New Book = New Realizations

Since Fernando is away for two weeks "playing army" as he likes to call it, I am, of course, bored out of my mind. With no money for a plane ticket to visit anyone who would entertain me, I am stuck here, figuring out how to entertain myself. Although I have already secured what I'm sure are two fantastic friendships, with two great army wives, they cannot entertain me 24/7. So I ventured to a used book store called the "Dusty Book Shelf" today in Aggieville. I picked up a few books and on my way out noticed a book I wouldn't normally buy titled "Confessions of a Military Wife". While reading the back cover I noticed the author, Mollie Gross, was compared to Chelsea Handler, and we all know my love/obsession for Chelsea, so I purchased it. I'm now 75 pages in and loving every bit of it. Every new military wife or girlfriend should read this book! I finally feel like I'm not crazy! It's nice to know that other people dealt with their family and friends not approving of them dropping everything to move across the country for a military life. That it's difficult for most military spouses to make friends after moving to a new post/base. That crying while unpacking your stuff is normal, and so is eating chocolate and watching the Lifetime channel while your spouse is at work because you don't know what else to do! That having a panic attack after your first move because everything is so different is okay, and doesn't make you weak or crazy. I'm so glad I purchased this book. I'm pretty settled into my life here now, and I pride myself on my ability to adapt to any situation with grace and maturity. However, there were definitely things I had trouble dealing with. I don't at all regret my decision to move out here for Fernando. I love living with him and I actually really enjoy Kansas. I'm still having trouble with the fact that not everyone in my life supports my decision. I'm a people pleaser, and I'm having trouble realizing I can't please everyone. For the first time in my life I made a decision that was solely based on what I wanted, and some people can't accept that. I'm extremely happy out here, yes it's definitely different, I don't have as many friends or family members, or a job right now, but I'm happy and that was the whole point of this move. Fernando didn't have the option to move to Ohio for me, but it happened to be the perfect opportunity for me to move to Fort Riley for him. Part of being in any kind of relationship, married/friendship/girlfriend/family with anyone in the military is realizing that you will always come second. The government owns my boyfriend, and I understand that. We can't always go where we want, or do what we want, but we are supporting something much bigger than both of us. With Veterans day approaching I just want everyone to recognize how much these men/women and their families sacrifice so that we can all live freely in this country. Even if you don't support the wars we are in, realize that you could not live the (free) life you live today if it wasn't for these men and women's sacrifices. Many other countries are not as lucky as us, and I think too many people take that freedom for granted. I know I certainly didn't realize the enormity of the sacrifice of military families until I started dating Fernando. So this next week (week of Veterans day) make sure you thank a veteran, and their family, for everything they do for all of us. There are very few people who are willing to do what these brave men and women do everyday.

Sorry about the super long blog, just thoughts I felt I needed to share. Hope everyone is doing well, and as always, feel free to call/email/text me if you'd like. :)