• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

  • Home
    • My Disclosure Policy
    • My Privacy Policy
    • Contact Me
  • Advertise With Me
  • The SWCL Shop
  • So Your Spouse Just Deployed, Now What?
  • Duty Stations
  • Surviving Deployment
  • Military Life
    • Movies & TV
    • Disneyland
    • Books
You are here: Home / Deployment / Of Bubble Baths and Deployment Days

Of Bubble Baths and Deployment Days

June 26, 2020 by Julie 2 Comments

I remember the day…so long ago now. It was the middle of my husband’s 1st deployment to Iraq. I was in Germany with my baby and two-year-old.

I can’t tell you why this one day was so hard. I just remember it being so. I remember being way too stressed out about everything I had to do.

Take care of the baby, take the preschooler to school, go to the Commissary, clean the house, worry about my husband, put the baby down for a nap, wake the baby up to get the preschooler, take him to the park to get his energy out, and figure out how to get through the day.

It was probably late afternoon and I was struggling. But I just had to push through. I just had to get to bedtime.

Back then I would start dinner at 4:30. I know that seems early but I had to get these kids going on a bedtime routine. As soon as I made it to 4:30, I felt like I had accomplished something, another deployment day was ending.

On this particular day, getting to that 4:30 time seemed extra difficult, but I had a plan. Dinner, get the boys ready for bed, get them to bed, and then…me time!

I needed this me time so bad. Especially on this day.

Me time is so important to me, and I need it. Over the years, how I found that me time has changed.

These days, with two teenagers and a 9-year-old, I can do a lot more. I can leave my oldest in charge and go anywhere I want to go. Target, the movies, out to eat, or to see a friend. I have a lot more freedom, even when my husband is gone.

Back then, in that little apartment in Schweinfurt Germany, things were quite different. I had to find small windows to find that me time, all within the walls of my home.

A bubble bath with a good book became my saving grace. There was just something about running the water, adding the soap, and climbing in after a long day with the boys that gave me hope. There is something about water that just relaxes me and helps me stay focused.

Finding that time to myself, even with sleeping children in the next room, was a must. During so much of that deployment, I found myself in survival mode, just trying to get through. But that me time allowed me to start to thrive a bit, if only for an hour or two.

Years later, I still use a bubble bath to help me relax. Even if my husband is home, and I am not dealing with toddlers anymore. I find the water to be healing and a great way to let out the stress of the day.

If you feel like you are in a place where going out of your house for me time is close to impossible, see what you can do at home. There must be something or some way for you to find that time for yourself, even if it is just for an hour, even for just 10 minutes.

And if it is hard to find that time, know it won’t always be that way. If your spouse is deployed, it can seem like you have neverending days of being the only parent in the house, the only one who can help the kids, the only one who can be in charge. But deployments eventually end, time moves on, and you will be in a different season of your life.

How do you like to find me time? What works when your spouse is deployed and it is harder to find?

(Visited 230 times, 1 visits today)

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

Filed Under: Deployment Tagged With: deployments, self-care

About Julie

Owner of Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life. Writer, reader, coffee drinker. Mom to three boys, wife of a National Guard soldier. Living life in Tennessee.

I wanted to let you know about the InDependent Wellness Summit, March 1-6, 2021! 

It's all virtual! And you can either sign up for Free General Admission or receive 30% off of their VIP All-Access pass using my link! 

Previous Post: « 7 Ways to Survive This Summer…in GIFs
Next Post: The First 30 Days of a Deployment »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. It’s a Military Life

    June 29, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    I definitely needed to read this today! I have a 2 year old and a baby, and I am always working on getting to the 4:30 dinner time. Love my little guys, but I do feel like I achieved something great when we made it to that checkpoint!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Treat Yourself With a FabFitFun Box This Fall says:
    August 12, 2020 at 8:00 am

    […] spouses, sometimes we don’t take the time for ourselves. We simply have too much to do. But self-care is so very important, even if we have to find it in little ways. With a spouse in the military, it isn’t always easy to get away from the house or get away […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

About Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life

Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

Welcome to Soldier’s Wife, Crazy Life! I am so glad you are here.

My name is Julie and I have been an Army wife for almost 15 years now.

My husband of 18 years has served in the active-duty Army and now the Army National Guard. We have lived in Germany & Tennessee during our time as a military family.

We have three boys and have been through four deployments together.

I hope that you can find support for your own deployments, pcs moves, or anything else military life brings you 🙂

~Contact Me~

Sign up for your FREE Guide to the First 30 Days of Deployment!


Thank you!

Check your email for confirmation! 

.

Top Posts!!!

  • The Waiting Military Spouse
  • 14 Tips to Help You Survive Basic Training When Your Spouse Joins the Military
  • Why You Should Break Up With Your Military Boyfriend
  • The First Night After the Deployment is Over
  • What You Should Do When Your Boyfriend Wants to Join the Military
  • When You Miss Them
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Footer

Archives

Copyright © 2021 Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life on the Foodie Pro Theme

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.