The Military Spouse and How I Honor That Title

I wrote this for a booksigning I did at Woodworth Library at Fort Gordon in May 2010 in honor of Spouse Appreciation Week.

Good morning I am so glad you have come today to learn about the varied life of the Army spouse. Not enough is said or written about our sometimes difficult lives and all the sacrifices and life choices we make for those we love.

First of all, I want to say that writing has always been an outlet for me. I started writing when I was a little girl and have continued all of my life. This book is a collection of the poetry I have written over the years. I was at Fort Bragg (in the middle eighties), I was giving a reading of some of my poetry and another wife suggested I compile all of this into a book. That planted a seed. It wasn’t until our family retired here that this book materialized.

I finished up the poems that I wanted to include; I met the artist who drew my front cover. And then I just sat on it. Both of my kids finished up college, my husband moved on to another career and I got a job teaching English at Augusta Technical College. Still the unpublished manuscript called to me. This year- I followed my dreams.; I began the publication process last September, the book was published in January and here I am.

Like I wrote in my book, my life has been a magic carpet ride. I have seen and done things that were unimaginable. I have lived in Germany-got to feel and touch things I’d only read about in books. My husband and I went to the Innsbruck Olympics, vacationed in England, France and Spain and toured Italy and Greece. This was pretty exciting stuff for an Army Brat.

My dad was an NCO and spent 23 years in the Army. I have been a marathon ID card holder. I was issued my first card at age 11 and have had one ever since. That sums up the creative process and mindset I went through before I published.

Most of you are curious about the process I went through to get published and remain sane enough to speak to you today. After two failed attempts to get published through main stream publishers, I opted for self publishing.

I guess the key learning point here is to always believe in yourself. I guess being stubborn isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If you have any inclination or ambition of doing anything else-by all means do it. Writing has been nipping at my heels my whole life. I have done everything else but…I still create. It is in my blood, my DNA and it just won’t go away.

Attend a writer’s support group, literary functions that catch your fancy, and READ everything you can get your hands on. Reserve a day or night just to catch up with articles in the Writer’s Digest, Poets and Writer’s and sometimes I just read the market books for poetry, non-fiction and fiction just to see what is out there. Read up on trends in the writing community-my writing friends keep me informed. I also volunteer at the local writer’s conference at our city’s college-Sandhills Writers Conference. My friends know I write so they tell me when they hear of something in the writing biz. Be bold, do things just because-I ended up with the newsletter editor’s job for the AUSA Chapter at Ft. Gordon simply because I expressed an interest in writing. I was working for Raytheon as an executive secretary at the time. I volunteered to write parts of the church newsletter, I wrote our neighborhood’s newsletter, I teach English. My publisher friend called me and asked me to help launch the Columbia County Literary Guild and I did. Be open to fresh ideas even if it means you may have to work for nothing. Join literary organizations like the Georgia Poetry Society, or join your local arts councils.
The most important words of wisdom would be to always follow your heart. I may not have always made the best decisions but I have always been happy.

I want to leave you with one thought-my life was never a well thought out plan. I started out thinking I would always end up in Little Rock, Arkansas and work in the human resources department of the hospital where I worked while in college.

I never expected to marry my husband or spend my life flitting from one military base to another. I never thought I would live in Korea-much less have my second child there. Another two words comes to mind-perseverance and flexibility.

I tried to think through the nomadic life I had chosen for myself and my kids. I figured teaching would be my best bet. I went back to grad school and instead of finishing with an MA in Learning Disabilities; I opted for a teaching degree and another minor in English. I have been using it since 1984.

I never thought I would get old enough to retire-believe me time has been the only constant in my life.
When retirement was approaching-I panicked and got my real estate license. I managed to hang on for a year and then went back to teaching. In that whole year, I only sold one house but I found the one we’re living in now.

My children have graduated and left home. One is married and living in Atlanta and the other is working at SRS. My husband has gone on to another career and I am concentrating on what I love to do. Life is good.