What Does Being a Military Spouse Mean to Me?

First of all, I am SOOO sorry to all my bloggy friends for ignoring the virtual world last week. I DID check every single one of your comments as the days went on and I noticed I have a few new followers (hurray!). So just know that yes, I am aware of you and most of you I followed back, there are still 2 or 3 that I haven't had the chance to, but I will once I'm done with this post!
Now, I've had such a whirlwind of a week that I figure it's time to sit and relax with a CONTEST! Christina over at Married to a Sailor: Journey of a Navy Wife is hosting a contest. The question? Write about what being a military spouse means to you.

The question is very hard to answer. If you had told me in High School that I would be a military spouse I probably would have laughed in your face. You see, I was vehemently opposed to the military. I was a member of Code Pink, a rebellious teenager just entering the world of politics. I was uninformed about many things, particularly the military. It wasn't that I so much hated them, just that I was so far removed from military things and everything I knew was just what I got from the news or other sources.

I remember walking the halls at lunchtime frowning at the recruiters, thinking in the back of my head that they were signing people up to die. I had cousins in the military. One in the Navy, one in the Marines, and one in the Army. They represented the military well because shortly after each of them left for basic I was left feeling abandoned. The military took my cousins away, maybe one day it would kill them.

When I met my husband I was 17. I had never imagined myself in a serious relationship. He used to tell me that had he not met me he probably would have just joined the Marines. I thought to myself that I was saving him from being signed up to die. I told him that under no circumstances was he to enlist because I would leave him. And he said not to worry, he would never join the military.

Fast forward 2 years and we were living by ourselves in Northern Utah where I was involved in school. I was unemployed, he lost his job, had no high school diploma either. I remember the moment well. He was sitting at the desk in our guest bedroom playing a video game. I popped around the corner and uttered the unspeakable. "Maybe you should join the Marines." He responded back with the unthinkable. "I already decided to."

We went to the recruiter that next week and he was signed up for adult education classes to finish his diploma. We got married the next month, he completed his diploma in 4 months and was DEP'ed into the Marines. He left 1 week later.

What being a milspouse means to me is hard to answer. Sometimes is means that I lie on the floor and rip my hair out trying not to kill myself over dead vibrator batteries. Other times it means I scoff at the on-base "dress code" that doesn't allow hats in the MCX. But then there are the days, when I tag along with DH to work and watch him do morning colors, and I see the flag being raised, the National Anthem playing in the background and I think that I'm glad I'm a different person than I was 4 years ago. I'm glad I married a man who became a Marine. I'm glad I have been able to travel around the country in the past year and meet people who I will probably know and love for the rest of my life.