When Life Throws You a Grenade You Make... Lemonade?

The five words that any mother dreads to hear: “I am joining the Army.” You always expect something like this type of announcement to be considered a joke or a moment of reflection. Like “what if I joined the Army?” Or “There’s always the Army – HAHA!” But when I looked at his face – that beautiful strong and familiar face – I realized there was no joke. No what ifs. He was 100% serious. Our eyes locked for a while. I was reading those eyes. Trying to find some glimpse of humor or doubt, and I saw none. It’s like I could see his determination spelled out across his forehead. I turned away from him for a moment to collect my breath and it wasn’t until that moment that I realized I hadn’t inhaled or exhaled in quite some time. I took in a nice long breath, turned to face him and smiled the biggest smile. "Well, if that is what you want to do, I will support you absolutely no matter what!" And just like that my husband at the age of 35 became a soldier for the United States Army, I became an Army Wife, and together we have three Army Brats. (well, of course it wasn't 'just like that.' It took about 3 months of paperwork and waiting and more paperwork and more waiting... but it became official today) So I am making this blog not only to track my family's emotions and adventures, but also to record our daily happenings for when Billy gets sent away and wants to read about what his kids and wife are doing back at home. To Billy: I seriously couldn't be more proud of you than I am right now. My love is too big for words.