Hurry up and wait...

...and wait.  And wait.  And wait some more.  That's probably one of the first rules military spouses need to learn if they want to survive the military lifestyle.  Hurry up and wait.  Getting Michael signed up for the USAF was chaotic and a whirlwind of a few weeks...and then we waited 4 months for him to ship off to BMT.  Now we're waiting, ever so patiently, to find out the next stage. 

He submitted his "dream sheet" last week--the list of 5 bases he would ultimately like to get stationed at this first go-around.  Note that DREAM should be in bold, italicized, and flashing in neon color because it is definitely just that.  A dream.  We may not end up at any of those 5 bases (FYI: they would be Eglin AFB & Hulbert Field in FL, Luke AFB & Davis-Monthan AFB in AZ & Dyess AFB, TX) at all.  So now we wait...until April or May? 

This hurry up and wait business will be a trademark of my life for at least the next six years so I'm working on suppressing my not-so-hidden control-freak side.  It's definitely going to take some getting used to. 

But I do have one tool under my belt that spouses in the past were lacking--the internet.  It never ceases to amaze me, the plethora of information you can find on this vast world wide web.  I don't know how wives did this in the past--leaving their families and friends behind--without the kind of support system that I now have at my fingertips.  I have access to military spouse forums that are full of women who've been there and done that...so no question ever has to go unanswered.  And there are so many wives out there, just like me, who are sharing their experiences via blog.

I don't have to do this alone, and because of that, I think I can handle this hurry up and wait lifestyle just fine.