Saturday, December 27, 2008
2 Years Ago Today
The Man's ship came home for the last time.
Standing on a cliff in San Diego, I watched him come home to us. First a tiny spec on the horizon.
Then the outline of their ship. We were done. Putting the military behind us.Never thought I'd miss so many things about that life.
I wouldn't trade it though, cause I have him, every day, every night.
He never misses anything anymore.
But those 10 years were worth it.
Labels: military life as a wife
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Idiots......
It was said in passing.........and it wasn't personal, so I shouldn't take it personal. But dang it, when a civilian, who has never served their country other than paying taxes, comments on the military, it's usually wrong."At least in the Navy, you never had to worry about him not coming home alive"
WTF?
After sharing a piece of my mind, I sat down and went back to work on a project. But I kept thinking about it.
They have no clue........just because the Navy tends to be ship bound doesn't mean there aren't risks and danger involved......
I remember the night I got a call that he was chemically burned while training a young kid on some equipment. The kid messed with something he shouldn't have and The Man pushed him out of the way when it burst and took the burn. Six weeks later when he walked off that ship still wearing bandages, my heart stopped beating. Until he smiled.
There was the deployment that I got a call telling me that he volunteered for an off boat mission in an area where they were trying to peace keep and would be back in a week. A WEEK. I can't remember anything about that week, except that he finally called.
Or there's the story that still gives me nightmares. When he called me from the ship one night during a brief underway. His voice thick and low, to tell me he loved me and would always love me and kiss the babies for him. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know something was wrong but I put on a happy face and coo-ed at him and sent him back to work. Then I took the phone outside and sat for hours smoking ciggie after ciggie until he called the next morning. Seems there was a problem with a piece of equipment that they lower from a man sized hole in the bottom of the ship, seems that it was stuck and water was flooding the room too fast for the pumps to pull water. Problem was, they really needed this equipment to work. So they locked (please read that again, LOCKED) my husband and one of his kids, and his LT in the room. It was either fix it or just let the room flood. So behind a locked and sealed door, they worked until the water was neck high before they finally manhandled the gear into place and the pumps could dry the room.
Over ten years, you collect those war stories up and put them away safe where you can use them to reassure yourself that yes, you've had worse times. And this too shall pass.
Military life is dangerous for everyone. Pilots are at risk, people who work on the flight deck are at risk, hell even cooks in the galley are at risk.
Broad general conclusions by idiots really piss me off.....
Pardon me, while I go put my soapbox away.
Be back this afternoon.....
Labels: Married Life, military life as a wife
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Yep, Gonna Pimp Them Out
Once again I was left feeling miserably unworthy......as I can't carry a tune in a bucket, much less on a piano, xylophone, or guitar......The Man was gearing up for a business trip out of town and instead of matching his own socks and packing his "undies" he had a fam jam session going.
Princess has her own guitar and is slowly learning the chords, while Duchess has the fake piano and just makes a lot of noise......me, I was reading J.D. Robb, get off my butt.
Then they switched up instruments to make things interesting........
I love the whole family time thing. Our concept of family time while in the military was either eating together or running the necessary errands.......but now, we're really getting in some good family time together.......So in the interest of self-preservation, I'm now booking the Hope4AHeadache Band out on Friday nights, sorry , we have church on Sat. nights so that is out........first come first served.....
Labels: family smamily, military life as a wife
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
New Paths
Having just celebrated our six month anniversary Post-Navy, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the differences between Navy life (military life) and civilian life.Leaving the military was never something we seriously considered until The Man was just shy of his nine year mark. We had already done two dutys and were looking at choices for our third when bam! it hit him upside the head. A little voice that said "hey there is life outside of the Navy, life where you can see your kids everyday, you've given them almost ten years and maybe we can move on and be proud of that, somewhere else."
That little voice turned into a roar and before we knew it, we were civilian job hunting, attempting to turn ten years of military experience into a civilian resume (OMG, you have no clue how hard that was, just try googling military resumes! Civilian employers can't read them darn things!) and attempting to ascertain life outside of the Navy.
That was not easy. For instance, we were leaving behind:
insurance for the whole family, at no cost
reduced daycare costs on base
the uber grocery store where everything is about 20% cheaper than civilian stores
the sweet department store , read above line, same thing
military housing: reduced rent in great military only communities, people in the same boat as you, no pun intended
life insurance on The Man
However, we were also leaving:
6 month plus deployments with contact only via email or occassional phone calls
Duty nights every three to six nights where The Man was required to spend 24 hours on the ship away from us
Missed holidays, birthdays, and special occassions like oh I don't know, births!
Navy having total control of The Man and therefore the family
Having six months of civilian life under my belt, I will say this: it was the best move for us.
We were able to pick any location in the US and move there. We were able to find great housing in a good neighborhood and get the kids involved into the local scenes. I breath very deeply every morning when I get up cause I smell his aftershave. He may already be gone for the day but he was there and there is more proof in the dirty clothes on the floor. Cause he is there at home everyday!
He is able to be more involved in our family, he picks up kids, drops off kids, runs to the grocery store (can't recall him ever volunteering to go to the commissary) and does the errands on his days off. He is not just passing through our house anymore or as Duchess used to say "visiting". He lives there full time. He can be found taking the family shooting, fishing or just hanging out. He even cleans and cooks some too.
Yeah, we are truly loving civilian life. Now a better question is would we trade our military life for the past ten years? NEVER. That was an experience of a lifetime and I'm taking so much with me from it.
Labels: About me, family smamily, military life as a wife, The Never Ending Move
