Military Spouse Friday Fill-in

Fridays are Military spouse Friday fill-in days over at Wife of a Sailors Blog. It is a fun way to get to know other military spouses and learn about each other each week.

Here is this weeks Friday Fill-in:

1. I always feel like I’m     84      years old, but in reality, I’m far younger than that.

I am to the point in my pregnancy where I am getting very uncomfortable and it is difficult to move. Sometimes it takes me 5 minutes just to get off the couch!


2. I wish my family understood better when I tell them I am allergic to dogs.  
I am severely allergic to dogs and my in-laws just DON'T get it! When we go to their house they refuse to put the dogs outside or in the basement. My husband will put them in the basement and then EVERYONE goes down to be with them because they are lonely...leaving me upstairs...ALONE! I was there a few weeks ago and they let their 100+lb jump up and shove his paws into my pregnant belly. The dogs can't b left outside or in the basement, but it's ok for me to have to go sit on the front porch in the snow so that I can catch my breath and stop wheezing. It's not like they are small dogs either. They have a 100+lb golden with TONS of fur and a 50ish lb pit/lab mix. SO damn frustrating!

3. If you saw me when I feel like getting pretty , you’d think I was a total girly-girl, but if you saw me any other day , you’d think I was a tomboy through-and-through. 
I do love to get dressed up. I love a cute pair of heels, a pretty dress and make-up! I love to feel pretty and sexy, I just don't take the time to do it very often. I am a billion years pregnant and if I put make-up on I just sweat it off in about 3.2 minutes. And seriously...lets not even talk about trying to fit my giant swollen ankles into a cute pair of heels!

4. I feel like I’m in a totally different universe when I'm with military families vs civilian families.  
I have a lot of military friends and I have a lot of civilian friends. I absolutely adore all of them for their own reasons. The military world is just so different than the civilian world. A milspouse friend of mine posted this on Facebook yesterday and it kind of explains the difference:

Civilian wives will get angry and snotty if your child is misbehaving, military wives will come outside yell at your kid and then let you know they did it

Civilian wives will tell a neighbor child to go home when dinner is ready, military wives expect that all children in their home will be eating with them

Civilian wives get angry if their husband is late and doesn’t call, military wives are ...grateful if they get a call this week
...
Civilian wives expect their casserole dish to be returned, military wives aren’t exactly sure who owns what

Civilian wives think men look good in uniforms, military wives think one man looks good in a uniform

Civilian wives get excited when the doorbell rings, military wives don’t

Civilian wives ask their friends if they can help, military wives don’t give their friends the option

Civilian wives get annoyed when plans change, military wives are surprised when they don’t

Civilian wives ask if their child can come play, military wives call and say “Hey is my kid over there?”

Civilian wives get angry when they trip over their husbands shoes, military wives would do anything to have to pick up their husbands boots

Civilian Wives hate their husbands’ stinky shirts, military wives snuggle up to them at night.

 I don't agree with all the statements, but some of them are so true. And, for the record, I truly love all my friends the same. I don't value military friends over civilian friends or vice versa. I value my friends for who they are and the different relationships that we have!!

5. In honor of this being MFF #60… 60 months ago  (exactly 5 years ago, so September 30, 2006) I lived in a duplex in San Diego, CA with a roommate and my life was totally different because of SO many reasons.
It was my freshman year of college and I was living with a milspouse. I was not married, but I was engaged to my husband. My fiance and the roommates husband were deployed to Japan. I was a full time student, working 40hrs a week and partying like it was my job. I was living off of $20 a week for food and struggling to make the bills, but I was too proud to ask for help. It was a time in my life where I learned so much about myself and what I was capable of and I learned so much about life and the world. I would never trade that time of my life for anything! Plus, I truly feel like that deployment helped my relationship with my husband (fiance at the time) grow! 

Getting Over Myself

We moved to southern Indiana last October and it is no secret that I have had a hard time adjusting. We lived in San Diego before we moved and I was spoiled.

I loved living in San Diego! It's a gorgeous city and there is so much to do. I had some really great friend and I had great fun. I always knew that it was not permanent. Nothing is in the military. But, that didn't stop me from being sad when we moved.

I have been finding all the negative at every turn since we moved to Indiana, but last night I realized it is time to get over myself. That life here is not all that bad.

Our friends who live down the road invited us to a BBQ last night. A few of thier neighbors get together for the 4th of July every year. They have BBQ with tons of food and then set off fireworks after dark. In Indiana fireworks are more than just sparklers, bottle rockets and snap pops. You can buy the HUGE fireworks that shoot WAY into the sky.

The BBQ was fun, it was good food and it was fun and refreshing to just sit around and chat with friends. The defining moment for me was when we sitting outside waiting for the guys to start the fireworks.

It was humid, just sitting still your skin is a little sticky. The bugs were out so we were coated in bug spray. A couple of the kids were running around catching fire flies and putting them in a jar. Just as the sun set, they were ready to start the show. Everyone gathered together on the front lawn. We sat in the yard drinking sweet tea with the summer humidity leaving it's mark on our skin. As the fireworks were booming just above me I realized that this was perfect. Just how life should be.

And with that, I realized that instead of looking for reasons to be unhappy and dislike Southern Indiana I should be looking for the perfect moments like that.

Also, for what it's worth...the fireworks display last night rivaled that of many small towns!