valentine's day Did you ever imagine you'd be a military wife?

If I had a nickel for every time I get asked this question....

Well the simple, short answer to that question is NO. To be completely and brutally honest its not something I ever thought nor wanted to be. Mr. Jetplane and I met before he was in the Air Force. When we met he was thinking about trying to get into Officer Training School (OTS). You want a lil more honesty... when he told me he had started the process I thought to myself, "This relationship probably isn't going anywhere so I have nothing to worry about"...yeah I know.

Mr. Jetplane didn't go into the Air Force with the idea of flying jets. He has a background in finance and he had envisioned doing something in the military associated with that. But when he took his 'tests' he scored high in math and science, which isn't hard to believe since he started college as an engineering major. (FYI - he switched to finance because he liked to party and engineering classes were at 8am and at the other side of campus TRUE STORY).

Mr. Jetplane joined the USAF a lil over 4 years ago. He is now a Captain and I have officially been a military wife for about 2 1/2 years, but we've been going through this together ( i.e. living together aka living in sin) the entire time. There is ALOT of schooling and being selected through various tracks in order to get where we are now, which is our 1st operational squadron.

I'm not gonna sugar coat anything here. Its tough stuff. If I didn't move down to Florida to be with him during his first year of flight school, we wouldn't be together now. We know a lot of couples that didn't make it out of flight school before breaking up and/or divorcing.

But you can make it...heck we made it. We learned a lot about each other, we learned that we have to be a team. We have to support each other and push each other along.

As a spouse or significant other of someone in the military you have to come to terms with the fact that the needs of the military will always supersede your needs. ALWAYS PEOPLE. It doesn't mean your husband doesn't love you...he doesn't have a choice.

You have to be strong and independent. You have to be willing to let some things slide and be able to go to bed not knowing exactly when your spouse is going to get home from work.

Now we're headed into unknown territory for us...the D WORD....DEPLOYMENT.

He was suppose to deploy before the end of the year but it got pushed back, which I was more than a lil thankful for. But now each day that goes by makes it one day closer till when my hubby leaves. I'm trying to prepare myself for it, that's a work in progress.

But to stay on the honesty train we've been riding, being a military wife its not necessarily all that different from being the wife of a lawyer, doctor, fireman, police officer, or even a business owner. Sure there are some big differences...one of which is my hubby goes to work in what he likes to call "glorified pj's" and his office is a fighter jet. But there are plenty of jobs that require long hours, tons of training, and a huge amount of patience from family and friends.

I still and probably always feel awkward when someone thanks me for the work that my husband does. It always makes me feel strange but it makes me feel proud at the same moment. Did I ever envision this being my life...well I think I already answered that....no. Am I honored to be married to my gorgeous fly boy...of course.

Sometimes people ask me for some sage advice about becoming a military wife, which I find humorous. What do I say to people...well... I think you need to develop 2 things a thicker skin and a good sense of humor...both will come in handy...oh and I find a stocked liquor cabinet handy...but hey that's just me.