being military

believe it or not, i'm now in my 20th year as part of the military system (3 years enlisted in the army reserves as a unitsupply specialist (long story), 10 years as an active duty nurse and 7 years as a military spouse). people often ask, especially during times of deployment, how do you do it?

well, to be honest, i really don't know any different (as an adult). and neither do our kids. we try very hard to always have a positive outlook on being a military family. look at --

all the different places we get to live. all the friends we get to meet, from place to place. all the friends we can potentially go visit, all across the country. all the experiences we get to have.

and now social media has made it so easy to keep up with and stay in touch with our friends.

the thought of having to settle in one place for an extended period of time actually gives me huge anxiety...and therefore, i don't give it too much thought. lucky for us, we have plans to sail around the americas for a year or so, after steve retires -- postponing the need to figure out our long term residence for a while.

a lot of people also ask me about the impact moving every few years has on the kids.  well...i think my kids are going to be just fine. so far...so good. but only time will tell for sure.

here's a shot i found a while back of me, while in the air force as a registered nurse. i'm pretty sure this was taken in 2001. getting out of the military was (and still is) very bittersweet. there's a part of me that absolutely loved it.

and here's steve and i at his EOD (explosive ordnance disposal) graduation, in september 2002.  i got out of the air force in march 2003, when i was seven months pregnant with sky.