A Time for Change

If you follow me on twitter you may have noticed that Eric is home. I was so nervous we wouldn’t go back to being “us” when we were together again – how foolish of me, I so quickly forget him and I have lived physically separate lives for the better part of this past year because things are so boringly awesomely normal.

2013 brings the last full year of military service for my husband and hopefully a few exciting changes for us as a family. Him and I both knew we would never return to Wisconsin if we could help it so in order to share our lives with our family and friends I have created a new family blog. I consider all of you reading here friends of mine and hope you continue reading and commenting over at our new home.

https://thefootprintsonthemoon.wordpress.com/

Origami Owl Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Maureen, please check your inbox!

Origami Owl Review and Giveaway

Have you guys heard of Origami Owl? The social selling company is quickly gaining popularity across the country and earlier this month I received my first Origami Owl necklace! The company was founded in 2010 by 14 year old Isabella Weems who wanted to raise enough money to buy a car by her 16th birthday. What an amazing feat to accomplish while still in high school!

Origami Owl’s Living Lockets is the company’s flagship line and they recently released their new Tagged collection. The entire line is completely made in the US and combines a variety of inspiration tags with natural stones and accent pieces.

I chose the “Love” tag along with the June pearl to represent Eric and I’s wedding anniversary month. I love it! The necklace came in a cute fabric bag and I have already worn it with many outfits. It is a great piece for work and the pearl matches everything. The chain is shorter and it falls perfectly for a button up or sweater.

Sara, a fellow blogging friend, has recently signed on as a designer with Origami Owl. If you would like more information or have any questions about the jewelry you can find her on her blog Sara & Rigel.

Interested in owning your own Tagged necklace? One reader will win a matching piece with the “Love” tag and June pearl. The giveaway will end at 12am EST on 2/23/2013. Click the link below to enter!

Origami Owl Giveaway

I was given one Origami Owl Tagged necklace to review but the opinions stated here are completely my own. 

So Close

I was going to hold off writing about the deployment again until my husband is home because that’s how painstakingly close we are. I have known an estimated date of arrival since the end of December/beginning of January and have been avoiding any thoughts about it until recently to help prevent the inevitable time warp-like slow down that happens when you are anticipating something exciting.

Before I met Eric, I didn’t know what it meant to truly miss someone. The first weekend he was gone was so hard and I cried so many tears over the unimaginable nine months I had to endure without him. With his homecoming “date” quickly approaching I finally let myself start to get excited, to begin the things around the house that needed to be done, and to look at what I had to “get through” until he was home.

This morning I found out I need to add on about eight days to my countdown. Eight days might not seem like a long time but right here, right now it feels like an eternity. Twelve hours later and I still can’t begin to proces those eight extra days. They hurt to talk to about, they hurt to think about.

I just want him home.

Taking A Stand

I really wanted to write this last night but I knew I needed to sleep on it first and wake up with a fresh mind and a better mood. So here goes…

I was in an angry mood yesterday. I was a little over tired, work was a little crazy at the end of the day, and I’m a litte impatient as we crawl to the end of this deployment. All of those little things, and a lady who doesn’t know how to drive, put me on edge. I even thought to myself, I shouldn’t be driving right now because I am that angry.

Fort Benning is transitioning to an automated gate system but the communication to the ID cardholders has been terrible. After being told by the FRSA that the system isn’t going into affect anytime soon (not his fault, that’s what he was probably told) a wife posted to our facebook page a link to a post by the “Military Housing Issues and Concerns” facebook page. For those of you who don’t know, housing is not run my the military and this is not an official military page.

That being said – they posted an announcement about the new system that is being implemented well, next month. In order to use the new system we are required to go register our ID cards, in person, on Fort Benning. Sponsors, aka the active duty soldiers, are not allowed to do this for their family members. The hours to do this? Monday to Friday 9-12 and 1-430.

I am overly opinionated and made a comment about the hours being too limited for those of us who work a normal work day (i.e, not a 3rd shift). My comment was not rude and I obviously understand that this announcement was posted on a page that has nothing to do with the new ID system. I was actually hoping to find a little agreement in the absurdity of trying to get thousands and thousands of people registered in a few weeks during only a 7 1/2 hour window in the middle of the afternoon on weekdays.

A back and forth started between myself and who I quickly found out is a former soldier who runs the page. I said a few things I should not have (the worst being “thanks for your smart ass response”) but I later went back and deleted those things I said out of absolute anger.

What I wanted to share out of this long-winded story is this:

We, as in the spouses, should not have to fight to have our own careers. It is 2013 and I thought we were beyond this. While I do regret responding so quickly and not thinking before I reacted, I am not sorry I stood up for what I believe is right. Women wouldn’t have the right to vote if we didn’t stand up and speak. This issue is quite petty compared to the profound women’s rights movement but it’s still something. 

Not a single person on that page came out and agreed with me. There are 715 people that like that page. To say I was a little shocked would be an understatement. I started to wonder if I was out of line, perhaps it was crazy of me to think that I should have to ask my boss at my civilian boss if I could have off for yet another thing for the Army. Not until I posted that same picture to my facebook page did I have someone agree that the man who runs that page was out of line.

Are you a working military spouse? Do you think we make sacrifices in our own careers because of what our spouse does for a living?

Teeter Totters

Things have been a bit quiet around here lately but head on over to check out the awesome new NextGen Milspouse site and read my guest post about teeter totters! Wait, what? You’ll just have to go read it!

Moments

Deployments are hard. I didn’t cry until the night before when we were laying in bed together, the silence suddenly broken by the thought I had been pushing away for so long. This will be the last night I sleep next to my husband for nine months. I didn’t want to let myself drift off to sleep. I watched him for what felt like hours, blanketed in the darkness of shadows cast from the peak of street light coming through our curtains while he slept. I knew this moment – the sound of him breathing, the brush of his arm as he turned over, the weight of his body next to mine – would be all I had when I crawled into bed that next night and I tried so hard to drink it all in.

The next day I cried once before we left the house, we were in the living room and he started gathering his things. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t physically hold it in, my eyes burned so badly trying to fight back the tears. The car ride was awkward. Every mile brought us further from home and closer to goodbye. Watching him walk away across that field as I stood next to the car with tears spilling down my cheeks and blurring my vision is still a moment I can’t think about easily.

Our house was so still when I got home but certain places burned with the absence of him. Where we ate the Chinese food we had ordered for lunch, where he left his cell phone on the counter, where he pulled me into a tight hug as we stood next to the couch. Oh how deafening silence can be.

Routine soon replaced the absence and days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. I’ll soon be standing with the other anxious wives, waiting for our husbands to walk off of that plane that took them so far away from home.

Looking back on that night before he left I realize I can’t remember. I can’t remember what it sounds like when he sleeps, what it feels like when he brushes up against me in the middle of the night.

It’s okay. I can’t wait to discover those moments all over again.

Dress Pants Dilemma

While I was home over holidays I stopped in to Banana Republic because I had a serious need for more dress pants for work. I picked up two pairs for a little over $60 a pair. I wore them each twice before I washed them and when I went to put on one of the pair on Monday morning…crap, too short! They shrunk, even though I washed and dried them according to instruction. I actually washed and dried them on lower settings than instructed.

So my question for you, lovely reader, do you have a favorite brand of dress pants that hold up well? It would be even better if they stayed pretty wrinkle free because I am lazy and don’t iron.

Falling Into Place

My biggest struggle with being married to the military, and in life in general, is making peace with the unknowns. I am a planner and like to know what the future holds. These past two years I’ve become better about rolling with the punches and letting what happens, happen.

With Eric’s end of service date approaching and our plans to start a family set I’m itching to have at least a general sense of direction for us.

After a few conversations over Facebook chat, because that’s where all important discussions should take place, Eric and I have a road map of sorts for the next two years.

And, breathe out. I feel so much better knowing that we aren’t heading into 2014 with two potential major changes – a baby and an unemployed husband – and figuring it out as we go. Yes, I know there will be bumps along the way and not all will work out as planned, but at least we now have a destination in mind.

What are these grandiose plans, you ask? Number one and the biggest of all is to start growing our family. Next is the decision to move when our lease is up in July. I really hate that we do not have any outdoor space so I am going to look at a nicer apartment complex tonight and another one on Saturday. And finally, Eric is going to start working towards his bachelor’s degree when he gets home. I want him to be college-educated and I want him to take advantage of his GI Bill as he does not have the option to pass it along to our children. While he is in school I will continue working until mid-2014 when I will begin looking for a job down in the Tampa area where we want to move. Once I secure a job Eric will transfer schools and we will finally have reached most of our big goals.

Here’s to hoping for a successful few years and a lot of good times along the way.

Thoughts

This blog is a journal of sorts for me. I love the art of writing and looking back at where I was in life at different times. I had mentioned in a past post how Eric and I had wanted to try and get pregnant when we came home from deployment only to later find out that our Tricare coverage was ending sooner than we thought. These past few months I have been struggling with the fact that I so badly want to start a family. Family and friends are having babies they didn’t plan and it made me jealous. After being hired on permanently at work I find myself, finally, where I should be. Eric has done such a great job of saving while he is deployed and we know I can carry our insurance when Eric gets out of the Army but we are living in a city we don’t want to stay in. We couldn’t possibly risk the chance of getting pregnant and bringing a baby into this world with so many uncertainties in our future. Not only that, but if we do move like we so badly want to we would have to wait even longer so I can build up time at a job I don’t even know if I could find.

Eric has handled my very loud frustrations about our situation with both grace and understanding. While I was home over the holidays Eric brought up the idea of extending his contract. At first I was adamantly against the idea but he explained that it would only be for a few months. I was still hesitant, I know how ready he is to be done with this chapter in life but we quickly came to realize that perhaps a few months longer in the Army wouldn’t hurt. We would have free health care for a little longer, he would have guaranteed employment for a little longer, and most importantly, it opens up the opportunity for us to try and get pregnant.

If we do not get pregnant by June we again have to put family planning on the back burner but I am so excited and so is Eric. It’s finally our turn.