Blogger Biography: Christina is a proud war bride, military “dependent,” writer and volunteer. She met her husband while working two jobs to pay her student loans and stay afloat. He stuck with her despite the long and crazy hours away from each other and so began her experience with the military. Scrapping the wedding for a long and dangerous deployment, she fully embraced being a military spouse. Christina reaches out to all available networks to learn and take advantage of what the military has to offer its family. Learning the ropes is tough, but she knows she has help.
There is always one thing I consistently do when my husband deploys or goes TDY. I would like to say it’s get a massage or a facial, but I just never find the time or budget for those things.
What does fit in my budget and what I can sneak a few moments for is coffee. Forever ago, I found one specific flavor from a specific brand that I just could not get enough of. For years I could only find it during the holidays and then it was gone! I refused to open the last package for everyday use. Coffee is coffee to my husband. (His fishing or car stuff is another matter entirely.) For me, this coffee is like his special stuff. He just laughs at me when I try to explain it.
It’s even more special because when I finally found it he was deployed. I would come home to a dark, cold house and turn on the coffee pot for just a cup or two. That gave me enough time to change out of my work clothes or uniform and into yoga pants, a sweatshirt and some fuzzy socks. I would turn up the heat and get dinner started. If it was just me, I enjoyed the coffee while cooking. If the house was abuzz with activity, I saved it for when beds were tucked and guests had taken their leave. I would settle on the couch and listen to some music or just collapse into the nearest chair for a few minutes of peace.
I would indulge in the smell of the coffee as it wafted up from the cup in white curls, savoring each taste as it rolled over my tongue, absorbing the warmth of the cup in both hands before returning to life, laundry, cleaning, bills or returning missed phone calls. When I found it, I couldn’t help but send a happy little email to my husband. After that, every time we talked or emailed until he came home, he would ask if I had my special coffee as a clue to how my day went.
Now it’s one of our little jokes. Since I can get it fairly regularly, I only buy a few boxes, which stay hidden in the pantry waiting for the next deployment or TDY. And they only come out then. Once he even came back with two special mugs for my “Deployment Coffee.”
What is the special thing you do for yourself during a deployment or TDY?
