How Did I Become An Army Wife?

I met my husband when we were in college. He was going to be a priest and I was going to be a nurse. Friendship became love and sooner rather than later we ended up pregnant with our first son. He was in his third year with the ROTC and his fourth in the Physics department when he took the decision to leave the ROTC and get his bachelor degree before he had planned it so he could support his new family. My family in the other hand didn’t believe in us and didn’t like him at all. We married a week before my due date and he left a day before our son turned two months old for his BT. We didn’t live together during all this time because my parents didn’t want us to and I thought they actually had the power to keep me away from him. They helped a lot though, but we paid them back by been apart from each other more than we should of have.

Once he came from AIT (they didn’t let me go see him during his graduation) we begun our life as a family of three. He was a reservist and tried to find a job as a physicist with no luck so two years after that he joined the AGR program. We were just in time to properly welcome our second and last child, our daughter. We then decided two children were more than enough and started planning for their future.

So, I guess I didn’t become an Army Wife at any particular point but rather became a Wife/Army Wife all at the same time. I don’t know other way to professionally support my husband than to cheer him up in his military career. I didn’t want him to join the Reserves when I got pregnant but he had always loved the Army so it was all part of the package (pun intended). There are days where I hate this life, especially because of the long absences and the fact that we are just mistresses and the Army is the wife but that also has its own advantages! I don’t like to be scared of pending deployments or certain missions but I like the thrill of the adventure of not knowing where we go next, the challenges with each duty station or the romance behind each phone call and letter/e-mail. There are friends who do not like my involvement in the Army or the federal government (PR is a territory divided into those who fight for its independence of the U.S. and those who would like to see it as the 51st state) but I don’t get those friend’s points of view so we are even I believe. To some people in the island he’s a Hero and to others he just sells his Land every day but we love and believe in the same things and that’s what matters and what at the end makes us stronger as a couple and as a family.

More than an Army wife…yes of course I’m more than that! But this kind of life defines who I am, it really does. I’m a nurse, medical interpreter/translator, and soon health educator because those are careers I can carry with me everywhere…and I care about where I can go because of the Army. We have two children because I feel that’s a perfect number to keep safe in a busy airport in a foreign country since I have a hand for each…and that also worries me because of the Army. I have two dogs even though I love animals because that’s usually the amount of animals allowed on a post per household. I have four cockatiels and all but one (my favorite) have plan Bs for when we PCS next. My internet connection fits in my pocket because when you PCS that’s where you sometimes need it. I don’t buy expensive furniture if I know it’s too fragile to move it across the ocean. Although we speak Spanish as our 1st language we taught our children English as their 1st because that makes more sense with a military life. I don’t put up stuff on the walls because I know one of us will get stuck removing and covering the holes when we PCS. I don’t even look at pretty curtains because they have to be practical and cheap so it doesn’t hurt when we move to a house with different size windows. I live in a tropical island and keep five boxes with Winter clothing for all the family in case we need to move to Alaska (I’d love that).

Thing is, I love my life. It might not fit some people’s standards but heck, not many get to marry their prince in shining armor and live happily ever after….going from adventure to adventure and from castles, to countries, to oceans, to islands, …..

Introductory Blog

I started blogging here a couple of weeks ago but two days ago I was told by Army Wife Julie on twitter how to link this blog to twitter so I can get followers. The first step is to blog about myself so here I go:

I was born in Puerto Rico 33 years ago. My father's family came from Lombardia and my mother's family from Corsica. I speak Spanish and English and know a bit of Italian but am not fluent though. I went to nursing school but I hate hospitals and yes, that doesn't make any sense...soooo now I'm back in college so I can teach Health or work with the federal government (I hope) in research. I love my field is just that hospitals make me feel like a prisoner.

I've been married to the love of my life since 1997, he's a physicist and also a soldier (soon to be an officer, GOD willing). He's been in the Army for 12 years and counting. We have two children, boy and girl, ages 12 and 9 (soon to be 10), two dogs (toy poodle and chihuahua), and four rescued cockatiels. We are stationed overseas but soon will be PCSing to wherever the Army sends us, which is great because I like adventures!

I love reading, read twilight (the whole four books) in a week so I'm a fast reader but for some reason I've been stuck on chapter 4 of "The Lost Symbol" since last month. Probably the Mason thing didn't impress me much. In my free time I like to play with my birdies and spoil my doggies, TV is a luxury for me these days but when I do have time I like to watch TLC, SiFi, Lifetime, Animal Planet, and of course CNN. I spend a big part of my day on the computer doing homeworks and taking classes and when I'm not around is because I'm catching up on the house chores or above all, spending time with my beloved children.

I love politics but don't talk much about that topic with any of my friends. It is interesting because living in a US territory, politics take a whole new meaning because what happens here and what happens in the Mainland are two different things and yet they are interwinded.

Most of my live I thought I was a snobby person but thanks to facebook, twitter, and the fact that I can now take a peak at ex-classmates's lifes finally know that what I thought was snobbyness was just normal and plain pride....there're some real cases of snobbyness out there and I'm NOT one of them thank GOD! lol

I'm a Christian but don't go to Church, I have many excuses and know none of them is really good enough so I won't go there. I also have a tendency to make promises to God, small sacrificies. Like for example, I can't update my facebook status until my husband receives his Direct Commission, I can't dye my hair nor wear jewelry other than my wedding band and dogtags until September. It may seem stupid but God and I understand :-) it is after all, a thing between Him and I.

I also am a volunteer at the military post we live in, I teach ESL to adults and in exchange I earn lab. hours for my practice as a teacher-student. On facebook I'm one of the moderators of an US Military Wife  group for hispanic wives. I usually translate information or let them know about how things work in the military. I'm now personally concerned about Military Etiquette and Protocol. I think it's fun to learn where all the rules came from and what they mean, besides, you never know when you'll need them!

Well....I think that's all. This is me in a nutshell! There's more I'm sure but it's Monday and my brain is still in low motion :-P

Hating Officer's Wives

I have come across many blogs from Army Wives stating that they hate Officer's Wives. The last time I came across an officer wife here on internet she told me how her LV purses were real and not copies (weird 'cause we've never hang out so she's not aware of my aversion for purses in general) anyways...now that my husband has decided to become a Commissioned Officer (we are waiting for the board's final decision) I've been thinking on what I DON'T want to become. Don't misinterpret me, we do want this commission because aside all the honor and Army tradition that it represents it also represents a better quality of life for our children but we are not all about the money.


I'm very proud of my husband NOT because of a commission but because he's an NCO and will be (God willing) a Mustang (a commissioned officer who served as an NCO before commissioning). It might sound snobby I reckon, but by saying this I mean, that I'm proud of my husband because of all the things we've been through together. Everybody wants to do better and bigger at what they do but just because you set a certain set of goals for your future it doesn't mean other people's set of goals is wrong. I know someone who became a doctor and now updates his facebook status to state how important he is and so on....we know better.

We have God in our lifes, we don't only count our blessings but also make our blessings count. As hubby always says, he who's lower ranking today could be a superior tomorrow and vice-versa. I've never wore my husband's ranks and won't start now...I believe that the women who do this lack self esteem and confidence. I have accomplished part of what I wanted for myself and have set a new set of goals for my near future and I think that's what I am. I'm a daughter, an Army wife, a mother, a full time student, a friend...but among all I'm one of God's children and would never forget to treat others with dignity and respect because that's what my parents taught me.

Whenever an officer's wife asks me if I know who she is, I reply "why? You can't remember?" I carry the title of Army wife with pride because only the women that share this kind of life with me know what it means. But my accomplishments are only mine and so are my husbands. I know not all officer's wives are snobby and wear their husband's ranks, but the few that do don't do it because they are officer's wives, they do it because they are broken inside.

I know this sweet, beautiful lady who's a major's wife. You'd say she's snobby by the things she says and the way she talks....but if you care to look deeper you'll see a woman who's heart is aching for her husband's love. Since she doesn't have it anymore all that is left for her to do is to talk about how it used to be and how good the other parts of her life are. You see, the more a person brags, the more they try to convince themselves that what they say is true.

Winnie♥