The ABCs of Being an Army Wife… N

What’s next?

In life, you have some idea of what comes next. For the most part. But we can’t see it all. Unless, of course, you are co-hosting with Dionne Warwick.

There are the obvious things. Birth, aging, kindergarten, school, career, relationships, maybe kids, more aging and then death.

But other than birth and death, the rest of the order is rather a surprise. There is the timeline of events that is the norm. And then there is the timeline of events that is MY life.

Even with all the ‘Whoops, how did that happens’ in my life, nothing prepared me for this new life as an Army wife.

Because now, ‘next’ is three different things. It is what you expect to happen next. It is what they tell you what will happen next. And more often than not, it is what atually does happen next.

When I married B Daddy, we both new that our life in Grand Junction was coming to an end. Recruiting duty was up in less than a year, so we would be sent to a new duty station.

For you convenience, the Army gives you about 6 months notice before you move, to incluse your dates and places.

So. With recruiting duty set to be over in August of 2008, we expected new orders sometime in February. And lo and behold, we actually got them. Unofficially. We were going to Fort Irwin in California. Smack dab in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Or as I like to call it, “Nowhere”.

Briefly.

Less than 2 months later, those orders were changed. Since The Powers That Be decided B Daddy had been on vacation for the last 2 years. Obviously, The Powers That Be had never been on recruiting duty. Vacation my ass!

Enter new orders again. And again, unofficially. This time to Fort Bliss in Texas. Unwilling to believe I was going to be leaving my mountains and color and smog free life for a chance to reside in “Hell Paso”, I went in to denial mode.

There weren’t real orders. We didn’t have them, in paper, in our hands yet. So I made no plans. Time rolled on. Life kept moving. And our end date for recruiting got closer and closer.

Still, no orders.

Do we schedule movers? Do we get on the housing list at Bliss? Do we start looking for new care for the Colonel? Do we prepare for another tax season in Colorado? Do we throw a 5th going away party? Do we light fireworks in the desert one last time with the Roses?

What do we do next?

We wait some more.

And then finally, in August, the month we are supposed to me leaving, we get orders.

We arrive at Fort Bliss, settle in and begin to wonder what comes next. Deployment. And next? And after that? And then?

We always wonder what life will bring. With the Army, I just wonder what next week will bring. One thing is sure, whatever it will bring, it will change at least three times before next week.

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