NextGen MilSpouse is excited to partner with the publishers of Modern Military Spouse to bring our readers the following excerpt.
Modern Military Spouse is a comprehensive e-book for today’s military spouse. This 14-chapter book contains 20+ printable documents and checklists, along with 3 bonus sections. Our favorite is the resume building checklist. You’ve got to check it out.
Happy reading!
There are many defining moments that shape us into the individuals we become.
When my husband, then fiancé, asked me to marry him, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. If we’re being totally honest, I don’t think I actually said yes so much as I skipped goofily around my dorm room with a big fat smile plastered across my face as my fiancé laughed at my antics. I’ll just say that we understand each other. He knew what he was getting with me: a feminist, a fiercely independent woman (hold on to that one, kids), and a ride-or die partner to the end.
As a former military brat, I was pretty confident. I knew what I was getting with him as well. As the oh-so poignant cliché goes, I would follow him to the ends of the Earth. And as I now know, both God and the United States Air Force have one hell of a sense of humor.
As all good military stories start…there I was, at our first duty assignment at RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom. I didn’t say there WE were because there
was no geographic “we”. The Air Force, in its infinite wisdom, moved us all the way from North Carolina to the United Kingdom to turn around and fly my husband back to the United States for eight weeks of training a week after I arrived in country.
I had no job, no friends, no husband, and no GPS, but I did have a brand new license to drive on the other side of the road.
First of all, can you believe they had the nerve to call me dependent? Second, being alone in a foreign country with no friends or family is scary. I can say that now. I couldn’t bring myself to think about it then. Third, who has two thumbs and desperately wanted to start working on all of her professional goals? This girl right here.
Over the course his eight-week training I applied for several jobs, secured a temporary job substitute teaching, drove to London, Norwich, Cambridge, and Bury St. Edmunds, made two friends, hauled home an armoire in a Volvo Sedan and assembled it, and spent hours playing Madden 2004 training camps on our Gamecube—I was determined to whip his butt when he got home…and I did. I wiped the floor with him 60-0. Looks like somebody learned how to play defense. SAFETY!
What I didn’t do was die of loneliness. I didn’t sit quietly in my house. I didn’t run home. I came. I saw. I put the IN in independent. I got this.
Fast-forward two more months and I had finally landed a full-time job. As part of my job training, I was required to attend the base spouse orientation. During the icebreaker, I introduced myself to the spouse next to me. As I told her how excited I was to be attending the event and that I was training to facilitate this event in the future, her eyes dimmed and with her head tilted ever so sympathetically to the side, she asked me,
How are you going to be a good military spouse if you’re working?
I don’t remember anything else after that. I think I short-circuited and mentally blacked out. What I do know is that spouse’s words lit a fire in my soul to encourage military spouses to live military life on their own terms.
As far as I knew, up to the time of the meeting of the Stepford Spouse, I had been a pretty kick-ass military spouse. I figured things out. I made things happen. I embraced adventure. And I didn’t let military life keep me from achieving my dreams and vision for myself. Even though I was confident that I was on the right path for my life with my serving spouse, I couldn’t find myself or my approach to military life represented in any military spouse books, articles, or guides.
But I knew I wasn’t alone.
I couldn’t be.
Ultimately, the Stepford Spouse’s words would serve as the fuel that motivated me to launch NextGen MilSpouse and MSB New Media which put me into orbit with amazing military spouse bloggers and writers like JD Collins, Lauren Tamm, and Jo, My Gosh!.
Being a military spouse during the age of social media is changing the military spouse experience, too. All of a sudden we have the ability to tap into communities for instant feedback on questions about picking the right dentist to where to go if you need a Power of Attorney.
As much as I love social media for crowdsourcing about military life, I don’t like my resources served side-eye and a heaping pile of judgment. In this book, you’ll find none of that. Whether you have a ring (or not), or have fur babies (or human babies), or are already a seasoned spouse (we have got to find a different way to say that), this book has something to offer you or somebody you know.
When Jo, JD, and Lauren approached me to write the forward for Modern Military Spouse I couldn’t have been more honored and excited.
It’s about time we got a guide for military spouses that offers a fresh multi-dimensional perspective of what it means to be a military spouse today.
This team covers all the bases…pun totally intended.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I know you will, too. It was like I was sitting down to coffee with three of the coolest military spouses I know chatting about life, lessons learned, and what it means when the one you love is serving in our nation’s military.
Do you know how I know you’re going to be a good military spouse? Because you’re going to read this book and then pass it on to a friend.
We’re an affiliate for Modern Military Spouse, so if you decide to buy this book, please consider using our link…we’ll make a little money to keep NextGen MilSpouse up and running.
