Military Spouse Appreciation Blog Carnival 2012: Dream Sheet

Today marks the second day of the Wives of Faith third annual Military Spouse Appreciation Blog Carnival. Head over there to learn more and/or find more blog posts on today's topic. If you're a military spouse, please join in on the fun and write your own entry!

{the dream sheet}

The Military Spouse with their own career faces a unique predicament. If we're serious about our career, it complicates the decision of whether or not we follow our spouse from station to station. This isn't because we want to be separated from the loves of our life -it just makes it hard to follow a career path of our own. So, we either leave our jobs and be with our spouse (assuming they aren't on deployment...) or we stay on our career course and face long-distance with our spouse. It's hard for a company to take you seriously when you're bouncing from place to place. It's hard to be apart from your spouse more than you absolutely have to be. It's hard to justify leaving everything to be with your spouse when your spouse is gone most of the time anyway. It's just plain hard not to share a home with your spouse. Suffice it to say: they each have their pros and cons, and this blog is the last place you'll find judgement on either decision.

Now I just want to take a moment to say how incredibly lucky I am to have the husband that I have. He has been nothing but supportive through each and every decision. My cheerleader, my partner, and my very best friend. I hope he can say the same about me...

When I got laid off, I found myself both sad and extremely relieved. Sad to leave a job I enjoyed and people I loved, but relieved to finally have an easy decision: time to finally follow my husband. This isn't to say I regret originally choosing long-distance, not at all. Our distance relationship taught us some incredible lessons in love, communication, trust, and making the most of what you have. However, when God signaled that chapter was finally over, I didn't hesitate to embrace the new chapter.

At that point, the dream sheet* got a bit of an update (in our hearts, not on paper... since he belongs to ship and just goes where it goes).

We used to hope that Husband would be stationed driving-distance away from me. Somewhere close. Now ...now the dream sheet would be different. We would love to live across the globe. A place to experience a different culture, a different history, and a life a bit outside our comfort zone.

One thing hasn't changed though: at the end of the day all I want is to get to be with my husband. That's not possible all the time, and I recognize that. Still, he was, is, and will continue to be my dream sheet.

*the dream sheet notes the top places we would love for him be stationed!