We Are Military Spouses

HAPPY MILITARY SPOUSE APPRECIATION DAY!! 

(Linking up to Riding The Roller Coaster and Household Six Diva)

We laugh, we cry, we live, we love, we breathe.  

We are military spouses.


We know how to mow the lawn, check the oil, and hang the Christmas lights. We know the importance of "Going With The Flow" and "No News Is Good News".

We are military spouses.

Our brains are like dictionaries for acronyms. BCT, OTS, OCS, ABU, ACU, BDU, TDY, MPF, BX, PX, PCS, BTZ, OPSEC, AKA, DEERS, AAFES, AWOL, DOD, CDC, CVR, JAG, MOS, BAH, FSA....

We are military spouses.

We text in military time. "Hey let's meet up at 1300 because I have to have dinner ready by 1800 so Loverface can get to bed and be up at 0500."

We are military spouses.

We may wear red shirts on Fridays, have a Blue Star Flag in our window, a bumper sticker on our car, and a yellow ribbon around our tree. Our hearts are connected to every other person like us and we cry for people we've never met. We feel an incalculable amount of love, respect, pain, and protectiveness over anyone wearing a Gold Star.

We are military spouses.

We know our spouses SSN's better than our own and could answer from a coma, "Last four?" We hate Murphy and laugh out loud when civilians ask us who this prick Murphy is. We say things like, "Dark o' Thirty" and "Hurry Up and Wait". We hate big black tough boxes, white buses, and C bags but when it comes down to it, we are just ready for our loved ones to leave so we can start counting down to their return.

We are military spouses.

Our marriages, our spouses, and even us ourselves are untruthfully slandered and unabashedly judged by everyone who has no right to do so. We are called "The Silent Ranks" because what we do day in and day out requires that we smother all of the things being said to us, about us, and bouncing around in our heads and stand there composed, calm, and collected. What you don't know is the outward display of grace and calm and dispassion is a facade. Its easier to hold our breath and have a smooth outward disposition when we are constantly waiting. Waiting for a phone call, waiting for orders, waiting for a letter, an email, an answer to a million and one prayers... It all requires a semblance of unflappable, quiescent serenity.

We are military spouses.

We've learned to laugh at things so we don't cry and shrug our shoulders at what we know we can't control. It is what is is and we are who we are and we've learned to be perfectly content with it all. Our best friends are often people whom we've never met and our strongest supporters are those who need to know we're there for them too.

We are military spouses.

They call us DEPENDENTS and tell us we're nothing without our SPONSORS but we know the truth. Those words are just titles assigned to us so we fit into the cubbies made for us. We also know if we had a dollar for every time we've heard, "You're just a dependent" then we'd be the rich people everyone thinks we are. We are often overlooked, over-shadowed, and crop up as an after-thought but the truth that resonates within each and every one of us lets us be fine with it all. Our silence is all too often mistook for acceptance, approval, and meek obedience but in reality we are the toughest, most stalwart and resilient people you'll ever meet. If you mess with our lovers, our families, or one of our fellow Milie's you'll be unlucky enough to see just how brawny and backwoods even the most city of us can really get.

We are military spouses.

We laugh because it helps us stay sane.
We cry because we are still human.
We live everyday to the fullest because we know how fragile our world is.
We love fearlessly with our hearts wide open.
And we breathe because sometimes its the only thing we have control over and that helps us have peace of mind enough to do it all again tomorrow.

We are military spouses.