Friday, June 3, 2011

The Downside of Military Life

In many of my blog posts I've talked about all the ups and downs to being a military wife. There are definitely days where I thoroughly enjoy this life and am glad it's ours but, then, there are other days where I dislike it and wish we could be a "normal" couple. Today is one of those down days.
Being a military wife takes a lot of adjusting. You have to adjust to often giving up your dream career for your husband's, you have to adjust to moving every so many years and making house after house a home, you have to adjust to being away from family when you really wish you could get a hug. As time has gone by, I've gotten better at making these adjustments. I think F would agree with me when I say I've come a long way from the girl that moved here in May of last year. However, the one thing I haven't adjusted to is the friendships of military life. What I mean by this is I haven't adjusted to how many amazing people you can meet but then how quickly they can be gone. I understand that PCSing is a normal part of military life, but that doesn't necessarily make it easy. Since PCSing here myself last May, I've met some amazing people. Some of the girls I would talk to have PCSed since I've been here, but it has never been super upsetting because it's been girls I've hung out with once or twice and weren't extremely close to. In other words, I've yet to say goodbye to someone really close.
Next Spring, my neighbor will be PCSing. I would most certainly say she is the person I've become closest with of all the ladies I've met here. I've thought about her moving away and it's really sad but I figure I'll worry about it when the time comes. The one saving grace I have is that we will be moving out of base housing into a rental house for our last two years here so I can remind myself that she wouldn't be next door anyways and hope that helps the process. However, that's still a year away so I've pushed it to the back of my mind. However, today, another close friend of mine text me to inform me her husband got orders........to Guam. She is extremely excited so, of course, I'm happy for her but I can't help feeling upset as this is the first close friend I have to say goodbye to. They have to report by November, far sooner than I expected. This girl and I have some amazing memories together, including my wedding and her husband's homecoming from his first deployment. It makes me sad that she won't be here for more memories, like our first children, my husband's first deployment, etc. I know this is all part of the military life but it's one downside that I'm not sure I will ever fully adjust to.



1 comment:

  1. That takes a lot of getting used to. At my 1st base almost all of my friends were civilians, but overseas most people were there only 2 years, so there was a constant turnover and that was so hard. I stopped going to say good-bye at the airport because it was too hard. Thank goodness we have email and FB to keep in touch, but it's so hard to say good-bye to good friends who got you through a lot. But on the plus side, we get to meet a lot of people and now, pretty much no matter where you get stationed, you'll either know someone or have a friend of a friend there, so that helps a little. It's just hard to have a friend move away.

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