It’s Mandi…spouse, mom, teacher, nurse, dad, housekeeper, the list goes on….

Hey everyone!  My name is Mandi and I am the proud wife to an Airmen.  He has 18 years in and while we talk about retirement I have a feeling we still have some time left before he finally hangs up those ABU’s.  He loves his job…a lot.  I have an amazing 13 year old stepdaughter who lives with her mom and stepdad in Texas and I have two completely fantastic little boys.  John Braden is 4 and little Charlie is 6 months old.  I also have a neurotic Weimaraner who is 9.  Her name is Bama (ROLL TIDE!!) and she definitely keeps us on our toes with her crazy antics.  I am a full time student, full time mom, full time wife, and part time dad.  The order varies depending on the day and deployment situationJ.  In my spare time I run a facebook page for military wives here at Moody AFB. 

We are currently stationed at Moody AFB in Valdosta, GA.  When my husband got home from deployment in March we had spent just over 6 months together in the previous 2+ years.  This base is my first real experience as a military wife since I was active duty for 8 years.   I had to be on a quick learning curve when I came over to this side of the fence since my husband was first in Greenland and then in Afghanistan essentially leaving me to fend for myself in this new world of spousehood.  Becoming a military wife has brought a whole new set of challenges and taught me that I am a much stronger woman than I thought I was.  It has also made me even prouder (if that is possible) of my military community.  It made me realize that this experience, the experience of being a military spouse, is something that only another spouse can understand.  It has made me realize that, because of our geographic isolation from “real” family, we are forced to make our own.  It is a family of our choosing and of people who are there for you because they WANT to be there for you. 

One of the lessons I’ve learned is that, while we are all proud of our Airmen, Soldier, Marine, Sailor, or Coastie (not sure what the “correct” term is for those Coast Guard guys…sorry), we should be proud of ourselves too!  We are military spouses.  We work just as hard and sacrifice just as much but most times with little fanfare and recognition.  We do it because we love our spouses and whether they are here with us or somewhere else in the world we couldn’t imagine a life that didn’t have them in it.  This is our normal and that’s OK.  Don’t get me wrong, there are days when I would love to have someone else’s “normal” but then I remember all the amazing people I have met on my journey thus far and I’m so glad this is the path I’ve been led down.

Now enough with the sappy crap!  I want to thank Just For Military for allowing me to join their family of spouse bloggers!  I look forward to sharing the experiences that are still to come on this path and maybe even a few from the past!  Hopefully it isn’t all cleaning up puke (dog and kid), doing laundry, loading the dishwasher, and homework so I’ll be able to add at least a little excitement to this thing!

Be sure to hit me up on the comments, follow me, and get involved!  I would love to hear from you.