 be cause 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.

My favorite time of year

Well, it's time to play catch up. Every time Doug comes home, he brings Tristan a present. This time it was a big gun with a scope on it. The main part was that it had a scope or a pipe as Tristan calls it. I'm not sure who's played with it more, Tristan or Doug.

We went to Pekin for Thanksgiving. Our trip was nicer this time, only two stops on the way up and one on the way back. Gavin is becoming a good traveler. He turned five months on Thanksgiving and decided to start rolling over, back to tummy. But he's forgot how to roll tummy to back, so he gets stuck. He was a pretty happy boy though, more people around to hold him and all.

Tristan's big idea of something to do was to go ice skating. It's been YEAR's since I've ice skated and I'm happy to say I didn't fall once. I almost did but I just pulled the muscles in my back doing that wiggle arm wave to keep from falling. Tristan got to push around buckets to keep from falling. He had a great time and even skated a little bit with no buckets.

Now that we're back home, it's just been busy getting ready for Christmas. I love Christmas. Decorating, cookies, shopping, Christmas music... Tristan decorated his tree and we got our tree yesterday. We have more outside decorating to do and of course lots of shopping. I'm actually having a hard time thinking of things for the kids. Tristan has everything and Gavin has all his old toys. Between the two of them we have a least a quarter of a toys r us store. No matter what, December will just go to fast and I will never get everything done that I want to. But it's still my favorite time of year.