The hard life of a military wife

I found an awesome book out there for new and "old" military wives. It called "The Homefront Club" and it's written by Jacey Eckhart. If you know someone marrying a military man GET THEM THIS BOOK.

It's hard to express just how difficult being a military wife can be. When we marry a military man, we marry the military too. We have to put up with so much CRAP with almost no guidance. The military TRIES to help, but it's run by active duty men who don't know the first thing about being a military wife. And other military wives tend to isolate themselves from anyone who can help. (This I can only explain by saying you move around so much that you don't want to make friends, or you don't know where to start looking for them.)

I was a military brat, Air Force specifically. I was "lucky" because we didn't move around much. And when we WERE moving it was when I was too young to really care. I didn't have to suffer like most did. But I still got a hefty dose of military life. And even though I resented and hated it quite a lot, I'm glad for it now. It helps me struggle through the hard times.

The Homefront Club was a comfort to me. I cried a lot through it. No one ever talks about the lonliness and isolation you feel when your husband is deployed. How certain times during the week or day make you weep uncontrollably. How you recheck all the locks a million times just to make sure you're safe. How you leave lights on, how you try not to think about the empty spot next to you when you sleep. But this lady talks about those things. She's in her 30s and she still does them! What a relief to know I wasn't alone.

Of course I KNEW I wasn't alone. Obviously other women suffer, a lot of them more than I do. But you don't hear about them. They don't talk about it. (I think a lot of them want to forget about it when it's over.) So you struggle through it, and hope next time it won't hurt too much. But it always hurts.

That's something they never talk about. I wish I'd known to ask my Mom. But I didn't know. And even when I talked to her about it, I don't recall her saying much that helped. (Could she have said anything to help? I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't have been ready.)

You know what really bugs me about this upcoming deployment? Of all the rediculous things to be bothered by, I'm bothered by the fact that the Radio station in S. Dakota won't be here. During Mike's last deployment that radio station was like a bandaid for my pain of lonliness. I had it on almost all the time. It was like a friend and kept me sane during the evenings (I feel the worst during the evening). It was also Christian, and I could almost feel the love of the community through them, since they were always talking about supporting military families. I loved it.

What do we have here? One AFN radio station. They play everything from oldies, country, to rap. No Christian music. And while I like Japanese music, it's not gonna cut it as a safety net for when Mike is gone. And besides, the commercials and radio DJs (for AFN) are kinda annoying.

Anyway.. if you're a military wife of 1, 5, or more than 10 years, please by The Homefront Club. If you know someone who's a military wife buy them this as a birthday gift or something. They'll appreciate it, I promise. :)