Saying Goodbye Is Never Easy, Even For Army Wives

As a child I was extremely shy. I remember the first time my mom told me that I would have to switch schools in a different area of town. I was in the third grade and I felt like my life was over and we weren’t even a military family. I remember walking into the school cafeteria for breakfast, my stomach sinking with each step and the audience of kids watching and wondering who the new girl was, or at least that’s what I thought.

Fast forward 20 some odd years later and I get the same sinking feeling in my stomach every time we PCS (which means move in military lingo) and my son and daughter have to start their first day of school. Over the years though I’ve learned that second and third graders warm up to their new peers easier then middle school kids. It’s always hard on a middle school aged girl to leave her activities, friends and comfortable environment behind. This particular PCS we came to Fort Bragg, and although we made the choice to live off post we knew there was no shortage of military kids living here as well. Entering her off post middle school was easy because the majority were children of service members themselves, but for many the transition is not that easy. Kids are still kids and cliques are already in place and in the midst of all that is your child trying to blend their way in.

As a wife leaving my friends, for me the first time was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I was in my early twenties and for the first part of my Army wife life hardly had any friends at all. It was not until my husband deployed at Hunter Army Airfield that I met what became one of my closest and only friends at that time. We both lived off post had kids the same age and both our husband’s had just been deployed. We even moved on post at the same time (when housing became available) and literally shared the same schedule in our everyday lives. The hardest part was leaving that nice small base atmosphere, leaving my friend who provided stability and PCS’ing to a bigger base in Hawaii and having to deal with the difference in the Army wives there. I think being on an island does something to the Army wives there and everyone gets the “island fever disease”, but that’s another story for another day!

Many will say that military life is what you make of it, but the constant moving sometimes makes it hard to make anything of it.

Oh the joys of military life!

Will Ft. Marshall be closing?  Find out Sunday when Season 6 of Army Wives premieres, 9pm/8c on Lifetime!

Discover more from our Real Army Wives:

• Deployment: 3 Tips to Stay Sane While He's Gone!
• Keeping it Together While Your Husband is Away (For Months!!)