It's My Birthday,I'll Cry If I Want To

And cry I did.

It wasn't a bad birthday. I was showered with lots of love from friends, family and colleagues. My team at work celebrated with cupcakes. Anthony bought a cake and flowers and made dinner. I received tons of Facebook messages, texts and calls. My students sang happy birthday to me and showered me with drawings and hugs.

But it wasn't the same. There was no card from Gran. No singing phone call from Gran. No Gran.

I couldn't get past that. All day, my heart longed to hear from Gran again. And that's all I could focus on. I spent most of the day in a major funk and I took it out on poor Anthony.

And honestly, for the first time ever, I am glad my birthday is over. Today was a new day and my heart was a little lighter.

Adapting, Part 2

While life as a military wife hasn't been what I expected, I am so very grateful for what life has been like.

While it was a bit disappointing that military life hasn't even taken us out of the state of Texas, I am glad we have remained a short drive from family throughout these past years. We have lost 2 grandparents, a niece, and a dog. We were very lucky to be able to make the short drive to be with family during these times.

And while making friends was a bit challenging at first, we have made some amazing friends over the years. They are friends that have been there as we have lost loved ones and any time I am in need.

But most importantly, I have grown since we moved here. I have learned to be independent, as Anthony isn't always here. I have learned to deal with the yucky stuff like bugs and car problems, and the more serious harder stuff like cancer and death. I have learned to lean on my husband and to rely on him.

But most importantly, I have learned that I can and will get through it with God by my side.

Adapting

It has been three years since I left my job, my friends, and pretty much everything I knew and truly began living the life of a military wife.

It hasn't been anything like I expected. I expected that we would move across the country, or even to the other side of the world. I envisioned a very tight knit community of military. I thought making friends would be easy.

Instead, we moved a few hours away and didn't leave the state. While we are close with some of the families that Anthony works with, I wouldn't go as far as saying everyone is tight knit. And making friends took a long time and wasn't easy. We all live different lives with different schedules. We don't get together very often as a group. And it's hard to make plans when your husband works every other day.

While it wasn't exactly what I expected, and it has been a hard 3 years, these three years have been three of the most important years of our lives full of memories and new friends!

For those of you that are military wives, was it what you expected?