Whew. No pressure to write something that will make Mighty MilSpouse readers want to read what I have to say. So, here we go… let’s start with the biggest question:
“What do military spouses want to read?”
Well… that’s simple. We want to read something that makes us feel seen; that we, too, contribute to the overarching mission of all branches of service, and are considered essential to mission readiness, as supported families allow service members to focus on their duties.
Nuff said.
But now that I’ve been given this opportunity, I do have some things I’d like to share that I’ve been holding back for a hot minute, like being a MilSpouse is friggin’ hard sometimes and gets lonely, isolated from family and friends-turned-family.
But in the same breath, I must acknowledge that being a MilSpouse has allowed me to grow into the human I was meant to be—reinforcing my inner strength, independence, gentleness, kindness, open-mindedness, patience, resilience, flexibility, and compassion. All qualities that have challenged me to my core, yet empowered my growth and development, because I was a military spouse for 20 years.
So, if I may, I’d be honored to share a little bit about myself, which illustrates why I am who I am. I am the firstborn daughter to a hard-working, religiously faithful mama and daddy in the foothills of southwestern Kentucky. I grew up on a fifth-generation farm where my family raised tobacco, other crops, and beef cows (Angus and Hereford).
My brother, sister, and I mowed yards in the summers for money, where my sweet mama would drive us to our yards and help us mow for hours, despite her “summer off” from teaching high school English. Neither she nor my dad knew how to stop working as they, too, were children of farmers.
My dad would stop by on a work break and help us, going over parts of the yard where we’d miss or half-assed it.
“When you do it right the first time, you won’t have to do it again,” is the advice he’d share with us. Every. Single. Time. He was so right.
And that’s been one of my life’s tenets. I hated working like a dog in the summers, but boy oh boy did it position me in a super sweet spot to pull strength from and persevere despite what I wanted to do, which was not chop out tobacco or mow at the butt crack of dawn so we could work in the coolness of the morning before it got too hot.
Putting in the work comes second nature, so moving across the country on average every three years, raising my boys pretty much as a single mom, and feeling like I was wasting my gifts, professional experience, and education put me in the dark. All the things weighed heavily on my mind.
But it also fueled my need to contribute and pour into something much bigger. And that something was investing my time and energy into my military community.
I’ve worked with, supported, encouraged, and loved my fellow military spouses and their children for eons, but now, I’ll use this platform to elevate, lift, and honor the lives of our MilSpouse community by telling their stories; stories of how grit, determination, and courage are what we’re made of.
I want to know the why, how, when, and what now of each story as they are conduits of making things happen!
So… if you will… say hello, check in, and communicate your thoughts with me because I want to share your stories. Get ready for articles about lessons learned, best practices, life experiences, counsel, how-tos, stories of empowerment, where do we go from here, how was I so blind, and how to grow from what we’ve learned so that we can be our best selves.
Comment or contact me, Mighty Milspouses. I’ll listen with an open mind because I see you.
MilSpouses… We ‘bout to DO THIS, TOGETHER!
Much love,
Sara Jane
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