One Year

The anniversary was last week, but I can't let the event pass without some sort of recognition on here.  We've officially been a military family for one year now!

Honestly, it feels like longer.  You know how people always say time flies?  So not the case here.  It didn't seem to drag either, but I just can't imagine that my life has changed so very much in only a year's time.

One year ago, Michael was at BMT.  Our little family got the first taste of what military life would be like:  constant training and separation.  Those six months apart were hard on all of us (especially because it was only suppose to be five months initially), but we made it through.

Now Michael's an Airman First Class, and is finally almost done with all of his initial training.  If you ask him, I bet he'll say this year hasn't flown by either.  He is pretty sick of training by now.  He'll be glad when he can just go to work and do his job I think!

The move to Kansas, our first duty station, marked the next leg of our military initiation.  I still can't say that I'm glad to be stationed here since it's nowhere close to where we wanted to end up, but the people here are amazing.  If there is one thing that I absolutely love about Kansas, it would be our friends.  Leaving this base and these people will probably be one of the most heart-wrenching things ever.

Back when I first started this blog (that anniversary is quickly approaching also!), I talked about what I was learning as a new military wife.  Things I thought that military wives should know.  Like understanding "hurry up and wait" and knowing that nothing is ever guaranteed until it happens--and even then, things change. 

Now that I have a year under my belt as a military wife, I've definitely added to my store of knowledge.  I know what to expect when we PCS next time--like, I need to breathe down the necks of the packers and movers the entire time they are near my stuff.  Also, military friends are family.  Not like family.  They are family.  They are your lifeline when you need some help, some support or just someone to text at the end of the day. 

I've learned to be more fearless.  I've learned that you can't always plan everything in your life, and sometimes you just have to let go of the reins...even if it hurts a little to do so.  But most importantly?

I've learned that to be a military wife you have to be strong.  But that's it.  All these stereotypes about military wives are silly and somewhat annoying and extremely unfair.  We come in all shapes and sizes, from all different backgrounds, and to expect us to all be the same is just ridiculous.  You don't have to be this stone-cold woman who never feels sad when her husband is gone, even though "you knew what you signed up for".  You don't have to be Susie Homemaker or join a Spouse Club or attend every Squadron event.  You should probably love your husband and you should definitely be on board with his career choice.  But those are qualities all wives should possess.

It's been a long year full of adventures, sadness, craziness, laughter and unexpected moments.  But it was a great year!