A Really Great Review!
My husband called me the other day and said the following: "Hey, babe. Look, I'm eligible to receive DLA when we go to OBC. It'll show up on my LES, so I'll apply for it ASAP." To which I promptly replied, "WTF?!" (translation: what the freak?!)
Yes, WTF pretty much sums up the way most new military spouses feel about their new lives, myself included (obviously).
While my husband is off playing GI Joe, I'm left at home to plan moves, register children for school, find a job, be a chauffer, care for the sick, lose thirty pounds, show the bad the error of their ways, buy the food, maintain the vehicle, pay the bills, help with the homework, cook the food, clean the house, read the bedtime stories, wash the dog, and quit smoking, for good this time. WTF indeed!
However, by sheer coincidence, since most of the time we spend in the public library is devoted to the children's section, I noticed a book in the New Fiction section the other day that seemed to echo the sentiment that's been stewing in the back of my mind ever since my husband left for training: Help! I'm a Military Spouse: I Get a Life Too! How to Craft a Life For You as You Move With the Military. I grabbed it up and checked it out before anyone could say, "Mom, what's for dinner?"
To say that I read the book would be a serious understatement: I devoured it! The plain truth is that Kathie Hightower and Holly Scherer have compiled the most comprehensive text for how to successfully navigate through the military world while keeping the better part of your identity intact.
They arm readers with tons of resources-both online and print-and provide a plethora of personal experience stories from other military spouses. The subjects they cover range from things like how to establish friendships as we move around from post to post, to the pros and cons of owning your own business while your spouse is serving. I found their chapter on career advice quite helpful because I've always believed the way to go after your dreams is to slowly progress from Point A to Point B. Hightower and Scherer have challenged me to think more creatively about how I plan to achieve my own career goals as I face the reality of military life.
Reading testimonials from other spouses also helped me out tremendously. I no longer feel as though I can't ask questions of seek help, and I think knowing other people have felt the same exact way as I feel, have gone through some of the things I'm now going through, has given me the confidence to delve into this new life with a much more positive attitude.
I've packed the knowledge supplied by Hightower and Scherer into my rucksack for safe keeping, and I encourage any new military spouse interested in carrying a secret weapon with them to do the same as we embark on our journey through the world of the military. Who knows? I might even make a tee-shirt with the slogan "I am a military spouse, HMR!" (translation: Hear Me Roar!)
Copyright 2005
All Rights Reserved • Webmastering: janweir.net
kathie@militaryspousehelp.com or holly@militaryspousehelp.com