Welcome to a Day-in-the-Life where we get an inside look at how individual military spouses fill a typical day and keep their wits about them by hunting the good stuff.
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Marta has been married to her husband for 18 years. He’s served 24 years in the Army. One thing she could never, ever dare to live without is coffee. It keeps the world around her safe.
6:00 am
I’m still asleep. I don’t even roll over before my alarm goes off at 7:00 am, let alone get out of bed at six. I’m a night owl, so most days, for me, don’t end until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. I’m also not a morning person, so 6:00 am makes me shudder.
8:00 am
By now, I’ve gotten out of bed, thrown on one of my two tattered (loved) robes and made my way downstairs to drink my coffee. I sit on the couch that faces the window so I can contemplate how much one more day of living through this deployment is going to suck.
I’m thinking about all I have to get done, while simultaneously checking my emails from both personal and business accounts. I wonder why none of my “personal” emails are really personal. I get up and go upstairs to begin my childrens’ school day. We go over our Bible study reading and complete all of the subjects that we work on together (English, Geography, Science, Social Studies).
10:00 am
I’m dressed and headed to HEB (grocery store) to pick up a bouquet of flowers for the boyfriend of a Soldier who’s redeploying. As the FRG leader, he asked me to grab them since he would be getting into town late.
I head there before going to the airport to welcome her home. I stop by Starbucks to pick up a chai latte before I head over to the airport. I’m starting to feel like I’m getting sick and with planning for a redeployment soon, I have too much on my agenda to be down with an illness. I’m hoping the tea eases my sore throat.
I arrive at the airport and reply to comments that have been left on various blog posts of mine while I wait for the Soldier to arrive. I videotape the Soldier being welcomed by her boyfriend, a unit rep, and myself. I give my best to everyone and dash home to touch up the ceiling I began painting the evening before.
I love to DIY projects and my latest was trimming out the windows in our living spaces; that led to wanting to paint; which led to the ceilings “needing a different color;” which led to “I hate myself.”
12:00 pm
I clean myself up from painting to run out to a lunch with our BDE FRG Advisor and the incoming commander’s wife. She wants to get an idea of the state of affairs for the unit’s Family Readiness Groups and as the Battalion FRG Advisor for the past two years, I’m going to meet with her and give her the low-down.
I arrive to the restaurant early, so I stop into a tool store to see how much, and what kind of generators they sell. My family in Puerto Rico has been greatly affected and they have asked me to send them generators, water, batteries, and food. The generator is too small to be of any use, and the bigger ones are too large to ship through the postal service.
I leave feeling helpless and frustrated. Lunch perked my spirits up. After dealing with toxic leadership, this new commander’s spouse seems like a breath of fresh air. She gives me hope that things will improve around the unit. The fact that she’s even wanting to chat with us proves it.
2:00 pm
Lunch lasted longer than I expected, but I need to run to the cell phone store to price out a new phone for when my Soldier comes home from his deployment. I have to purchase it and get it connected at the right time so he has it to use when his boots hit the ground. The things they don’t tell you about Army life!
I decide to go to HEB (again) to pick up the stuff to make my medicinal chicken soup. I’m feeling worse by the moment and I know it’ll only get worse if I don’t start taking care of it. I debate between buying the foodstuffs my family needs or just purchasing it on Amazon and having it delivered.
I’m standing in the rice aisle about to have nervous breakdown because I want to be responsible with our money, but I want to get my family what they need ASAP. I decide to order online.
4:00 pm
I checked the kid’s schoolwork that they were to do on their own. They’re geniuses. I’m letting them have some downtime to play on the Kindles before we get back to the work of painting. Now, I’m checking emails, managing social media accounts for my blog gathering the supplies for the paint.
I’ve just realized the chicken soup still needs to be put on to cook and I get annoyed that it just can’t magically appear like on “The Jetsons.” Now, I’m getting set-up ready to paint the ceiling. Hopefully, this is the last coat.
6:00 pm
It needed another coat (BOO). I got it done and now I wait until it dries so I can continue on to the walls and trims. I want new countertops. And a new backsplash. I’m sitting on the plastic-covered floor with my bowl of chicken soup.
The Twins are telling me all about their worlds in Minecraft, and truth be told, I’m not really paying attention. A family member from our FRG calls me and tells me they’re having a personal issue, so I set my soup down to take the call in a private place. It’s not good. I give the best advice I can and offer the resources I have available. My soup is cold, but I’m no longer hungry so we clean up and I get to removing the tape. Putting up more tape. I hate painting. I hate myself for wanting to paint. I hate this.
8:00 pm
The Soldier has called. Same day, different patient in his Combat Support Hospital. Never a good day. The kids tell him about their day. I’m too exhausted to even begin. He prays with us over the phone and tells us he loves us.
I sit down to edit pictures for a blog post and answer an email for a request for a quote for a cake. They have a minimal budget. I can’t work miracles. They want me to try. I laugh. I’m finished editing the pictures so I sit with the kids and read them a story: Laura Ingalls Wilder…again. (I love it!) I put them down to sleep (on their mattresses at the foot of my bed where they always sleep when Dad’s deployed). I tiptoe out to finish my blog post.
10:00 pm
I am working on my blog post while simultaneously keeping up a social media presence on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. I’m pining over my followers being so low, but trying to focus on the good. Readership is growing, and more sponsorship offers are coming.
I take a break to get some water and set the alarms in the house and double-check that all of the doors are locked. I set a roast in the fridge to thaw for the next day’s dinner. It’s troop day so it’s always a busy day. Crockpots are my friends.
I go back upstairs to finish my blog post and schedule to post for the next day. I brush my teeth and wash my face. I take my meds and climb into bed. My brain won’t shut off for at least another hour or so, so I watch some trash tv and then pray before closing my eyes and thinking about what I DIDN’T get done today.
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