Realia

Archive for August, 2010

For several weeks, I have been reading with interest the responses to Wife of a Sailor’s MilSpouse Friday Fill-In. I’ve even started working on my answers the last couple of weeks, but never got around to posting them. I was determined not to miss the chance again this week, so here goes:

1. What secret indulgence do you act on while your spouse is away?

This sounds really lame, but going to bed early is something I indulge in when the husband is gone. He is more of a night owl than I am, and he tends to talk me into staying up later than I would on my own. When he’s here, we usually go to bed at 11:00 or later. When he’s gone, it’s not unusual for me to take a book to bed around 9:30 or 10:00, read for a while, and be sound asleep by 10:30.

2. If you were a spice, what would you be?

I’ve been trying to think of a really clever answer to this question and trying to find the spice that really captures my personality, but for some reason, cinnamon is what keeps popping into my mind, so I guess I should stop ignoring my subconscious and choose cinnamon as my answer. I don’t really have a good reason for it, though, other than I like it.

3. Where do you go for support when your significant other is deployed?

We haven’t been through a deployment yet, but when the husband’s been gone for OBC, training, etc., I have really leaned on my younger sister for support. She lives 8 hours away from me, but she usually comes out to visit me for a weekend any time that the husband is gone for longer than a week.

4. What is the oldest thing you own?

That’s a tough one to answer. I honestly don’t know. If we’re talking about the thing I’ve personally had the longest, there are a couple of stuffed animals from childhood that I still have. If we’re talking about the thing that is actually the oldest, I have two of my grandma’s cookbooks from the 1950s.

5. How did you vision your future pre-military?

The husband and I were married for six years before he joined the Army, so I definitely had time to form a vision of what our non-military marriage would be like. When we got married, I never in a million years would have pictured myself ever being an Army wife. And I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a somewhat rough transition when he joined, two and a half years ago. He’s a reservist, so I suppose our life hasn’t changed as much as it would have if he was active duty, but I think the biggest difference between our life now and how I would have envisioned it before he joined the Army has to be the feeling that we are not entirely in control of decisions about our future. It’s hard to plan for the future and for things like trying to start a family, when I know that the Army could totally pull the rug out from under us at any time. I realize that nobody really has control over their future, and that unforeseen circumstances could mess up anyone’s plans, but when you’re married to a Soldier, it almost seems like it’s not a question of if your major life plans will get disrupted, but a question of when. I’m not completely used to that yet. I’m not sure if it’s something you ever get totally used to.