Soldier's Wife, Crazy Life

Military Life

When He is Away, I Miss His Jokes

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When he is away…

Army Couple

I miss his jokes.

I miss seeing him make coffee.

I miss being able to talk to him about all the silly stuff.

I miss watching movies together after the boys go to bed.

I miss him laughing at the silly stuff our boys say.

I miss the joy I feel when I come home and see he is home from work early…especially on a Friday afternoon.

I miss hogging all the covers.

I miss being able to run to Target for an hour all by myself on a Sunday afternoon.

I miss driving through a Starbucks and getting coffee together.

I miss hearing the garage door open knowing that means he must be home.

I miss asking him what he wants for dinner.

I miss going to church all together.

I miss watching the kids play together.

Whenever he is gone there is just a part of me that is never 100% okay with it, even if each day doesn’t seem too bad. Sometimes it is the little things, the everyday things that I miss the most. The memories I get from a coffee cup or a pair of shoes. It’s the daily chit-chat that seems the hardest to do without.

This time he won’t be gone too long and I have more than enough to keep me busy but it reminds me that a deployment is coming. It reminds me that before too long I will have to get used to this for months and months. That I will have to get back into deployment mode and that makes me sad. That I will not only miss all this stuff but he will also be in a dangerous place. That he won’t just be in a different state, that he will be on the other side of the world from us.

I try not to think about that. The deployment hasn’t started yet but the pre-deployment period has started and I need to accept it. I need to prepare myself for the rest of this year.

I tell myself that 9 months isn’t too long. It seems like we just got back from our California trip and that was 6 months ago. But still, it is knowing how much I will miss that makes me sad.

On the other hand, knowing that being apart will make us stronger is comforting. Knowing that at the end of it all we will have another wonderful homecoming is a nice thought. Knowing that we have been through much worse makes me feel better.

But how does one really prepare for such a long time without the person they love the most? How do you get used to the idea that you have to say goodbye?  A lot of people say that deployments don’t get any easier, and they don’t. They are all different and we are at different stages when we go through them.

I just hope and pray that this deployment isn’t too horrible. That it goes by quickly and that before we know it, he will be home with us again. Standing on this side of the deployment isn’t very fun but time moves on and no deployment lasts forever.

Are you in a pre-deployment season too?

Army Wives on Reality TV

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Married to the Army Alaska

If you haven’t heard by now there is a new reality tv show on the OWN network called, Married to the Army: Alaska. It follows the lives of seven women from Fort Richardson, Alaska, who are married to soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry. Their husbands deployed November of 2011, and are just now starting to return after almost a year in combat (from OWN)

I will admit I do like my reality TV although I don’t watch too much of it anymore now that we cancelled Directv. I enjoy watching shows about other people and yes I am even a fan of some of the “Real Housewives” shows, as full of drama as they are. It can be really interesting to get to see into a person’s life, especially if they are so different from you.

For the last few years I have even thought about how a reality show like that would work for Army wives. Would a show be able to capture the real people? Would it focus on just the drama? Would it be a good thing or a bad thing?

With the start of Married to the Army: Alaska we can see first hand how a reality show about Military wives is going to go. Now I have not seen the show yet so I am not going to say if it is good or bad. I have talked to a few people who have seen and I didn’t hear a lot of positive reviews although some people did enjoy it.

I am not sure what to think about a show like this showing America what it is like to be an Army Wife. When it comes to the show Army Wives on Lifetime I do get questions about if that is what it is really like. People are curious about how we live our lives and how we are able to make it work through deployments and everything else. I am not sure if a reality show of this nature is the way to do that. I am not sure there is even a good way to do that other than knowing people personally that are going through a deployment or involved in Military life. That way they can see first hand what it is like without any of the drama.

I don’t blame the network for making a show like this. I know they felt there is a market for it and maybe there is. But I am just not convinced it will be able to show everything or what it is really like. Another part of this is because different people have different experiences when it comes to the Military. Just in my close group of friends here in Campbell, we have all been through different types of experiences even if our husbands have been in the Army about the same amount of time.

What do you think? Do you think this show is a good way to show the public what it is like to be an Army wife? Have you seen the show? What do you think?

 

Hickory Farms Review and Giveaway

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Home for the Holidays Hickory FarmsWhenever I hear the word Hickory Farms I think about Christmas and the holiday season.  I was given the opportunity to review a gift box from Hickory Farms.  They sent me the Home for the Holidays Gift Box which included:

-Our Signature Beef Summer Sausage 10 oz.
-Spicy Savory Beef Summer Sausage 10 oz.
-2 -Turkey Summer Sausage 5 oz.
-Mission Jack Blend 4 oz.
-Smoked Cheddar Blend 4 oz.
-Jalapeño Cheddar Blend 4 oz.
-Farmhouse Cheddar 4 oz. 
-Creamy Swiss Blend 4 oz.
-Three Cheese & Onion 4 oz.
-Parmesan Herb Blend 4 oz.
-Olive Oil & Rosemary Crackers 1.5 oz.
-Golden Toasted Crackers 1.5 oz.
-Honey & Pineapple Mustard 2.5 oz.
-Sweet Hot Mustard 2.25 oz.

Lots of yummy treats to have on hand during the holidays.  My family likes to relax a lot during the holidays and it is nice to have a box of this around for a quick snack.  There are a lot of different types of cheeses in this one and a few different types of sausage. I also like that the box came with some crackers.

This would make a great gift for family or friends or even to your deployed spouse or family member.

Here are some links for more information:

How would you like to win your own Home for the Holidays box?

Just enter the Rafflecopter below which will run until November 29th!

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

* I was provided a free gift box in exchange for this review post. All opinions are my own.