As the wife of man in the military, part of the marital commitment is moving to wherever your husband is stationed. You don’t really have a choice as to where you are stationed, but you do have a choice as to where you live. We spent the first few years of our marriage moving from house to house to house. Moving so much can be physically exhausting, but the emotional toll seems to be even more exhausting. There were a lot of disadvantages and advantages to moving so much. It made me grow up quick and it gave me a backbone to handle life.
In 2002, we got married. I was only eighteen years old and my husband was twenty one. I will never forget the day we loaded my truck and my husband’s truck up with everything I owned and headed for our first home in Navarre, Florida. He already lived there, but this would be our first place together. I cried, my mom cried, my grandmother cried, and I think my husband cried. Once we got to where we were going, my husband and I had to unload everything ourselves. We were all alone in Florida. I didn’t have any family and at the time I didn’t have any friends.
By the end of that day, I was so emotionally and physically drained. I don’t think it was much longer after that I got depressed. Moving so far away from family really hit me hard. On the other hand, I was excited that our life as a married couple could begin. About five months after we moved to Florida, I found out we were expecting our first baby. I was so excited. I now had something that belonged to me. I had somebody that needed me. We had applied for base housing a few months before, but it takes a while to get a house. Two months before I was due we received a call that we got a house on base.
Unfortunately, we did not get to move into the house. So we were waiting again. One month before our daughter was born we finally got to move to base. I met so many new people living on base. It was an emotional rollercoaster waiting on base housing, but once we got it we were so relieved. In 2005, my husband decided to discharge from the military. We packed our things and made our move back to Mobile. From March of 2005 until August of 2005 we rented a house from family. In August we decided to build a house. We moved in with my parents until our house was done.
Finally in January of 2006 we were able to move into our new house. We were so excited to be back around family. Finally, a place to call our own. If you add that up, that is six moves in a period of three years. We went through so many emotions. We were sad to leave family, happy to meet new friends, sad we left the friends we made, but happy to be back with family. Moving has so many disadvantages, but it also has so many advantages. I wouldn’t go back and change a thing. We made so many memories that we will be able to share and cherish the rest of our lives.
