Wordless Wednesday

Makes me very happy

Milspouse Friday Fill In #35

Haven't participated for a bit but thought I would jump back in, so here goes...

1. What is your must have gadget?

Without a doubt my Iphone. I do everything on it. It is my lifeline to my family, my email, my entertainment, my schedule.

2. How does your adulthood compare to what you imagined it would be like when you were a little kid?

Well I grew up in a really rough area so we didn't think to much in terms of future. If you seen the movie Rocky I literally grew up down the street from where that movie was filmed. I had a great group of friends that I thought I would never be apart from. In neighborhoods in Philly your friends are just family, there is a real sense of loyalty and it's important. I grew up with a lot of my family being in the service, we were a gold star family, and we had lots of cops and firefighters. My life is so much richer then I ever thought it would be and I don't mean with wealth but with the fullness of love, happiness and respect.


3. What is your favorite chocolate recipe? submitted by Our First Deployment

Hmmm.....whatever they put in peanut m&m's.

4. How do you deal with military life when it gets to be to much or to hard? submitted by Combat Boots And Pointe Shoes

Well one of the benefits of living this lifestyle for the past 17 years is that it has taken me to places where life is really hard. Living in West Africa really opens your eyes about things being hard in a real way. I do occasionally get on a pity pot when hubs is gone and things can get stressful but I just deal. It's a quick stern talking to myself that puts me back in line.

5. What piece of advice would you give a new Military spouse facing their first deployment? submitted by The Albrecht Squad

I tend not to offer advise unless it is solicited since people tend to get annoyed. But being our family readiness advisor I do happen to get ask a lot. We have an infantry battalion and about 75% of our wives are new at each deployment. All I tell them is to go to the pre-deployment briefs, listen to the information, it is very important and accurate. Find what works for them, volunteer when and if they can to get out and meet people. You will never make friends sitting on your couch. I tend not to cudle new wives too much because this life you need to be tough.

What Did We Used to Talk About????

I can't believe how long our wars have been going on. My son was in the 4th grade, now he is a college freshmen. My husband was a brand new SSgt. Now he is a Sr.1stSgt. The years have passed, each one slowly, each one with pain carried over from the last and no one has been more impacted in these past 10 years then those of us in the Military Family. My husband was in the service 6 years before the Wars started. He used to go away, 6 months, 4 months, 3 months at a time, that's what Marines do. Humanitarian, UDP, 911 Force, and CAX and WTI, and Cobra Gold, and numerous other reasons for deployment through the peace time years. But then 9/11 happened and it changed what we knew as Military Families FOREVER. The other night we were eating and as usual the topic of our conversation turned to DEPLOYMENT. How many conversations have we had in the last 10 years about deployment? 365 X 10 at least every day of every year the wars have dragged on. "When are you going?" "When will you be back?" "Where are you going?" "How are you doing?" "I miss you" "I love you" "I miss you" "Welcome Home" "I love you" and that is the start or finish of most of our conversations of the last 10 years. I can't remember what we used to talk about before this took up the majority of our conversations. I shouldn't complain, some one right now would change places with me in a second to have that conversation again with the love that fell, the son, the daughter, the mother the father. I get it, my father fell in Vietnam when I was an infant, and I was in school before that war was over so I know the feeling of people forgetting about the loss. I will never forget, but just making an observation. I look forward to the day we can all take these conversations out of our daily lives.

Wordless Wednesday--Time Flies.

Lovely, Lovely Limbo

Hi Readers...hope you are all still out there. I have been a bad blogger lately. I have been in what I will call Deployment Limbo. A little while back our block leave was recalled and now we are just all sitting around waiting for the call. Due to OPSEC and in order to protect the guilty, I will not elaborate further. I will share with you all a little more once boots are on the ground in some far off exotic (not really exotic) place.
Last week I spent at home with our son on Spring Break. I was awesome having him home and it was a bit of a hard thing for me that he decided to go spend the night in San Diego with his friends but I understood and try really hard not to think of all the horrible things that can happen during Spring Break. Needless to say his friends had him home in the morning in one piece. It was a nice visit and my son was happy to go back to college and I have to admit that makes me very happy. I am really looking forward to summer break.
I did see one of my fave bloggers in the exchange the other day..that made my day..you know who you are!
Well not much going on besides...well..the waiting..and more waiting. Hope all is well with everyone. I am going to go check out what you all been up too lately!
Oh ya and I thought I would share my favorite photo from the Spartan Race...my son looks so awesome..

A Little Appreciation

My hubs re-enlistment the Command gave me a nice CerCom and this cool little recipe suitable for framing. Isn't is so sweet.

Super Spartan

Yesterday I went to Chandler Az. to watch my son and my husband run the Spartan Race along with my sons ROTC Unit from Arizona State. Not all the midshipmen ran the race, just the ones that are the top of the class physically. It was a great day watching them and I couldn't see all the race but I can share some of the photos of what I did see. The race was 8 plus miles with about 15 obstacles. It was a great day and it surely was a very important bonding experience for the young midshipmen. It was also extra special because my hubs was there as well.

Enjoy!

My sweet niece

Wordless Wednesday

Time is Valuable ... Could You Keep Your Hands off Mine?

That has been my wish, but I guess this time..my wish isn't coming true. The start of our deployment has just been moved up about a month and UGH...I want to scream. Several reasons why. First being because of OPSEC I can't really talk about why this is so frustrating and secondly because time together is so valuable always, but most importantly before deployment. Meaning...since things are moving at a cyclic rate, our block leave is being cut in half. I am trying not to be too upset and keep things in perspective because this move has a domino effect and it is happening to everyone and some are in a worse situation then us, so perspective. So this is just my vent..Semper Gumby and all that.

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes fate shows itself early...LOL. He slept in that stuff for about a week.