17 Ways Military Spouses Are Lucky

T.T. Robinson

Do you ever have one of those “I wish I was that lucky” moments? Maybe you saw on Facebook that your friend’s MIL took her 4 kids for a 3-day weekend. Maybe you heard that your neighbors received military orders to your dream duty station. Maybe your co-worker got the promotion that you had your eye on.

When faced with these bummer moments, if you are like me, you might say “Geez. I wish I was that lucky.”

Do you believe that you’re lucky?

See, luck is a state of mind. When we believe we’re lucky then we find those lucky pennies sitting heads up on the sidewalk. Our perspective shifts from the dark clouds of gloomy thoughts to the rainbow that follows the rain. When we believe we’re lucky we don’t need that rabbit’s foot and we don’t need to roll the dice at a Vegas casino. We can simply make an endless amount of luck daily. And the best part? There’s always space for luck in our household goods shipment.

We’re lucky that we get to live in locations that are completely out of our comfort zone.

When stationed in Okinawa, Japan, many of my relatives (the ones who were born and raised and will most likely die in their hometown) kept asking me “so how’s it living in Japan?” I always had the same answer. “While some people may be lucky enough to visit Japan, which in itself is amazing. We are lucky enough to live in Japan for 3 years.”

We’re lucky because we get to experience the pleasure of the PCS purge.

We’re lucky that our children can roam and explore their on-base neighborhoods. Just put a box of Popsicles in your freezer, leave your garage door open and watch what happens.

We’re lucky that many national companies offer military discounts.

We’re lucky because we get the opportunity to be friends with our opposite.

The  military is a microcosm of America. As a member of that microcosm, we have the opportunity to befriend someone who is completely different than us. And we get to teach each other about one another. Do you think I would have befriend a woman who grew up in Philadelphia if I stayed in my home state of Iowa? Do you like I would have learned to make tamales from scratch? Or cheer on high school students at a lacrosse tournament? None of these friendships with my opposite would have happened if I wasn’t a military spouse.

We’re lucky enough to get a second, third or tenth “first kiss” when our spouse comes home from a deployment.

We’re lucky that we are military spouses in the digital age. Can I get an amen? Or at least a Facebook thumbs up? I know that as annoying as a dropped FaceTime call can be, imagine waiting for letters to arrive or sending letters that may never get delivered. Let’s take a moment to thank our lucky stars that we get to be military spouses during the Age of the iPhone.

Speaking of the Internet ….

We’re lucky that we can connect with military spouses stationed around the world through social media. Our network extends way beyond the gates of our military installation.

We’re lucky that some of us have the option of location independent employment.

We’re lucky that our kids practice their geography lessons with every introduction.

“I was born in North Dakota. My dad’s from Vermont, mom’s from Oregon and they met in Texas. My sister was born in Florida and we are moving to California this summer.”

We’re lucky to be part of a community that supports each other.

Every day I see military spouses thinking of new and creative ways to support those serving on the homefront.

We’re lucky to have friends stationed around the country.

Cross country PCS? No need to book hotel rooms. Just plan your route based on your military friends’ current duty stations. Offer to cook them dinner in exchange for your room and board.

We’re lucky we get to know our postal carrier on a first-name basis.

We’re lucky that our service members can save up their leave for month-long family vacations between military assignments. And if we’re really lucky, we’ll use our free military National Parks pass to experience America’s natural beauty.

We’re lucky that our duty stations provide a reason for our extended family members to vacation far from home. (Only 3 more months in Hawaii before we PCS. Cousin Adam, book your flight today.) We’re like a timeshare without any of the fees.

We’re lucky enough to say that we volunteered to be military spouses.

For 99.9 percent of us, we didn’t set out to marry a service member. Love is a funny thing. We were lucky enough to fall in love with a service member and then we learned to love the Armed Forces as much as he or she does.

See military spouses, we are the lucky ones.

Originally published on NextGenMilSpouse.com

T.T. Robinson is a proud Navy wife, writer, and crisis management consultant- a skill that proves useful every day as the mother of two young children.