A Day in the Life of an Army Wife: No Daily Routine

My husband’s name is Dylan. We go as far back as eighth grade, but have been together for a total of almost three years. We started dating our senior year of high school and became completely inseparable. He had never had a girlfriend before and his parents said we would never last. One day lead to the next and sooner than I thought, there I was at my senior prom with this man who is 6’3” tall and I am only 4’10”. Prom was one of the best nights of my life (second to my wedding night of course). It was May 29th 2010, and he walks me out onto a balcony with candle lit tables, for all the seniors. The balcony over looked a beautiful lake, surrounded by golf fields, and forest. Right there in front of our class mates, friends, enemies, and a few of my ex-boyfriends, he proposed to me.

I was only 17 he was 18. We spent every waking moment with each other knowing our time together would come to an end in just a few short weeks. June 22nd 2010 he flew out for basic. We couldn’t talk for months. I hated it. I wore his sweatshirt to bed every night even though it was summer. I wrote to him in a journal every day just of my day to day activities, and promised him I would give that to him. I waited for each and every single letter to come freaking out every time I got one. He wrote me poems, made me things, and said how much he missed me. We were Thousands of miles apart but were still completely together.

Now he is stationed in Germany and we married August 25th 2012. I am currently waiting for him to get me over there so we can finally live together. As for my everyday schedule, I don’t have a routine. Every day in the life of an Army wife is different, because every day of a soldier is different. Even though he is there and I am here on the west side of the U.S. my everyday life revolves around him still. Sometimes I am up until 7 in the morning waiting for a phone call on his lunch and to skype after he gets off work, that’s what I am doing tonight. But last night I was asleep, waiting out the four days we couldn’t talk because he was in the field.

I have no morning, because I don’t have a regular sleep schedule, I don’t really have an afternoon, and as far as evening goes, it’s usually the majority of my day. I don’t work so I will be up late to talk with him, and sleep in even later. What I do when I am awake though is get prepared to go to Germany and be with him. Most things I do somehow have to do with Dylan; whether I am packing my things, or shopping for things I will need over there.There are only a few routines I have every day. One, I take a shower, never at the same time as the day before, and never the same length, sometimes not even a shower, but a bath to relax instead. Two, I tell my husband I love him every single day because when you are thousands of miles apart you can never remind each other enough. Three, I do something, never the same thing, but something to better myself (i.e. quit smoking, exercise, broaden my knowledge in some way…). And finally, I do an hour and a half of yoga every day.

Something I should mention about my day, is that unlike many military wives, I can’t call my husband. I have to wait for him to call me. Because he is in Germany I can’t afford to pay for international calling. Something I have also been doing everyday recently is crying because he was here with me for two weeks on our honey moon and just two weeks ago I had to say goodbye to him at the airport. So every night when I go to bed there is a tear because he isn’t there to hold me. When I watch a movie there is a tear because a few weeks ago, he was there next to me. I am still getting used to him being gone again. Every time he leaves it’s like saying goodbye for the first time all over again. It doesn’t help that I have a picture of him in full uniform, and salute in a frame that says “YOU ARE MY HERO”. Right now I am still going through wedding photos, and more tears come. Though these tears are tears of joy. Happy to finally be married to him.

It doesn’t matter how far away he is, or how long it’s been since I have seen him. He is my soldier and I will be his. I am his support. I am his soldier because when it’s time for a 6’3” man to break down and cry because he misses his family, or just can’t handle the military life, it is me a 4’10” girl to lift him back up, and send him back out there. A military wife must be strong enough to not only support herself but to support her husband as well, and eventually her children. No matter what the circumstance is no matter what I have to do, I exchanged vows with him, I am here to support him every step of the way all the way to the end.

Jasmine