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When life feels temporary
Military spouse
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When you never know when you’ll be moving, when you’re spouse will get new orders, it’s hard to really settle in. Everything feels so temporary. For some people, it’s a temporary job, temporary school or temporary home.
The constant debates over whether to buy or rent due to the fickle nature of residency can be overheard at the Commissary any day of the week. But it’s more than that. It’s whether to plant a garden or to find a church. Whether to enroll your children in public school or homeschool them while you’re mobile.
For me, it was about friends. The many quick friends I made here seemed temporary. Especially before I decided to stick out the deployment here in Georgia, things felt so short term that I distanced myself, satisfied with the acquaintance level of friendship. I wouldn’t allow myself to make close connections or share deep feelings with people I expected to leave behind.
But when your husband leaves, plans change. My once temporary friends became my best friends, my support system in times of trials. I’ve made bonds that I know can’t be broken by distance, even if those orders come sooner than desired.
So even if the clock hangs on my wall from double-sided adhesive rather than nails and my driver’s license still reads Iowa, I’m learning that not everything has to be temporary. Some things can make any place feel like home.
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