******This post is part of the Real Army Wives series which runs every Monday on storiesofourboys.com. The series follows our journey through the 1st year of the Iraq war, 2003-2004. **********

June 24, 2003

Dear Alan,

……Operation Iraq is getting more news time now. The big issue is the mounting amount of coalition troop deaths since the official end of the war. Just this week there were at least 6 British troops killed, and American lives are constantly lost.

Two more were reported yesterday, and each time I hear of it–it’s just awful. I mean not only could that be us (God willing it won’t be), but I feel so awful for those families. I’ve thought about how I would feel and what I would do– Oh!! So terrible! I feel so bad for those families.

I had my teacher certification test today! What a day!

Well, I slept later than I planned, first of all. By ten I was on my way to Waco, about to stop in Belton to pick up Siobhan, who was going to ride with me. Well, then I realized I’d forgotten my test ticket, which you have to have!

But we had planned to go early, so I was okay. Siobhan went on without me, and I circled back home for my ticket and still made it to Waco at 1:00 — 30 minutes before the test.

So I’m looking at my ticket–and I realize–my test is in AUSTIN! (It was given in both cities, but you have to take it at the site you are registered for.

Aughhhh!!! So I go in to ask the administrators what to do. Well, I was so early they weren’t there yet, so I hopped back in the Blazer and drove 90 mph to Austin, and I made it in an hour–very good time.

I was so afraid they wouldn’t let me take it, being so late. But they did. They were even nice about it.

But, Alan, that test was HARD! I just hope I passed. You have to get 80% right to pass!

Well, I was planning to go to Stephanie’s BBQ afterwards, but she cancelled it. But Cloe, Elsie, and Sarah all dropped by unplanned. That was a lot of fun. Sarah and Cloe stayed until 10pm.

Oh! And while I was in Austin the guys next door cut my  our grass! Yay!

Well, that’s about all the news. North Korea situation isn’t looking good.

I love you, Alan. You’re my lobster.

I LOVE YOU!!

April

***************

Kayla, Heather, Cloe, Elsie, & me, watching movies at Cloe’s house. Cloe was on the phone, which is perfect because it always seemed like Cloe managed to talk to her husband way more than the rest of us did.

Around the first of May, I’d started teacher certification school.

Anyone with a bachelor’s degree could enroll, take the “highly qualified” teacher exam, and apply for a probationary teacher certification. My degree was in psychology, but if I completed the course, passed the exam, and taught for one complete year in a Texas school, I could have a teaching certificate.

In the meantime, I was an intern.

Teacher training helped me to pass the time with something other than board games and t.v. watching, so I suppose that was good. It gave me a goal to work towards, even if it was a goal I wasn’t particularly excited about.

The first month of teaching classes were in a large class of about 50 adult students. I was probably the youngest one there, having only just graduated that year, and having graduated a semester early at that.

We did learn all sorts of teaching strategies I would have never dreamed up otherwise, but we never learned how to teach a child to read. It was immensely helpful, but it certainly didn’t compare to a 4-year-teaching degree.

The second month of teaching school was broken into grade levels. I was signed up to be a 4th-8th grade teacher, so we were all put together. That brought the class size down to around 20. For that class, we focused mostly on math skills so that we could all pass this intermediate teaching exam.

It was a good thing, too. The teaching exam was no joke, especially on math.

I won’t make you wait, as I had to wait. I’ll go ahead and tell you that I did pass the test, and then my job hunt was on.

Never did it occur to me at the time that the whole botched test location was perhaps a sign that I should pursue a career I actually wanted, rather than one that just seemed easy to obtain.

Isn’t it funny how sometimes all the signs are right in front of us, but we don’t see them?

Was I praying about this decision? I don’t remember, honestly.

Looking back at this letter to Alan, it looks like the Lord telling my guardian angel to attempt to spare me this giant face-scrape on the sidewalk I was headed for.

“Hide her ticket. Take her to the wrong city. Gracious, don’t let her die while she’s driving so ridiculously fast trying to get somewhere she doesn’t even belong…”

Sometimes you just have to fall flat on your face to see more clearly, to snap out of your stupor.

July and August were a series of huge mistakes for me, mistakes that affected more than just myself, ones I regretted for years afterward. But, oh, how I grew!

I’ve heard it said, and you know it’s true: More people would learn from their mistakes, if they weren’t so busy denying them.

I’m not going to deny my mistakes here. Instead, I want to share them so perhaps you can learn from them too, but you’ll have to come back next Monday for my next big mistake. It actually had nothing to do with teaching.

Click here to read last week’s post and catch up on what you may have missed.

Go here to read the next post in this series.

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The post Letters to War June 24, 2003: The Teaching Test Troubles appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

These women + Pam and sometimes Sally, Suzy, Tegan, Amy, and Katie. These women are how I got through Operation Iraqi Freedom I, 2003-2004. We were the real “Army Wives,” long before cable had that t.v. show. And I know so many spouses just like us, all over the world, across all branches of service. We have this unique life, which is both good and bad, and our stories are worth hearing.

I don’t know if you remember, but before I gave birth to JD, I was writing a book. Yes, that was over three years ago now. I haven’t touched it that whole time.

I can’t write that particular book anymore. It’s not the book I want to write at this time.

Each morning I open my inbox in hope of seeing a blog job offer that I will want to take on. This week I had opportunities to review a security system, a bidet, and coconut oil that costs $20 a jar…..when you can buy it for $8 a jar at any grocery store, yes, even organic. I was a little less than enthused. I passed on those.

(####As a blogger, it is my promise to you, my reader, to only review products I’m excited about or truly believe in.####)

I’m still happy blogging, and I’m constantly trying to learn how to be better at it and grow my audience. But for the past two years, I kept thinking about the book. (The first year I had JD the book wasn’t even on the radar. I was just happy to accomplish teeth brushing.)

I kept thinking, “Maybe once the move is done, I’ll work on my book again.”

And sometimes I mention it, and people ask me, “What is your book about?”

“Ummmmmm..uhhhh…” Cue the crickets….

“I don’t actually know what I’m going to write a book about, but for some reason, I’d really like to write one.” I actually feel this pressure to do it. I can’t explain it.

Then three nights ago, I had just gotten out of the shower, and BAM! It hit me! I knew what to write about.

Don’t you get your best ideas while showering? I mean I do, normally, unless there is a toddler beating on the shower door whispering, “Mom, get out. Mom get out.”

Sometimes JD just whispers. It’s cute, not creepy though. Well, sometimes it’s creepy.

Sorry. I’m rambling. So what am I going to write about?

I think it’s time for me to tell my war stories and how God and some wonderful friends brought us through them.

It’s been 15 years now since Sept. 11. It was the war of my generation. And it’s still a gigantic problem. I was 20 back then, and I sent my husband overseas to take part in the War on Terrorism three times already, as did many of my friends. We’ve spent a cumulative total of three plus years of our marriage apart. 

’03 or ’04, with my sister military spouses

There are so many stories to tell! Some hilarious, like times spent with my 4 best friends back in Texas in ’03, before any of us had children. Some sad, like when Caleb ran to a random dude instead of Alan at Alan’s 2010 home-coming. Some heartbreaking, as when we lost friends and bosses as casualties to the war.

It’s been so long now that people are beginning to forget. I’ve actually had someone ask me why I should get a military discount. And Congress is constantly threatening our benefits. Then there was that whole VA healthcare debacle.

So many things happened. And while you often hear of books about “letters from war”, you seldom hear about letters TO war. Well, who wants to read about that? There’s no shooting or convoy attacks in letters from home, right? Well, there are our reactions to them. Then there are the hilarious and sometimes gut-wrenching adventures that an Army wife takes on with her family while she’s left behind.

My sweet military kids during their first deployment experience. At this point,in 2010, Alan had returned from a 15 month tour. Caleb was still calling MY dad “Dad.”

Things like walking your son through EEGs and MRIs because he’s suddenly having seizures and trying to explain it all to your husband in Iraq, while your son’s pre-school teacher calls your son their “little class mascot” as they support him through his medical trials.

Things like getting over-the-moon-I-just-won-the-lottery kind of excited watching the train traveling back into town, loaded down with tanks and Humvees, and wondering what day that they will send your husband too, but knowing that they are finally, after the longest year ever, actually going to come home!!!

And oh, sharing deployment with four close friends who saved each other’s lives that year. Okay. Not literally, but we’ve seen how stress can kill a person, so maybe literally! Yes, definitely literally. Yes, we saved each other’s lives.

I had no idea what I was getting into, but I couldn’t wait to start!

There are so many things I want to tell. Military wives, I know you have stories just like mine and worse and better and then some. I’d love to hear your tales. Maybe after I tell my story I can tell yours too. Hopefully, by telling mine, I will also be telling a lot of yours too. But it’s beautiful how each one us has a slightly different story to tell.

Okay. JD is here, and his nap is apparently over, and he needs me to put his pants back on him, so I’m outta here. Tell me what you think about my book idea. Don’t worry. I’ll change the names, and I’ve already gotten Alan’s buy-in.

We wish you all a fabulous Labor Day weekend!

The post The Book–I had an exciting break through! appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.