Lessons From Married To The Army: Alaska

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I'd like to thanks the ladies of Married To The Army: Alaska for being one of the best tutorials on spouse life I've ever had. We were a few months into our my first deployment as a military SO when the show premiered and the families on the show were just a few weeks ahead of us. That was so great. Here's what I learned.

1) I learned it would be nice to have military friends to do thing things with and have for Battle Buddies. Nobody understands what it feels like to worry about your loved one in a war zone like someone in the same boat.

2)  I learned what it would feel like for my fiance to come home for R and R and for my husband to leave from R and R. Loved watching the arrivals imagining ours was just weeks away. I also learned that being together after separations is not easy. On top of that I learned that sometimes they come home way earlier than expected and mess up your well-timed schedule which is awesome and stressful at the same time. Little did I know our man would come home two days early just like Lindsay's did. Then I cried my eyes out watching each wife say goodbye after the two-week leave.

3) I learned the value of great military wife role models. You AMAZE me Mrs. Goins! You are my role model for gracious, exemplary, loving living.

4) I learned how important it is to take good care of yourself, especially emotionally during deployment. Loved watching Blair and Rynn work through their challenges and come out even better on the other side. Plus it was nice to see what it was like for Rynn to go to counseling for the first time. That's a big step for most and it's great to see someone take it so you know you can if you need to. Seems like the lesson was there is peace on the other side.

5)  I learned about The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman and immediately had our little one take the test. Loved learning how to love her better! Again, thanks Rynn for sharing your journey! And I'm still sorry that they used that clip of your bedside meltdown so many times. I know you weren't like that the whole deployment even if they made it seem that way sometimes. Love you!

6) I learned that the TSA will allow military families to get a gate pass and go to the gate to meet their returning loved ones. I had no idea about that and neither did my husband. I had to check that out when I saw every wife going to the gate or at least trying to get to the gate to meet their husbands coming back for R and R.

I arranged it all and didn't tell my fiance that Clementine and I would be there waiting for him to walk off that plane. Even though there were lots of military personnel on the plane, I think we were the only family there, the rest of them were going on to other destinations. So it was a fantastic surprise! This was definitely the best thing I learned from the show!

Married To The Army Alaska was a gift for me in the first half of deployment. I think the first half was definitely the hardest for me. It really helped get me through. Things changed a lot for us in the second half of deployment and I was so busy that it just flew by. I'll be forever thankful for the ladies of Married To The Army Alaska for helping me get through and for all the things I learned as they shared their lives.