Military Wife

October 2009, there I was a single mom, 35 years old, two children and my divorce from my first husband was just finalized. I chose to home school my children and attend college full-time, it was a crazy, insane time in my life. Then, to add to my full schedule I boldly decided it was time to start dating again. It wasn't easy, really, I look back and wonder how in the world I was able to squeeze in being a full-time student, study, teach my own children, cook, clean, mow three acres of lawn and date. Ha! Well, I somehow did it and managed to snag me a wonderful new husband, a Major in the United States Marine Corps, in the process. We met in October, November he had proposed to me, and December we were married!

Talk about a whirl-wind romance. But, it just felt right we had so much in common, so much to talk about and share with one another, when he asked me to marry him I knew it was the right choice. We had initially decided to get married in the summer, so we would have plenty of time to get to know each other better and get things ready for our wedding day.

The weekend he proposed to me I had the privilege of attending the annual United States Marine Corps Birthday Ball in Washington DC. Then, on the Monday after the Birthday Ball, I get a phone call from him. Six days after he asked me to marry him, he tells me that he may have to go to Afghanistan. He informed me that a few months ago he had volunteered to go, but he was told he was no longer needed and that he was to step down. Well, evidently that wasn't really the case and that he was actually suppose to have been in Afghanistan at the beginning of the month, but there was some breakdown of communication and he didn't get the orders.

So, here we are with this dilemma. What do we do? Do we just wait for him to get back and go ahead with our plans? Or do we hurry and try to get married before he leaves?  This was not an easy decision for us to make. Especially, since we both have children from a previous marriage and so many things we had to consider.

Well, we did it. He was to arrive in N. Carolina for training the first week of January, so we decided to get married in December. We got married, celebrated Christmas, moved my things to his house and then in January he was deployed to Afghanistan for six months. There I was a new bride, a military bride, and I had know idea if I was ever going to see my husband again. 

Six months went by slow, but it did come to an end and my husband safely returned home.