Fluidity of the Military Family
As you know from part one of this post that I was inspired by reading, “Military Life Made Me Question My Identity”, from militaryspouse.com (http://militaryspouse.com/military-life/military-life-made-me-question-my-identity/). In the previous post I discussed different ways I’ve have had to adapt to the military lifestyle. The second “surprisingly simple aspect of the military life,” stated in the article is, “We interact with a lot of different types of people”.
In the article the writer talks about how fluid the military lifestyle is. You and your family may be stationed at the same base for a few years but in those few years others will come and go, your spouse will most likely change jobs at least once introducing you to an entirely new set of people. If you are active in base spousal groups there are always new people be introduced and a steady stream of wishing others well on their next location.
As a military spouse you have to make friends quickly. Our life style leads little time for being shy or self conscious. I consider myself quite lucky to have found such wonderful friends at the different locations we lived in thus far. Not only do you tend to make friends quickly but military spouses become close quickly as well. When you are uprooted and placed in a new situation you need friends to talk to about the little things as well as the big things. The spouses you surround yourself with know the daily frustrations you are experiencing and are happy to not only listen but share their frustrations as well. When you have counted the days until your spouses return from deployment and you can’t wait to pick them up at the airport at 0’dark 30, your dressed and ready, keys in hand, only to find out the military never confirmed the last leg of your spouses trip. Now a new flight has to be booked and you now have to wait another day to see them…as a spouse you need to be able to pick up the phone and call a friend and cry and yell and be angry, and thats okay. Nine times out of ten that fellow spouse you just vented to has a similar if not identical story. I know my husband may want to put our family first, but that isn’t always an option, and that is something I have had to learn to accept. Being around all different types of people and seeing how they adjust has helped me learn how to adjust myself.
With new people coming into your life in such a steady flow could make anyone question their own beliefs or practices. My husband and I do our best to explore each location we have the opportunity to call home (even if for a short while) and get to know a variety of people. I have picked up great tips on cooking, surviving deployments, planning a wedding, moving while pregnant as well as the daily challenges facing a military family. I try not to look at it as losing my identity but growing into the person I have always been capable of becoming. I am the first person in my family to move away from the small town I grew up in. I never thought I would be able to be away from my family, and it has been hard, however being able to surround myself with people who are experiencing the same fears has made it easier to embrace this lifestyle.
In case you missed Part 1….Adaptability
