Life as a military wife.

You know what, I never really questioned the life of being a military wife. As soon as Matthew and I met I knew I could handle it, we would make it work. Some days are harder than others, some days go by much slower and the good ones always pass way too quickly.

The military has a way of speeding up your life tenfold. I am not sure if it is because you value your time together that much more or you just have no choice but to pick up and go with the flow. Nothing is ever set in stone and plans are never final. Flights must always be refundable and orders can be very unforgiving to any circumstance. Life in the military isn't what I would consider "life in the fast lane", you don't just sit and watch as life passes you by. You actually have no choice but to actively participate, if you don't participate, you wither away.

You never really know what it is like to be alone and you can never be assured of your time together. Either way, life can be taken for granted, but the time spent together is always priceless. Sometimes the best way to not get caught up in the moment is to slow down long enough to breathe and really count your blessings. As a military wife there will ALWAYS be things that you could be sad about or feel lonely towards. Those successful military wives and military marriages are based on faith, love, and trust in God, yourself, and your spouse. I have faith in my God that He will take care of me and my husband every day. I have faith in myself that I CAN get through this. And I have faith in my husband to do his job to his very best ability and then get himself home to me. The love must be unconditional, the purest and truest love that does not leave or walk away when things are tougher than they would be in the civilian world. My great-grandfather always used to say that "What does not kill you makes you stronger." This cannot be more true of a military marriage. If you are still alive and get THROUGH the hard times together, you WILL be stronger. The most successful military marriages are those that have already been through and seen the hard times, but have made it through. It would be easy to pretend you are great if you have not seen adversity.

So what makes a military wife special? One thing. Her husband. Without her husband she would have no fortress to hold on to. Her husband, what does he have? A wife to rest upon because without a foundation, the structure would tumble. Together, I believe a military marriage is the most blessed when it is strong both in its fortress, its foundation and most importantly God as its mountainside to rest upon. Beauty, grandeur, and memories to fill a lifetime can be found in just a few months of a military marriage, years build triumphs.

Thus, I must say life as a military wife isn't all that bad, in fact, it is the proudest job in the world. We are what stands behind the most brave and patriotic men in the country. Those that fight and those that die for a cause other than their own. A man or woman in the military is the most selfless profession on earth because what they train for and fight for means nothing about their own life, but their family, their friends, and their country.

American heros are the men and women that train and fight, but also their families. As a military wife now, I can officially say I feel nothing like a hero. But when my husband calls me, missing home from Afghanistan, not sure if he can do this anymore and I can get him to smile in 5 minutes before he has to go back out, I then feel as patriotic and proud as any soldier. I cannot deny my tears or my nights of saddness and lonliness, fear and worry. I cannot always smile at the couples I see everywhere or the fathers I see that get to come home. What I can rest assured on is that my American hero is going to do his best to protect those very men I see so they can come home to their wife every night.

When I signed those papers on July 1st, 2006, the day I was married to Matthew Fullmer, I knew but didnt know what it mean to be a military wife. You can NEVER know fully until you are in the moment and experience it. What made it blessed was that I was not afraid and knew that with God on our side, whatever trials may come, we CAN get through them. We will get through them. We ARE getting through them.

To Matthew, I cannot pretend I do not miss you. You know my heart and missing you is my every breath. But what you can rest at night knowing is that the strength to wait for you comes from the strength of our faith, hope and love in each other. But the greatest of these is love. I love you completely without knowing any other way. Our child and I await your return.