Randomness

Just a little randomness to brighten your day - and when I say brighten; I mean really mean it will make me happy - I'm sure you will care less.

Ok.

Post Office Madness.

It's cold. It's wet. We are all standing in a line that isn't moving, and yet, we can't leave because we really want the crap we ordered off Amazon - yes, everyone who lives in Germany is ordering crap off of Amazon -. We are all on our lunch breaks. We are all in a hurry to get on with the next part of our Craptastic day.

Except you.

It was cute for about 10 seconds.

Your little "angels" are driving the rest of us insane. And they are going to get hurt.

Really...is it a great idea to let a two year old play in the doorway of a automatic door with gale force winds and rain that could probably blow his little ass out the freaking door? Not only is it stupid, I'M FUCKING COLD because he won't let the door shut. Oh, fabulous I'm also getting rained on, as are the two other people in front of you. AWESOME.

Hey MOM....yeah, your little angel is currently running out of the front door and you don't seem to care. FANTASTIC!

They are rolling around in the middle of an already cramped hallway; now people have to step over them, or try and squeeze by them without smacking them in the head with a size eleven! OUTSTANDING!

We are all about ten feet away from the pick window because your kid will not move forward, and is licking the window. DID YOU FORGET HIS HELMET MOM?

I can't make this shit up people. I may sound a little bitter, and for awhile I thought I was the only one ready to schooled the little one. Oh no. I was surrounded by other folks, other parents, that were ready to beat the crap out of mom for being a dumbass.

That made me happy.

Chatty Cathy & Nosy Nellie

OMG. LOL. IDK. my BFF, Jill. (Shamelssly taken from Goerge Lopez)

But I'm sure what else to say! Actually I do know what to say....Ha.

Who the hell thinks its okay to go to their next door neighbors and say, " Oh, I saw movers here, and because I know you aren't supposed to be moving until the summer, I was being NOSY and wanted to come over and find out what was going on". O.M.G. Really?????. On top of that, imagine if you thought it was okay to let your dogs wander into your house -French doors in the back were left open- and wander around asking what was happening here.

Oh yeah...the flip flops would be coming off Homie.

This little incident is real. It happened to my friend. And these people to exist. Run. Run far, far away.

When this story was related to me, my jaw hit the fucking floor. I swear to God I would have lost it.

I have to get my friend MAD PROPS for not knocking the stupid right out of this person. She instead preceded to explain; in a VERY blunt matter, why she was moving early, and that it was not really anyone else business, but Thanks for asking. And to my and my friend's amazement the person stayed and told her that the same situation had happened to her, and if my friend needed to talk, she was there to listen. Wow.

It may have been a nice offer; however >comma< the only reason you want to be a shoulder to cry on is so you can have more gossip to share with the rest of the witches you interact with. Not only that, my friend stood up for herself by leaving her piece of shit husband, whereas you are still with your loser husband. What help do you really think you can offer?

Folks, I am in awe of the pathetic and lonely nature of so many of the mil. wives that live in this area. Is your life so empty that you would wander over to a nieghbors house - someone you have never talked to before - and tell them you are nosy and want to know what you are doing, and why you doing it.

Words fail me.

Stupidity of 2009 is alive and kickin'.

A round up of Today's News.......

I have been very neglectful of my blog and readers lately. I do apologize. Life decided that I wasn't busy enough and so it took the opportunity to fling more poo in my direction. Just in case I wasn't dealing with enough shit as it was.

Oh. Joy.

So here it is. A much needed blog entry.

~ News of the Week ~

~ E.R. What you should know, but don't. ~ By our girl on Street, Me. ~

Recently our girl on the street experienced her first trip to the local military E.R. The trip began with a phone call from a close friend at around 10:30 pm - within minutes it was decided that we should get her to the ER A.S.A.P. Our girl on the street leaped into action, and immediately stubbed her toe on a chair. She decided that it might be better to slowly spring into action. Armed with smokes, an I.D and cold weather gear...she was ready to go.

In all it took almost an hour to reach said hospital - several stops on the way, and a rat maze of Germany roads hindered our usual fast driving skillz. Yeah. No fun.

We were greeted with ' Well, ma'am, I don't want to scare you off but the wait is about 2-3 hours.'. Fuck. And there began the wait of the century. Sure enough at the two hour mark we were finally called back. At this point my friend was in extreme pain, and calling for a " bucket" and telling the attending " she was damp". Oh, this is going to be fun. It's 1:30 am.

Shortly after my friend was settled into her cubicle, the real fun began.

(I can't go into too much detail....those of you in the military will understand....so please be patience with my story-telling)

Apparently an individual of a very high ranking status was brought in. Let's just say...he was an LC. Startted to go crazy, and the doctor began calling his superiors so he could be placed in Charlie ward. (short for CRAZY ward). Why am I telling you this...well for the following reasons....

1. We are in a CUBICLE. Its a sheet that surrounds us...not a wall. Therefore WE CAN HEAR EVERYTHING.

2. The attending ER staff apparently don't understand the concept of a sheet vs a wall, and are practically shouting the patient's name, rank, and medical problems to the whole ER. I know now who the patient is, what his rank is, where he works...etc. GREAT OPSEC GUYS!

3. Because of this person and his issues....we are still waiting to be seen....its 2:30 in the morning.

4. My friend is freaking out. She has a three day Migraine going on...and is about to pass out from it.

Soooooo......

We finally get seen at 3:00, and medication is administered. Better living through medication. At this point the ER area is swarming with Sr. ranking folks, their wives, bunches of attending personnel, and they are talking as if no one can hear them. Really? -- I say rather loudly that we are standing behind a SHEET...NOT A WALL. I CAN hear ya'll. And it goes quiet. For about a second and they resume their babble. Way to keep everything on the Down Low.

FINALLY, we are discharged and sent to the after hours pharmacy for meds. Sweet. We can home after this. Uh huh. After hours pharmacy is on the other side of the hospital, and its under construction. What should have taken five minutes turned into over 35 minutes. Why? Because the pharmacist got locked in his Medication closet. Oh, yeah. This is awesome! this definitely the mental giant I want dispensing my meds!!!

We leave. It's 4:00 am.

I get her home, and I get home at around 5:30. I'm in bed by 6:00.

I have to be up at 9:00. At work until 8:00.

Yeah.


Next week we will be discussing the phenomenon known as Sheepeople.

Where's the love?

I usually don't harp on and on about the issue of child free vs. having children; despite the fact that this blog is dedicated to the life of a child free military wife. Believe me, I'm laughing too.

However, over the past few weeks I have been observing a lot of discussions, and situations which involve the idea of child free vs. Mommies. As much as I try to stay of the "mosh-pit" child free debates; I felt the need to throw my hat into the ring, and offer my opinion up to the Internet community.

As I have pointed out numerous times - I'm a child free military wife - not an easy position to be in; if you know anyone or anything about the military lifestyle you will know that we are a VERY small minority. And it is the basis of my current thought-process. Military lives and children seem to be a oxymoron, or a contradiction. As a dependent of a military man, and former military brat; having children in the military can be a difficult challenge and at times heart-breaking. The extended time away, the long work hours, the uncertain work schedules, the constant change of station, the inconsistency and overall worry. Sound like a child friendly environment?

And yet, the majority of military folks have children, and they make it work. It can be done, and I applaud the couples that make it work.

My point to all of this is the a certain form of discrimination that follows us child free spouses -- our choice not to have children is as personal and meaningful to us as the choice to have children is to other spouses. And yet, we are treated differently once people realize that not only do we not *have* children; we don't *want* children. I always felt like I was imagining it; I thought that many of the other wives I didn't "hit it off" with was due to a personality conflict, or we just didn't have enough in common to maintain a friendship.

However, it slowly dawned on me that it wasn't just that I didn't have kids.....but it was because I didn't want them. Really? How can so many parents look at us and tell us we are too judgmental of their choice to breed, when you look at me and judge me before you take the chance to know me?

Our child free communities, chat rooms, groups,etc.... are all too often stereo-typed by parental figures as being naive, bitter, barren, selfish people who hate children. Without a doubt there are certain groups that are pretty brutal and militant about their views on children; but there is so much more to us... there is so much more to me, and the majority of child free folks.

The bottom line - The majority of child free people and couples do not judge your choices, and only ask to be treated with the same friendly acceptance you show your fellow parental units. We don't judge you - don't judge us.

Seasoned Spouse?

A seasoned military wife? Is there really such a thing? And if there is what exactly makes you seasoned? I'm not sure I would want to be labeled as a seasoned anything - it conjurers up an image of a side of meat slathered in too many spices. What a great thing to be compared to - smelly, bloody tough piece of unappetizing meat -. I much prefer experienced or knowledgeable spouse. Don't you?

Sorry I get distracted easily.

Again, I have to ask what exactly makes you seasoned, or should I say, experienced? Is it time? I'm not sure if that really works. I have met many spouses that have more than 10 years in the military life. The majority fall into two categories - they are either bitter, or completely immersed in their husband's career that they have forgotten who they are or what they want. Of course there are always exceptions to that rule, and those exceptions are the wives I call friends. :)

Is it that they have a larger knowledge base than newer spouses? I suppose that is obvious, since spouses with more than 5 years are bound to have more information than a brand new spouse. Right? Well, not necessarily. There are many spouses that have been in for quite sometime, but have only experienced one or two PCS's and although they have a foundation of useful facts on certain bases, or stateside moves - they may not know about overseas bases, or extended TDY's, or (insert option here). It doesn't make them any less a military wife, however, it proves that time in does not equal all knowing.

Is it that they have a strong understanding of military protocol, standards, regulations...etc. Maybe. However, I pretty sure there are few active duty members that could quote all protocol, or reg. and know how it applies to each and every military member and their specific job req. Even if they did have such unlimited knowledge - it proves they have too much time on their hands, and need to get a hobby....with real people they can talk with.

So what makes you an 'experienced' spouse?

~ Admitting that you don't know everything - and taking the opportunities to learn from others who have been there, and done that....no matter how long you have been in the military life.

~ Common sense. You don't need a book on being a military wife to explain to you that most of what we go through can be dealt with using common sense. An experienced spouse will know that squadron rumors, or unsupported wife gossip is not a value tool in knowing how to deal with TDY's, deployments...etc. Common sense will be a key quality in any spouse, no matter how long you have been doing this.

~ Bitter. Who am I to talk right? But I'm bitter about stupid people, and retarded shit that only happens to me. I'm NOT bitter about being a military wife, or the associated crap that comes with it. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, and I have only myself to blame if I ever saw it otherwise.
Bitter, angry spouses should never been seen as a good source of info, or help. I don't care if they have been in 20+years, been to every base you want to go to, and have been through double-digit deployments. If they see everything as the glass half full, or everything that is wrong with their lives ins the fault of the military....BACK AWAY SLOWLY & RUN in the opposite direction.
Everything they tell you will be tainted with anger, resentment, bitterness, and out of date info - a lot changes on a base in 15 years.

However, they serve an important purpose - what not to be in 15+ years.

In my humble opinion you need all of the above qualities or outlooks, and some of the following ~ Faithful, honest, straight-forward, confident, committed, open, friendly, and most of all slightly crazy!!! :)Its not easy living the way we do; but it even harder being our active duty counterparts - never forget that.

~ Its not a super power; isn't not the the 'toughest' job in the military; we aren't special because of who our spouses are; its just different.~