Military Wife Life | Part One

Where? What? When? Why?

Wow, since my trip announcement a month ago, A LOT has happened. I totally went MIA and I finally get to share why. Here's the details..

First off, where am I? I'm still in Nevada as many of my followers and friends have come to realize. Yes, I'm staying here for a while. Which brings me to one of my new exciting opportunities. I'll be living with my grandmother to help her during surgeries and to stay close to family. I'll be redecorating the room I've been staying in with some old and a lot of new. I'm so happy my family was okay with this, so that I can make it my own little piece of home. Hopefully by early November, I will be able to reveal my little project once it's complete. I will do sneak peaks of it on my instastory throughout the process.

What else? Another amazing opportunity has presented itself. I will be completing my Business Administrations degree over the next several months...for free. AMAZING, I know. On top of that, an amazing growth opportunity has been introduced to myself and my company. This is a perfect puzzle piece in my schedule to keep my myself busy ALL day. I will really be taking my self achievements and worth to a whole new level over the course of the next few months.

When am I moving to Beaufort? Am I still moving? Yes, absolutely. This amazing and exciting move will most definitely be happening. However, it has unfortunately been postponed for the time being. I'm hoping to move in the early springtime. This has been so bittersweet. I had planned amazing adventures, but I will be able to partake in them next year. Instead, I will be able to spend some more time with my family, focus on my self development and achievements, and really heal during this time of illness. Another silver lining to this occurrence, I was fortunate to not be their during Hurricane Irma. Bless all those who endured her, and I pray for your safety and wellbeing.

Why is all of this happening? As a military wife my life is frequently unpredictable and secretive. This is because my husband is government property, a US Marine. I have to do everything and anything to protect, support, and respect him as well as his duties. With that said, I am relieved to be able to FINALLY share that my husband has recently been deployed. A lot happened very quickly. One minute I was furniture hunting, and the next I was crying about having him taken away even longer.

This is how it happened...

The day our base housing was to be finalized, he got a call. The call. At the time he was doing his daily gym work out with his buddy Steggy (my nickname for him). He got the call assuming it was going to be, "Hey we got everything settled got to Fleet & Family to finish up the paperwork tomorrow". It wasn't. It was "Sorry to inform you, but you are being deployed. You will have leave to see your wife and move her, if you choose, following graduation. Honestly, you're going to be a while, you may want to have her stay put."

Dylan dropped the phone in shock, Steggy made a bad joke, and he about lost it on him. He instantly got up and left the gym to go back to the barracks. It was time to tell me.

That's when I got the text. "Sweet pea, I've got some bad news." Worried I replied, "Um ok..you ok??" He couldn't break it to me over text, he was trying to keep it together. "Yea, I'm on my way back I'll call in a min."

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

13 minutes later....

Me: Hey babe, what's up? Did they put us on the waitlist or something?

Him: I'm getting deployed

Me: *cracking up* No seriously babe whats up?

-at the time I was writing a new blog post and not looking up-

Me: Babe? *look up at him* 

Him: *crying* think I'm going to be gone a while.

Me: Omg. You're serious. **** are you kidding me. Do I get to see you at all? It's been ten months since you've been home. Are we still moving?

Him: Honey, I can't bring you home yet. [home is where he is] I'm sorry, but I have about a week to come home and get things settled for us.

Me: Okay. *calming down for his sake* What's next?

Him: We make a new plan, like always. We'll get through this.

Me: Yea we've been through it all. Just sucks, but I love you no matter what.

The worst part about it all, is that my husband hasn't been with me for the holidays...ever. This was the first year that we would, and he was so excited. Last year, I kept his stocking up until he came to get me at my parents. It wasn't the same. He was so hard on himself when he told me about missing our anniversaries and all the holidays, especially my birthday again. It's a really big deal to him to be present. I always reassure him that it's okay, and that we signed up for this. We knew this could happen. I feel so bad for him though. When he comes home he will have missed out on the holiday season for two years in a row. One of the biggest things that hit him was that he will most likely miss our first wedding anniversary. I'm hopeful he won't, but as every military spouse knows, you never know when he/she is really coming home. They say 5 months, think 7. They say 6, prepare for the maximum of a year. I will pray he comes home sooner rather than later, but I'm prepared to stay busy and have him absent for a year.

Am I mad?

Frustrated yes. Mad? Never. My husband is serving our country. He is making the world a better and safer place for us, as well as our future family. I know he will do everything he can to contact me if and when he can, but I know he has a job to do. He needs to focus on that and keeping himself safe. That's why I've decided to go back to school, using my spouse benefits. It's also why I'm taking opportunities to stay busy like traveling, and furthering my business as many have seen on Instagram.  

The way I see it, I'm getting all of the worst things about military spouse life out of the way. Well, I'm experiencing them in one swing. Which is SO hard, but it will help me learn and strengthen myself for the next time that he may deploy. I will always hope that we are one of those families that have it one and done per enlistment, but that's not practical. So for now, I will pray for him. I will send him the best care packages ever. Seriously, I'm going to send the best Christmas in a box EVER (which I will blog about in the near future{themed diy cp}). I will be undoubtedly positive if I'm blessed with phone calls, and be strong/supportive in my letters. I will stay busy and take care of myself. I will also know that it's okay to meltdown sometimes, as long as I'm even stronger when I get back up. Most importantly, I will be Semper Fidelis.

Now that we have all of the hard stuff out of the way, I want to end this positive with an super spectacular announcement!
Over the course of the next several months, I will be taking 4 trips (so far) to help me stay busy, and make the most of my time with friends and family. So STAY TUNED to hear all about it, from my packing list to the adventures I will partake in or plan to do.

I hope this answered everyones questions. If you have more that I didn't cover, please drop a comment below. Also, if any other milspouses have advice or want to chat, comment below or contact me! Honestly, anyone who wants to chat please feel free to.

SIDE NOTE: I have another post that may help those in military or long distance relationships. I'll be following the steps and advice that I shared with y'all in that post during this challenging time. #foxtrotuniformcharliekilo #deployments

Xo,

Lisa Monique

email: lisamoniquehealthandfitness@gmail.com

instagram/twitter: lisa__monique